(Getting to Know) Your Inner Child
XavAcid
Chapter 3 : lunch and new friend
"Keira."
Kara's blonde head snapped up toward her boss. "Yes, Ms. Grant?" She hopped up from her seat quickly, one hand grabbed one of the tablets from her desk, and rushed into the office. Little Alex was busily scribbled something in her notebook, but she immediately looked up when Kara came into the room.
Her little face was frowning once she realized that Cat was calling for Kara, with a wrong name.
"Time for lunch, I think."
"Ok," Kara quickly pulled up a list of restaurant, getting ready to make a call. "And what can I get you today?" She smiled down when she saw her young charge slide down from her boss pristine white couch and sidled up next to her.
"Get me some salad, with cheeseburger on top. Medium rare." Cat said with an airy wave of her hand. "Then you can take Alex to a long lunch."
Little Alex had been spending the morning in Cat's office, Kara kept an eye on her, while trying to do her own work and ran around the building at the same time. She at least kept an ear trained on little heartbeats at all time when she wasn't in her line of sight.
Though Alex did come to her and Winn, bringing things for them to see, to show her what she found through the search. She was so excited about the printer, and Kara was glad for the timing, even when she wasn't happy about it at first, she was glad that there was something to occupy her. She couldn't imagine what a bored little Alex was like.
Oh she knew what a bored big Alex was like, and it was a scary thing. As most of the techs at D.E.O could attest to.
Hopefully, when she got back to her big self she would be excited about the printer, too. It took Kara months to save up for it. She even ordered less potstickers so she could have the extra to put away, Alex was starting to get suspicious, and she tried to play it off as best she could. Kara was pretty sure that the older Danvers did not believe her, though.
At least she didn't have to do that anymore. It was so difficult trying to keep anything from Alex.
Kara made a quick call to the restaurant, and she was told that her order would be ready in fifteen minutes, and she told her boss so.
"I'll go pick it up now."
"I'll come with." Little Alex chirped up, she had shuffled back toward the coffee table where all the papers were and gathered them all up in a neat pile. She knew she couldn't just leave it all messy, she had to pick up after herself. Mom would not like it if she knew Alex was being messy. And as soon as Kara moved to leave she shot forward, intending to grab her things and go with.
Cat's head snapped up from her laptop, her pretense at nonchalant was gone as she started to get up from her seat. Kara, however, was quick to scoop the little brunette up in one arm as she ran past her.
"Oh no baby." Kara swayed a little with the momentum. "I'll go and you stay with Ms. Grant, then we'll get some lunch after, ok?" It wasn't that she wanted to please her boss or anything, but it would be much quicker for her to go by herself, she could fly there and back in under a minute. And if she needed to make a detour she could do that without worrying about leaving Alex by herself. Or took Alex with her into the fray.
Besides, the quicker she got her boss's lunch, the quicker they could get to their own.
"We'll go after?"
"Yes, you and me, we'll get something good for lunch." Kara promised with a smile.
Little Alex stared at her for half a minute, seemingly thinking about her options before throwing both arms around her neck and squeezed. "Ok." Then she pulled back and continued with an utmost serious look on her sweet little face. "And I want some fries, and coke, and cookies."
Cat was impressed.
Apparently those were the things she did not usually get, otherwise, she would not have demanded it with such seriousness, and for her to know to use her compliance to bargain for what she wanted.
Cat Grant did not plan on having the child in her office, really she did not. It was true that she was interested when she first laid eyes on her, carried in by her Sunny of an assistant the day before, and how very much she looked like Alexandra, whom she was fascinated with. She wondered if the all the family had that strong of a resemblance. But she was not very good with children and had no desire to be around ones that were not of her own.
Little Alexandra, however, was adorable in her seriousness. This was something she had never thought about of any child other than her own, and it certainly was not something she was going to admit to.
The next thing she knew Sunny Danvers was agreeing to all the stipulations and little Alex was happily settled onto the ground and darted back to her.
Her Sunny assistant was already fleeing her office.
Just, woosh, and gone.
"Hey Kara!"
Kara's barista friend Julie's voice rang out as soon as she entered Noonan's, it was nice to be greeted with a smiling face whenever she came here, especially when she had to order coffee for Ms. Grant. They let her call in the orders and picked it up. Her superspeed wasn't going to do anything if she had to wait in line to get coffee.
"Hi Julie."
"Oh goodness.. Who is this cutie?" Julie came to a stop in front of them and practically squatted down to be on the eye level with little brunette. "Hi, I'm Julie." She offered a hand.
Little Alex looked up at Kara and only accepted the handshake when she got a nod.
"Hi." Alex pushed her mirrored aviator up over her hair and smile.
Kara grinned when her friend squealed, yeah, she felt that way all the time even when little Alex did something simple as tugging on her coat. When they got dressed this morning Alex chose a long sleeved t-shirt with Jack Skellington on it, and a pair of joggers. Kara was itching to help when her little brunette was struggling with pulling her arms through the sleeves, but she held herself back. Especially after she was told not to help, and Alex insisted that she knew how to dressed herself for the third time.
She was absolutely adorable in what she chose to wear, but the Kryptonian wished that little Alex would pick something with more color.
She would look so pretty in pastel, big or little.
Actually growing up together, Eliza managed to get Alex into dresses on occasions. And those occasions seemed so special to Kara because Alex in a dress, although she would scowl for most of the time; the alien still thought she was beautiful. Now a day, Alex would only wear dresses when she had to, like when she went to dinner with that ass Maxwell Lord. And Kara didn't even get to see her in the dress.
She'd heard that the older Danvers turned just about every head in the place, and not only because none of them ever saw her all dolled up, but she was gorgeous, according to the water cooler talk she picked up. Now maybe she could get Vas to pull up the footage, since the older Danvers would have to walk across the D.E.O at least. Hopefully, the footage was still there.
Oh yeah, she'd do that later today when she drop in with little Alex for a check up.
When she brought Cat her lunch, she found little Alex sitting on the couch next to her boss, showing her something on the tablet, and Cat was nodding and agreeing with her. It was almost too cute for words, and she discreetly took a photo with her phone, she'd show that to Alex later. But of course the moment she set foot into that glass bowl of an office, little Alex's attention was on her.
Apparently she was a little hungry, despite snacks she had earlier, and was more than ready to go. She quickly put down the notebook in her hand and climbed down from the couch. The little brunette almost forgot about Cat Grant, almost. At the last minute as she ran to her blonde Kryptonian she turned to call out "see you later" to Cat.
Kara decided to stay close to CatCo for lunch, and Alex did admit that she liked their muffin, also chocolate shakes, even though she rarely ordered it, complaining about gaining the weight from all the sweets Kara insisted on getting every morning. Really, she didn't know what the older Danvers was complaining about, she worked in the field, she trained the recruits, and also the Kryptonian herself. There was not an ounce of extra fat on her anywhere. And how would she gain weight from Kara eating, by osmosis?
"Can we get a table?" Kara asked after she deemed that little Alex endured enough fawning from her friend now.
"Yes, follow me. I'll get you the best table." She led them toward one of the more quiet tables. She knew Kara for a while now and she understood that sometimes her friend needed a little quiet corner, especially during her earlier days in National City when she got overwhelmed with the amount of people and the demands of her boss.
"Thanks Julie."
They got a small table at the quietest corner of the place, which was also Kara's favorite table.
The Kryptonian made sure her little Danvers seated comfortably in her booster seat then she sat next to her.
"So, what can I get you?" There was no need for a menu, of course, Kara had it memorized since the first month she worked at CatCo.
So, Kara rattled out a few orders for a start for herself and little Alex.
"And a coke." Childish voice chimed up.
"Yes, and a coke," she so hoped that Alex wouldn't remember that, a wishful thinking, Alex had impeccable memory, little Alex would be no different.
A smile she got for a simple thing, though, worth more than anything.
Kara was also too smitten with this version of Alex; just as she was with the older version to notice the mischievous glint in her dark eye, or the tiny little smirk on her little face.
Kara had to make a couple of calls to the D.E.O, since no one was contacting her, she wanted to make sure that everything was alright. And she especially wanted to know if there was any new development, and if there was anyone she needed to beat up for some answers.
So far, J'onn was telling her not to worry, that everything was under control. She had to disagree, She was going to continue to worry until they could get Alex back to her old self. She was frustrated that she could not do much to help finding the solution, or the person responsible. This was when the Kryptonian wished that she had some of her father's and her adopted family's inclination for science.
She had no doubt that if their roles were reversed, Alex would already be halfway to solving it right now. She would definitely be in the thick of it, just like when she got shrunk.
And all Kara could do now was taking care of little Alex, because she could not just punch this problem away.
With a deep sigh, the Kryptonian brought her attention away from her phone and back to the child next to her. Dark eyes were on her, curious frown settled on her little face. So, she smiled and wiped a smudge of ketchup on her little chin.
"Little piggy."
Little Alex pouted, but stayed put and let Kara cleaned her face. There was half a plate of french fried left and she was feeling full, she didn't want to leave her food unfinished. Mom always said for her to finish her food, and she knew she ordered too many things.
The Kryptonian noticed the lingering look little Alex was giving the half finished french fries, she knew that by now, with the amount of the food, her little brunette was probably full, and was worried about not finishing her food.
Kara wasn't about to make her finish all of it, she did not want her to overeat, and it would be bad later on. Last thing she needed was a sick five year old on her hand. She didn't trust her own ability to not cry if that happened. So, she told little Alex not to worry about it, that she'll finish the food. An answering smile was blinding if a little messy.
Kara finished all the food on the table and ordered some cookies to bring back. This gave her friend a few minutes to fawn over the little brunette. Little Alex was looking a cross between wanting to hide away and preen at the attention. It was so Alex that it almost brought tears to her eyes. Big Alex also did not like being the center of the attention. Although the Kryptonian thought that was probably because she was always in the shadow, always being the one that supported her, and trying to keep them safe by being out of the limelight.
And any attention to herself could bring attention to Kara and her identity.
And not for the first time, Kara wished that Alex would get all the adoration and accolades she deserved for the work she did and how many time she'd saved the world, and saved Kara.
How different their lives would be, if Alex simply broke away when she left their home in Midvale and just lived her life. Or if Kal took her to live with him, or left her with his parent in Kansas instead. Her human could've been a rock star scientist in any field of her choosing, and never have to live in danger.
That was the only thing she regretted about her presence in the Danvers house. She expressed this sentiment to Alex one night, and was told to never say anything about it ever again. That she never wanted any other life than the one she was living in.
And just the thought of never had the chance to grow up alongside Alex, to never know her the way she did, rendered her a sobbing mess.
Pulling herself out of her own thought, Kara gently took a small hand into her own, Ms. Grant was telling her to take extra long lunch today, but the sunny blonde doubted she would appreciate a two hours lunch, no matter how much she liked little Alex.
"Bye Alex." Julie waved. "Bye Kara."
"See you later."
Kara was beyond regretting her decisions to not sneak drinks from that can of Coke she let little Alex had ten minutes later as they made their way back to CatCo Plaza. The little brunette was skipping and running, and only because Kara refused to let her hand go that she didn't just run ahead and got lost in the lunch crowd.
Hopefully, the walk back would spend some of her energy. Or they were all going to have a hard time being in the office this afternoon. And not to mention the inevitable crash after. It wasn't going to be very pretty.
Now an hour later Alex was still skipping about. The Kryptonian had to give her another notebook for her to write more notes after she ran out of the space on the one she gave her earlier in the morning. Wow, she wondered if this was how Alex was at this age, if so, she wondered if Eliza kept her things, still. Maybe on their next trip to Midvale, she could go snoop around in the attic and see.
And it was also a wonder of wonders that Ms. Grant did not say a thing when little Alex ran in and out of her office and barely able to sit still. She just gave her sunny assistant a glare when little Alexandra once again hopped off of the couch and ran out. But eventually, she ran out of steam and was nodding off when she was sitting with Kara, trying to write down something she found on the tablet Winn gave her to use. She put down her pencil and slipped off of the chair only to tug on her Kryptonian's shirt sleeve.
When the Sunny blonde looked at her she gestured to be pick up. Kara did, she gathered her up and settled her on her lap, she leaned back so that Alex could rest against her front. Except, the little Danvers was still stubborn enough to try to write her note.
"Bring her in here." Cat Grant called out she was also looking up from time to time to check on the little brunette.
She knew that Sunny Danvers gave her all the sweets she asked, as apparent by the excess energy that had the little girl hopping about like energizer bunny. Being a mother, Cat knew that she would crash eventually. She had seen it played out numerous times with Carter.
And now the little girl would need a nap.
As soon as she saw little Alex got picked up and seated on Sunny Danvers' lap, she knew the inevitable crash was coming.
Sunny Danvers who was trying to take care of a phone call as well as trying to keep the girl tucked against her front was looked at her boss questioningly. Now, really, normally her very quick and quirky assistant could read her mind better than this.
"Ms. Grant?"
"Bring her in here," she so hated to repeat herself. "She needs a nap and you're not gonna go put her underneath the desk like a kitten."
The Kryptonian blinked, she really wasn't thinking that far ahead. "No, I wasn't."
"Hang up that call, and bring her in here." Cat repeated again and turned around and walked back into her office.
Kara took another thirty seconds to cut short the call and hung up, Alex was already face down on her notebook, little hand slack. She should really sneak a couple of snapshots for later.
Too late now, though.
Well, at least she'd still have Winn as witness to how adorable konged out child Alex was. Oh, maybe he could get her some security footage or something, she should ask him if there was any camera directed at her desk. She knew the general positions of all the camera on this floor, as Alex drilled into her how important it was that she was aware of them. So that when she had to leave for emergency Supergirl business she would not be caught by any of them. And now she realized that if there was one directed at her desk, she was sure that Winn would direct it elsewhere without prompting.
That was too bad, now she was sure that there was no footage of little Alex falling asleep at the desk.
Gently, she got up with the currently five year old in her arms, she felt warmth spread through her chest when little Alex fussed a little and settled just as quickly with her head on her shoulder. She resisted the urge to blush when her eyes met her boss's from inside the office.
The Kryptonian made her way inside the glass bowl of an office with quick sure steps, and settled the small child on the white couch, before Cat Grant covered her up with a soft throw.
"She should be fine." Her boss said quietly as she kneeled down to slip off the high top sneakers the little girl was wearing. She set them neatly by the couch. She did so miss when Carter was this young.
"Yes, thank you Ms. Grant."
"Yes, yes, now back to work." The Queen of all Media flapping her hands then she turned back to her own desk.
Kara grinned at the dismissive gesture and headed back to her own desk.
Sure Ms. Grant was gruff about it, but she was practically whispering her words, probably afraid that she might wake little Alex up.
"Hi Kara."
The sunny Kryptonian looked up to see a smiling face of one Carter Grant. The twelve year old was still in his school uniform, although he took off his jacket and loosen his tie, he had his backpack slung over one shoulder and folded jacket tucked into it.
"Hey Carter, your mom is down at the art department right now." Kara smiled and quickly slipped him a small bar of chocolate from her snack drawer, "she should be here very soon."
He grinned at her from ear to ear, and took the candy. He loved it, he started to unwrap the snicker bar when his eye caught a sight of a little girl in his mom's office. "Um… Kara?"
The Kryptonian looked up from the note in front of her and followed his line of sight. "Oh, that's-"
"-Did my mom adopt a daughter when I'm not looking?" His voice was laced with amusement and curiosity, but at the moment curiosity was more prominent.
"No-no, that's Alex," Kara quickly got up and headed into the glass office, "she's my little cousin."
"She has the same name with your Alex?" Carter was right at her heel.
"Yes, it's a family name."
"Really?" He looked a little skeptical.
"Yup."
Carter Grant was very happy that his club activity was canceled today. So, instead of calling for his nanny to come get him, he simply took the bus. He did call Clair first, though, so she wouldn't be worried, but he did not tell his mom that he was coming to see her. Not that he thought she was going to say no, but surprises could be a good thing sometimes. That was what Kara told him, once. He tried to learn to be spontaneous, and not be bothered too much when things did not go according to plan. That was still difficult a lot of time, though.
Apparently he was the one surprised today. And not a bad kind either.
He took a good look at the little girl who was looking up at Kara, he could see the family resemblance with Alex, definitely, her nose and her eyes looked exactly like Alex's.
Wow.
"Hey, Alex." Kara kneeled in front of her little brunette. "Whatcha doing?"
"This." She held up her notebook for her Kryptonian to see. "I read on this forum," she pointed at the tablet screen. "Someone gave measurements that works and what to do."
"This is great!" Kara enthused as she looked through her childish handwriting. "Baby listen." Closing the notebook she took her little hand gently, always aware that little Alex could not take her usual pressure she use with her Alex. "This is my friend Carter."
It was still unsure of how much little Alex knew, and the latest update from the D.E.O did not clear that up very much. Although, they didn't really have all the much to work with, they could only make speculations, very educated speculations. In any case half of the things that were sent to her screen did not make much sense, and Alex wasn't here to explain all the technical, and medical terms to her.
She missed Alex so much.
"Hi Alex." Carter smiled and offered a hand, just like big Alex did for him when they met. "I'm Carter."
"Hi," small hand took his firmly and shook. Wow, she had really strong handshake, he thought. Carter did not have many opportunity to interact with many children, other than his friends at school, and especially not anyone younger than him, his mother was an only child, and she didn't have that many friends. The only one that got along with her and had children same age as him was an Editor in Chief of a fashion magazine in New York, so he only ever met them a few times a year. He couldn't even say he got along with them, or not because he'd never spend any significant time with them.
"Carter is Ms. Grant's son." Kara squatted down and wrapped an arm around little Alex. "He's visiting."
And before anything else could be said, a familiar clicking and clacking of high heels came their way. Kara, of course, heard it long before the owner of the footsteps appear in their line of sight.
"Carter?" Cat seemed puzzled, and that was when Kara realized she didn't see Claire anywhere. Which meant that Carter came to CatCo Plaza by himself. Did he even call for the driver?
"Where is Claire?"
"I got out early, so I texted Claire that I'm coming to see you." The boy quickly went to his mother, and gave her a hug, he was less self conscious around Kara, even since he spent the day at the aquarium with her and Alex and his mom. He was more comfortable to express himself, at least in front of her, if not other people.
Cat frowned, but she decided that this was not the time to be scolding him, especially when he seemed so proud of himself, and he was here to see her. Besides, she was considering bringing him to see her, so he could meet little Alex. She thought he would've liked to meet her, a child who looked exactly like his favorite scientist. Ever since the trip that day, he'd been gushing about Alexandra, he took every opportunities to come to Catco if he thought that she would be here. Cat thought it was kind of sweet.
His interests in science also increased, as was his grades. It wasn't to say that he had no interest in it before, but it was more now. And Cat Grant was glad that she had allowed him that trip months ago, and even gladder that she went with him.
Well, her irritation at art department when she just came back from chewing out the entire department was already gone, due to the two children in her office, her employees should be so lucky. No one was getting fired today.
Now...
"Wow, so Kara got you a 3D Printer?" Carter exclaimed excitedly. "That is so cool!"
Little Alex was showing him some pictures on the tablet, and her son looked genuinely interested in what the little girl was showing him.
"Yup, and me and Winn are gonna put it together tonight." Her voice pitched a little higher in excitement.
It seemed that the two children were going to get along very well.
"She's so smart, mom." Carter chatter excitedly. "She could be in my class." He hopped up and down along with her longer strides. Soon she would be the one keeping up with him, Cat thought. "Maybe Alex and Kara can enroll her in my school? It would be so cool to have her with me!"
"Carter, honey." Cat had to slow him down a little, he was clearly making plans in his head as to what mischief they could get into together, as clearly demonstrated by the last two hours in her very own office, and a stack of papers now resided in her bottom drawers filled with plans and notes. It was surprising and unsurprising at the same time, she knew her son wasn't a very social person, he was more introverted, and had a difficult time making friends, and being her son did not help much.
Carter being instant friend with a little girl of five was not something she thought would happen, if that five year old was anyone other than someone from the Danvers family. If Alexandra, and Kara was anything to go by, they were an amazing stock.
Now, little Alex was with her sunny blonde assistant because of unfortunate circumstance, and how long it would last, she did not know.
Little Alex could be gone tomorrow for all she knew, and she didn't want her boy to get his hopes up and be disappointed by that.
"Alex was only gonna be here for a little while," she started, trying to choose her words carefully. "There's some sort of emergency with her family."
"Oh…" her son looked crestfallen. "Well, but she'll be here for a few days, won't she?"
"Possibly through the weekend?" She hoped.
"Oh, good, I wanna know how the 3d printer was going." He brightened up considerably.
Cat breathed a sigh to relief -
"Mom, can you get me one of those printers?"
- Too soon.
a/n :
Sorry it took me a while to post this chapter.. had a tough couple of weeks, lost a pet, so I was a complete babbling mess for a couple of days, and took me a bit to get back to things and think happy thoughts.
Anyway, how's everyone doing?
Little Alex made a new friend, yes, Carter had to make an appearance, like someone predicted. Miss big Alex yet? I know Kara does. A short visit to the DEO and then an evening with Winn is up next. As always, comments are more than welcomed.