Kara stands at the window looking at the city, the dinner conversation still playing in her head. She hears Cat coming back but waits until she can see her reflection before turning around to see her holding a beautifully wrapped gift.
"Happy Birthday Kara," Cat says moving to the couch to set the gift on the table.
Excitedly Kara crosses the room to join her on the couch. "It's almost too beautiful to open," she exclaims.
Cat smiles at her, encouraging her to open it.
Kara's smile only brightens further when she opens the box to reveal a leather Montblanc portfolio with matching pen.
"Now you can put that steno pad away and look like a real reporter," Cat teases.
"C-Cat... this is so much... I mean thank you," Kara stammers admiring the gift. "Thank you so much. It's lovely and the pen, wow, it's really so much," she mumbles, tears threatening to fall.
Cat shakes her own head slightly and quickly glances up, an old trick to keep tears from falling.
"Um, and I don't know that this counts as a birthday gift, since I got it for you last week and had planned to mail it to you," Cat says handing over another gift bag, that Kara hadn't even noticed yet.
Smiling, Kara opens the gift bag and pulls out a long-sleeve shirt. She wrinkles her brow, surprised at the gift until she unfolds it and across the front are the words, Power To The Girls. "Oh gosh. Cat, I love this!" She gushes.
"I knew that you would," Cat replies smugly, before adding, "Power To The Girls is a non-profit foundation. I met with their founder last week and I have agreed to sit on the board of advisors."
Kara notices that there is something else in the bag. She pulls out a piece of paper.
"This is a press release," she exclaims, then noticing that it is dated tomorrow, she adds, "y-y-you're giving me an exclusive!"
Cat smiles easily. "Kara, it is not uncommon for me to give exclusives to my own reporters," she points out.
"But you're picking me? Cat, I-I don't know how to thank you," Kara says at a loss for words.
"Kara, I realize that I haven't always shown it, but I am very proud of you," Cat replies, tearing up again, but this time not hiding it.
"Cat, you have always inspired me to be better and to work hard. And I might not understand why you see me as a hero, but you are definitely my hero," Kara confesses, taking off her glasses to wipe away a tear.
"Well, we seem to have formed our own mutual admiration society," Cat jokes, but also wipes away a tear from her own face.
"Any word from Kara?" Maggie asks as she crosses the room to sit on the other side of the bed.
"No, but I'm done talking about my sister tonight," Alex says patting the spot beside her.
"Mmm," Maggie purrs as she moves across the bed, putting her arm around Alex's waist to pull her closer. "What should we talk about then?"
"No talking," Alex says placing a finger against Maggie's lips.
"Bossy, I like it," Maggie says before moving on top of her girlfriend and kissing her deeply.
Kara sits on her bed in pajama bottoms and the new t-shirt and carefully examines the portfolio. She pulls out the press release and reads it through again, before pulling out the pen and quickly makes an outline for the exclusive. She knows that Snapper will want it to be brief, but she also wants to make sure that she conveys the importance of the organization. She grabs her computer to pull up the website to verify a few things, but is shocked to be greeted with her own face, or rather Supergirl's face.
"Power To The Girls, an organization dedicated to empowering girls to take control of their future, was inspired by Supergirl." The copy reads and Kara can't believe that Cat didn't mention this connection. Kara frowns, worried. Alex already went crazy when she used Supergirl as a source in the alien fight club story, she isn't going to be happy when she finds out about this.
All in all Cat deems the evening a success. It felt good to be able to let down her guard a bit and spend time getting to really know the young woman. Kara still didn't open up as much as Cat hoped. They definitely took a step in the right direction, the CEO thinks as she finishes tidying up the kitchen.
Moving into her bedroom, she continues to reflect. The time away from National City allowed her to gain a new perspective on many things in her life. And not just her work/life balance, which was definitely out of balance. She also realized that there was no one in her life in tune to her any more. Yes, she has friends who know her well, but they all are as busy as she is. In fact, the only person that she has spent any real time in the past several years was Kara. Even after she promoted her, they still seemed to find time to see each other. In fact, that was what worried her. After promoting Kara, she had no idea the level of dedication that Kara would have in training her replacement. Cat was amazed at how easily Ms Teschmacher was able to step in as her assistant. The transition practically seamless. The worst thing being lukewarm lattes.
Unable to sleep, she's been writing for a few hours now, but the sound of a key in her lock breaks her concentration.
"Hey," Alex says entering the loft. "I brought crullers." She announces holding up the box of her sister's favorite breakfast food.
"Thanks, but I didn't expect to see you this morning. Did something happen between you and Maggie last night?" Kara asks concerned as she moves to the kitchen to make more coffee.
"Last night was great, but she got called in early this morning, so I thought that I'd check in with you. How was your birthday dinner with Ms Grant?" Alex asks going over to stand right beside her sister as she sets up the coffee maker.
"Where did you get this shirt?" Alex asks noticing it when Kara turns to face her.
"Cat gave it to me last night, it's a new organization and she's on the board of advisors. I'm writing a piece on it now, actually," Kara says, careful not to make eye contact with her sister, instead she opens the box of crullers.
"Cat? That's new. What are you two friends now?" Alex questions. Noticing that Kara has yet to eat a cruller.
"Yeah, we are and dinner was good. Great actually," Kara answers, closing the box and glancing over at the coffee pot.
"Did she... did she cook for you?" Alex asks, really curious about Kara's birthday dinner with her former boss.
"Oh no, she called the caterer, but dinner was really good. She had them make some of my favorite foods." Kara says with just a trace of a smile breaking at the corner of her mouth.
"Wow," Alex replies unsure of what to think of this now. "So, you're writing about her and this new organization? She gave you an assignment last night for your birthday?" Alex questions lightly.
"I guess that she did," Kara admits smiling brightly.
"Whoa, did she also give you this?" Alex blurts out when she spots the Montblanc portfolio beside Kara's laptop.
Kara nods, her mouth full of cruller.
Alex also notices the press release with Kara's notes written all over it.
"What does all this mean? She's still your boss, I mean she owns the company," Alex points out.
"I don't report directly to her and it's just a friendship Alex. Why is it so hard for you to believe that she would want to be my friend?" Kara asks just a trace of hurt in her question.
"Kara, she is the Queen of all Media And it wasn't that long ago that she thought you were Supergirl," Alex reminds her. "I just worry that she is doing all of this to get close to you."
"Alex, do you honestly think that after everything that happened during Myriad, that she wouldn't realize that I am Supergirl?" Kara asks.
"Have you talked to her about it. Does she know, know that you're Supergirl?" Alex questions.
"No, we haven't talked about it, but I can tell that she knows the truth," Kara answers.
"Kara, if Cat Grant thinks that you are Supergirl..." Alex begins to rant.
"Alex!" Kara yells to cut her off. "She knows, okay?"
Alex stops pacing and turns back to face her sister.
"Just stop. I-I'll handle it," Kara says firmly crossing her arms.
"She has to understand that this isn't some game, your secret identity is as important for her safety as it is for yours," Alex exclaims worriedly.
"What's this?" Snapper asks when Kara turns in the exclusive on Cat.
"Didn't you receive the press release?" Kara asks.
"Yeah, it was sent at 7:51 am. It is now 8:25 and I haven't even assigned it yet," he grumbles.
"It was given to me late yesterday. And you said that when we get an exclusive press release..." Kara begins to remind him of his own rule.
"Danvers, I'm not questioning that. Why didn't you log it in the assignment folder?" He questions.
"I logged it this morning, when I turned it in," Kara points out.
"From now on, when you get an exclusive, you notify me immediately," Snapper barks, pointing his finger in her face.
"Uh Chief, does that apply to everyone or just me?" Kara questions angrily, crossing her arms in front of her.
"It applies to you Ponytail," he grumbles before storming away from her desk.
"Exclusives from you, go through me Grant," Snapper says angrily as he enters the CEO's office.
"Excuse me," Cat replies, slowly looking up from her computer to her irate Editor-in-Chief. "Oh, I'm sorry Lucas, did I overstep?" She asks sarcastically pushing her chair back slightly, just enough to improve the angle of her best angry glare. "Because last I checked, it's my name on the masthead as publisher."
"You hired me to run your editorial division. You replace yourself with Olsen, the boy wonder, and you force me to take on Danvers, your pet project, and turn her into a reporter. Well how do you expect me to do that if you're going to hand-feed her exclusives," he bellows. "She needs to do the work to get the bylines or have you forgotten what it takes to be a real reporter?"
"I assure you that I know exactly what it takes to be a reporter. And she is doing the work. Do I need to remind you that I am not the first CEO to give Ms Danvers an exclusive," Cat points out, feeling the need to remind him that she knows all everything that has transpired in her absence.
"Oh, I get it," he scoffs. "Don't think I don't know what's going on here. And yes, you are the second female CEO in National City to fall under the ingenuous charm of Kara Danvers," he counters loudly.
Cat flinches at the remark before glaring at him dangerously.
"Out. Side," she says seething in anger, but not about to have this discussion in view of the bullpen.
Snapper follows her out to the balcony, realizing that his remark was a bit out of line, but not about to apologize.
"Lucas, it's not as if I wasn't aware of your misogynistic tendencies," she begins calmly. "But let me just enlighten you for a moment. If this were two male CEO's and young male cub reporter, you wouldn't even consider anything untoward was going on," Cat challenges.
He shrugs. "Cat, you've known me a long time. I call them how I see them. Now, Danvers isn't the innocent rube that she purports to be. It's an act. I know it and you know it," he declares before leaving abruptly.
Her exclusive from Cat created quite the buzz in the morning editorial meeting. Not to mention the rumors surrounding a loud conversation between Cat and Snapper in her office afterward. And although she tries not to hear them, the comments whispered among her fellow reporters have been difficult to ignore, which is why she is now hiding in her secret office working on the vigilante story.
She's attempted to contact each person on the suggested contact list, but it's not getting her anywhere. Frustrated, she picks up the phone to call the one person who isn't on the list.
"Hey," James answers.
"Hey," Kara replies in return. "Uh, do you have a minute to talk?" She asks.
"Sure, what's up?" James replies.
"I have a new assignment and I wanted to ask you a few questions," Kara begins. "Off the record," she adds quickly.
"Off the record, Kara. Are you calling me as a reporter?" He questions suddenly concerned.
"Not exactly. You left an assignment pitch on Guardian. Cat found it and gave it to Snapper, who has assigned it to me," she explains.
"Oh," he says expelling a heavy sigh. "I deleted that file, she couldn't have just found it," James blurts out.
"I was given a printed copy of it," Kara informs him.
"What are you going to do? You can't... I mean you won't, will you?" He asks worriedly.
"Of course I won't," Kara replies brusquely. "That's why I'm calling you. What the hell were you thinking James? Why would you even write this pitch?"
"I-I was frustrated that Carr was ignoring Guardian. It was something that I was going to write, myself," he replies.
"James, you told me that I couldn't use Supergirl as a source, yet you were planning to write this story?" Kara blurts out angrily.
"No, no. I wasn't," he argues. "I was just trying to draw attention to something being ignored in the media in general," he points out. "What, um, Kara what are you going to write?" James asks.
"Honestly James, I don't know yet. I-I just thought you should know that's all," she says tiredly before ending the call.