The note was unexpected, pinned to the door to his lair, but considering he had woken up with a new couch and a quilt in his lair, it really shouldn't have surprised Oliver. It was simple, printed instead of script: 'I'd like to meet. I'd like to help you, but even if not, it would be nice to know your plans so that we don't get in each other's way, if that's what you prefer. I'll be on the roof of the Grell Museum this evening.'It was signed with the same strange S that the plane-catching woman had worn on her chest.

Oliver didn't like the oddity of a flying woman. He didn't know who she was or what she was capable of, and those unknowns meant that she was dangerous. He had planned to try to find some way to call her out-on his terms, and it left him slightly off-footed that she had taken the opportunity first, or that he was so easily located and identified. Still, she was reaching out, not trying to hide from him, which was probably was the best he could hope for, and he would need someone to run interference for him. If it was someone with a similar secret, well then, if one flipped, the other would go down as well. So, he suited up.

Kara liked the Grell Museum. It was high-roofed, and the modern look of it reminded her of the gleaming spires of Krypton, allowing for a cozy area in a corner of what amounted to a roof two thirds of the way in, before the rest of the roof twisted up into a spiraling point. The thing was, she had no idea of when Oliver would get the note, let alone if he would even come, so she settled her back against the start of the spire, with a stack of pizzas. Offering food was her best attempt to make things as friendly as possible.

She was a slice into her second pie, when he arrived. She could tell he was trying to be stealthy, coming up the side. "Hi." She said, as friendly as possible, as he approached, bow drawn. "Want some pizza? It's from Mario's."

The last thing Oliver expected was to find the strange woman eating pizza on the roof. He growled, slipping into his vigilante voice. "Who are you?"

Kara sighed, and put her pizza down, standing so they were on somewhat even footing, even though he towered over her. "I believe they're calling me Supergirl." She rolled her eyes at this. "I blame Booster Gold's twitter bot army." She gestured to the slight edge she had been sitting on. "Can we sit? I'll tell you everything you want to know, but it's a long story."

Oliver slowly approached the edge and sat down, keeping his bow in hand, but lowering it. "All right, I'm listening."

Kara took a deep breath. "I'm...an alien."

"An alien." Oliver repeated, doubt in his voice.

Kara nodded. "I was born on the planet Krypton, which has a red sun. Here, under the Earth's yellow sun, I can fly, I have super speed, super strength, x-ray vision, heat vision, ice breath, and I'm bulletproof."

"Uh huh." Oliver murmured, trying to figure out what he thought. He had seen some crazy things since Lian Yu, but aliens?

"You saw me fly." Kara pointed out. She pulled out another piece of pizza, and reheated it with her eyes, making the cooled cheese start to bubble, and handed it to him. "Heat vision."

Oliver stared at the pizza in his hand. "So, if I believe this, why are you here, on Earth?"

Kara took a deep, shuddering breath. "Krypton...we mined it irresponsibly for resources." She admitted. "The core became unstable. As it was breaking apart, my parents put me in an escape pod, bound for Earth. I was thirteen, and my planet was dying. I didn't really understand what was happening. I was….I was supposed to care for my baby cousin when I arrived, but…" She shook her head and swallowed hard. "When the planet exploded it let out a shockwave that threw me into an area known as the Phantom Zone, an anomaly outside the normal flow of time and space. I was there for twenty-four years, before something knocked my pod loose and I landed here, and woke up. I never managed to find Kal. I swore to my parents that I would protect him, and raise him, but I failed."

Despite himself, Oliver felt sorry for the strange woman. He believed her. There was something in her voice that made him believe her story. "That's not your fault." He said, softly. "Even if you had landed at the same time, thirteen is too young to raise a child. I remember when I was thirteen. I don't think I could raise a child now, let alone then."

Kara shook her head, and grabbed another piece of pizza, zapping it briefly, before taking a bite. Stress-eating was good for the soul. "I was found by a couple vigilantes, who adopted me. I tried to just live a normal life, because there are people in the government who know about aliens, and who would use us, or experiment on us." She swallowed hard. "I worry that Kal made it here, but someone like that found him. That they dissected him, or worse."

Oliver wished he could offer comfort, but he had seen the atrocities people could and would do. He had done some awful things himself. "What changed?"

Kara sighed, leaning back against the spire more. "A lot of things. I can't have a normal life. I was doing calculus at four, if I brought half the science I knew as a child out...Earth has to develop at it's own speed. It's hard to have a relationship when you can rip a car door off without trying. It's stifling to be normal, to have to lie to everyone." A third slice of pizza disappeared, and Kara smiled as Oliver started to eat his. "A large part of it was you. I knew vigilantes in other cities, of course. I grew up with them. I was never allowed to be involved. Then you come along, my age, human, doing these things, saving people, helping the city and I...I couldn't sit back anymore."

"The plane." Oliver noted. "No human could do that."

"Oh, Rao, the plane." Kara put her face in her hands. "That was utterly unplanned. I was going to start out getting rid of some muggers, but I panicked." She shook her head. "It was like watching Krypton about to blow all over again."

"Why?" Oliver asked, finishing his pizza.

Kara fished her glasses out of a hidden pocket, and slid them on. "Do these help?"

"Kara?" Oliver breathed, the familiarity he had been feeling, clicking into place. He shouldn't have been so comfortable eating something handed to him by an unknown. He shouldn't have believed the story so quickly.

"Kara Zor-El, originally. Daughter of Zor-El of the House of El, and Alura In-Ze, of the House of Ze." She smiled at him. "But here, it's Kara Carter-Kord, executive assistant extraordinaire."

"You know who I am, don't you?" Oliver asked, taking down the hood.

Kara nodded slowly, taking the glasses back off. "A hood and some greasepaint doesn't change your heartbeat. I can find almost anyone I care about through their heartbeats. When I first came here...the expanded senses, everything I could do, it nearly drove me mad. On Krypton, I didn't have any of these powers, and then I could see, hear, smell...everything." She swallowed hard. "My dads would hug me to them, and make me focus on their heartbeats when I lost it. I do it automatically now. It's how I found you the other night. I wasn't spying or anything, but I heard the sudden change in your heartbeat and….I came to help."

"You brought me a couch." Oliver remarked, deadpan.

"The floor looked uncomfortable. I sat near the ceiling, listening to your vitals. I...was worried." She gave him a wry smile. "I wouldn't have broken in, otherwise. Dads always say it's a giant breach of etiquette, breaking into another's lair."

Oliver laughed at that. "I may need to add vigilante etiquette to those online business courses Walter wants me to take.

"Hey, I got your back." Kara giggled.

Oliver got serious at that. "Kara...I have to think about everything you told me. I've always planned to eventually bring people into my secret, but this is...not what I anticipated. I need to think it over."

Kara deflated with a sigh. "Shall I start interviewing my replacement at QC?"

"No." Oliver said slowly. "No, you're still my assistant at work. I just...I need space here, like this. It's a lot to digest, but as long as you keep my secret, I'll keep yours."

"Of course." Kara replied, though she sounded markedly less perky. "And if you ever need me, just...shout."

Oliver walked into Queen Consolidated the next day, almost expecting things to be different. It was striking to him just how little had changed. Kara was back at her desk, glasses on and hair tied back, in an unassuming skirt and blouse.

"Your coffee, Oliver." Kara said cheerfully, handing him a piping hot cup of coffee, and well, he knew just how she had managed to keep it hot now, didn't he? "Your first appointment is at ten, and you have that tour with Tommy after your lunch with him at twelve."

The thing was, after going home, sitting in his room by himself, he couldn't help but second-guess. He wanted to believe her, wanted to trust that she was as guileless as she seemed...but even if her story was true, she had hidden the fact she was an alien for how many years? If she could hide that, what else could she hide? He knew personally just how lies stacked, how expectations could hide everything.

Still, she was kind, and he would keep her secret.

"Thank you, Kara. Can I speak to you in my office, please?"

"Sure!" Kara was on her feet, tablet in hand quickly. She was so pleased, he almost felt bad for what he was going to say.

He closed the door behind them and turned to her. "I've thought about what we talked about the other night."

"Okay." Kara said slowly.

"And like I said before, if you keep my secret, I'll keep yours." He let out a breath. "But I'd like to minimize your involvement in my evening activities."

Kara didn't manage to hide the hurt on her face. "Why? Because I'm an alien?"

Oliver didn't want to say yes, but he wouldn't lie to her either. "You're an unknown quality, and this isn't personal."

"Except that's how it feels." Kara said, softly.

"Kara, this isn't...it's not like that. When I came back to clean up the city, my focus was on human threats, corrupt humans, hurting people of my city." He took a deep breath. "That I can handle. That I know how to handle. Now I'm talking to someone who is literally bulletproof." Oliver didn't want to insult her, but he was honest.

"I'm sure that's unnerving, but I'm not trying…"

"I don't get unnerved." Oliver ground out, even though that might have been just a flutter of what he felt. "But when I go up against something new, I push back. Right or wrong, it's what I do, so I'm asking for a little bit of space. I won't get involved in your thing and you don't get involved in mine. I...I need to claw back a sense of normalcy."

Kara's face went cool and stoic, much like his own, and he resisted the urge to wince.

"Yes, sir." She said, crisply. "I brought you chocolate croissants today. Please let me know if you need anything else."

Kara had thawed over a day and a pint of ice cream, so when Oliver showed up the next day, with a shot up laptop, there was no frostiness in her voice as she greeted him with a new coffee blend.

"You know everyone here at Queen Consolidated, right Kara?" Oliver asked, sipping his coffee.

"Sure, what's up?" Kara replied. "Do I need to add a meeting or…?"

Oliver held up the laptop. "I need someone in IT who can try and recover what's left on this."

"I can do that." Kara said simply, holding out her hands. "I don't know if I'll get everything, but…"

"Kara," he said, gently. "Space, remember?"

"Right." Kara said with a pout. "You want Winn Schott. He's the best we have." The 'other than me,' went unsaid.

"Thanks, Kara." He gave her a smile, and walked off, headed down to IT.

"It's not like he has a Masters in biomechanical engineering." Kara muttered to herself. "It's not like that was the equivalent of tinker toys when he was a kid, oh no."

Winn Schott was about what Oliver expected. He was furiously blogging about something when he walked in and cleared his throat, startling the computer guy. He put on his best smile. "Winn Schott? Hi, I'm Oliver Queen."

Winn's eyes went wide. "Oliver Queen knows my name." He said, voice rising a bit, before it went back down. "I mean, of course Mr. Queen. What...what can I do for you?"

"I'm having some trouble with my computer and Kara told me you were the person to come and see." Oliver learned early in his time at Queen Consolidated that dropping Kara's name sometimes improved his chances. No one seemed to want to hurt the blonde's feelings. Except, apparently, him...not that it was intentional.

Winn's eyes went wide. "She did? I mean, she comes down to play in IT if she gets bored, but she's way better than me."

"She said you were the best we had, here at QC." Oliver said with a smile.

"Wow." Winn repeated. "Okay, let me see."

"I was at the coffee shop and spilled my latte on it." Oliver explained, on the fly as he handed Lawton's laptop over to the nerd.

"Really?" Winn said, holding up the laptop. "Because, uh, dude, these are bullet holes."

"My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood. If there's anything you can salvage from it, I'll be grateful." Oliver replied.

"Yeah, sure, of course." Winn said, giving him a thumbs up. "If there's anything to get, I'll get it for you."

"Great, thanks." Oliver said with a grin, clapping the man on the shoulder.

Winn watched him leave with wide eyes, before immediately setting to work on the computer.