"No-Kara, down!" Alex glared at the golden retriever who was glaring right back, smack dab in the middle of the bed.
"Ruff! RRRRrrrruff!" The puppy barked and whined.
"You sleep on the bed when you're a human! You sleep on the couch when you're a dog!" Alex hissed.
"Bark bark bark!"
"No, you don't get to boss me around! I'm still your older sister!" Alex lunged on to the bed, grabbing the puppy around the middle. Wriggling dog in hand, she stomped back to the living room where a blanket had been laid out for Kara.
"Stop it-ow! Stop!" Alex glared down at the puppy who was nibbling on Alex's hand with her puppy teeth. "You are a dog and you shed! I had to take you out to go number one AND two and then because I didn't have a bag, some old lady yelled at me for not picking up after you!"
The dog barked back as if telling Alex, hey, she was just a dog and Alex should've remembered and did Alex THINK she actually wanted to do her business in public? Neither of the Danver sisters thought it was a weird that even as a dog, Alex could communicate with Kara perfectly well.
"I had to wipe you. This is why you stay on the couch." Alex put Kara down, then knelt down so she was eye-level with the blue-eyed canine. "Kara, Kara, listen."
Kara had turned away to face the couch, back to Alex, whuffing with discontent.
"You shed."
Kara turned to glare at Alex as if to say, 'take it back'.
"No, it's true. You shed and you need to sleep on this couch. I am not doing this." Alex said firmly.
Kara tried a different tactic, turning watery eyes on Alex, full puppy-pout on accompanied by quite an impressive whimper.
"Ohmygodstop." Alex's eyes widened.
Kara continued whimpering, lifting a paw in a plaintive gesture. In no time at all, Kara was back in bed with Alex, who was glaring at the golden retriever from her side of the bed.
"You are evil. That look is banned from now on, you can't do the puppy-dog pout in dog-form. That's cheating."
Kara wriggled closer to her sister and washed Alex's face with puppy kisses.
"Yuck." Alex complained, but the smile on her face told Kara not to take it seriously. They fell asleep, snuggled together, but in the morning, their positions had changed and Kara was snoring, slumped across Alex's forehead while Alex had a nightmare about a Fort Rozz escapee trying to crush her head.
"BWAHhh!" Alex finally woke up with a start, shooting up to a sitting position and catapulting Kara to the end of the bed. The puppy rolled a few times until she stopped, lying on her back. Kara stayed on the bed, still sleeping.
"Oh my god, Kara." Alex groaned, rubbing her head. Even when they were younger, Kara had been a heavy sleeper. She would move a bit at night but once she was deep asleep, it was like she was dead.
"Kara." Alex leaned over and tickled the puppy's tummy. Kara let out little yips of disapproval and rolled over onto her side to continue sleeping. Alex chuckled and slipped out of bed, heading to the kitchen to start up breakfast. Since she didn't have to get into work until the afternoon today, she decided to treat herself and make some pancakes. By the time she had a nice pile of pancakes and some eggs and bacon sizzling on the stove, she heard the scrabbling of paws against the hardwood floors and a bark behind her. Alex turned to see Kara, sitting on her haunches with her front paws in the air.
"Oh-ho, now you wake up." Alex turned off the fire on the stove and shovelled her strips of bacon onto a plate. Kara drooled. Alex always made the bacon the way she liked, soft and chewy. Kara whimpered and waved her paws in the air, still drooling.
"Hold on, Kara. It's almost ready…" Alex shovelled the egg-over-easy, the way Kara liked it-onto a large plate and was bringing it to the table with Kara dogging her heels, when the doorbell rang.
With the night Alex had had, she went to the safe hidden underneath her sink and retrieved her weapon and holster. Gun at the ready and a waggy-tailed Kara at her feet, Alex cursed as Kara went for the door and scratched at it happily.
"Aw, who's a good girl?" Vasquez's voice cooed through the door. Kara yipped. Alex let out a sigh and went back to holster her weapon and tuck it back underneath the sink. She went for the door and opened it to admit one, Agent Vasquez, looking like she had pulled an all-nighter but was also, quite suspiciously, laden with gifts.
"You know these online websites really ship fast now!" Vasquez bustled in. "Mmm! That smells great! Sign me up!"
"Vasquez," Alex closed the front door, sighing as she lined up Vasquez's shoes at the door. "How much coffee did you drink."
"One!" Vasquez chirped. Her darty eyes told Alex there was more to this story.
"One...?"
Vasquez was sweating under Alex's narrowed eyes and couldn't seem to stop herself from blurting out her secret. "POT!"
"You drank one pot-wait. The big coffee pot in the lunchroom?! The one that has like a fifty cup capacity?"
"...No."
"LIAR." Alex pronounced. Kara yipped in agreement. "You're going to die of a heart attack!"
"Not true, I burned off all that caffeine with online shopping." Vasquez's entire phrase was a run-on sentence. She brandished her bags to distract them. "You probably didn't even buy actual puppy food for puppy-Supergirl, so I bought some nutritious puppy kibble and I researched the brands all night and this one was developed for dogs that go out into space for long solo missions but then NASA decided humans going to space was more interesting than a dog in space but really, who wouldn't want to watch a puppy floating around in space eating space kibble-"
"VASQUEZ." Alex sighed. "Would you please sit down and I'll serve you some breakfast."
"Let me just get a bowl and give Supergirl some food-"
Alex tuned out the hyper-active agent who bustled around Alex's kitchen trying to find a bowl. By the time Alex had everything set out for her guest, Kara was diving into the bowl on the floor with enthusiasm while… dressed in a Supergirl costume?
"Where did you get that."
"I found it online!"
Kara-Supergirl now, in costume, yipped happily and wagged her tail. She trotted over to lean her head against Alex's leg, looking up at her sister with plaintive eyes.
"You ate a," Alex frowned at the 'bowl' used to house Kara's food, "whole large salad bowl of food. You are not still hungry."
Kara raised her nose in the air and howled mournfully.
"OH MY GOD TAKE ALL MY FOOD." Vasquez was ready to give up her breakfast.
"No, Vasquez, puppies can't eat all of that and I don't want to have to deal with the consequences of a sick puppy." Alex said authoritatively. Vasquez, quite grudgingly, kept her food and ate it while trying to make sure she couldn't meet Supergirl's eye. It wasn't long before everyone was finished and Alex was washing the dishes and Vasquez was playing with Kara, taking pictures of the puppy in her costume and cooing over how adorable she was. While placing the dishes on the dry rack, Alex was suddenly aware that there was silence coming from the living room.
"Kara? Vasquez-"
"Ruff." Kara's admonishing bark was soft. It was also muffled by the blanket in her mouth she was struggling to pull over to Vasquez who had conked out on the floor.
"Still so helpful." Alex smiled at Kara and scratched the puppy's head. The little dog wiggled her butt in pleasure, her tail wagging out of control and making her lose her balance. Alex laughed softly.
"Here, let me help." Alex took the blanket and draped it over Vasquez. The agent muttered sleepily but continued sleeping away.
Alex chuckled, gently tucking a cushion under Vasquez's head. "What a nut."
"Ruff." Kara agreed softly. Kara suddenly got a strange look on her puppy face and whined.
"Oh, do you need to go to the washroom?" Alex looked around. Vasquez had brought a lot of stuff, but not a leash. "You'll behave yourself, right?"
Kara nodded frantically, losing her balance again and tipping over. She whined, annoyed at Alex. She wasn't just some dog who would run away!
"Come on." Alex went to the door, opening it and shooing Kara out.
In her little Supergirl costume with the little red cape, Kara ran, waiting impatiently for the elevator to come, then paced inside the elevator until it opened up on ground level. She stormed out as soon as the elevator doors opened, barking at the person coming into the building to hold the door open for her.
"Woah," The guy held the door open as the little puppy zipped out, Alex following closely behind.
"Oh crap-" Alex stumbled into the door-holder, knocking over the mail he had in his hands.
"I'm so sorry! Here, let me just-" Alex stooped over and helped the young man collect his mail, muttering another sorry before rushing out.
"Where did she go?" Alex looked up and down the street, chose a direction and hoped that that was where Kara had run off to.
Kara, meanwhile, had dived into the closest bushes because, gosh, she needed her privacy, and quickly lets it all go. Feeling much better, she sauntered out of the bushes after kicking dirt into her business a couple of times because geez, she gets embarrassed, too!
"Woah, watch out, kid." A friendly voice startled her.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kara turned around to face a HUMONGOUS German Shepherd dog with a completely black face. "AH! BIG DOG BIG DOG BIG DOG I'M SCARED I'M SCARED I'M SCARED-"
"Calm yourself down, pup." The striking German Shepherd held out a paw and pressed down on the puppy, so she was now lying on her side.
"What. What what what. Let me up!" Kara barked and thrashed around mightily for all of five seconds before she tired herself out.
"Where's your human, pup?" The German Shepherd let her go, thinking she had calmed down... which would be his downfall! Kara attacked the big dog's front leg, chewing on it with little snarly growls.
"Puppy." The German Shepherd wheezed a doggy laugh, his head the size of her entire body. "Stop. I'm trying to help you here, geez."
"You're gonna eat me!" Kara said indignantly.
The large dog tucked its tail under its legs. "I'm a good boy! I'm not going to eat you! I just want to help!"
"I don't need help! Alex is right behind me-" Kara looked around, suddenly realizing she couldn't see her sister. "I… I… I'm lost!"
Kara, overwhelmed with puppy feelings, sat her butt down and started whimpering. She didn't even know where she was! She didn't recognize anything! Everything was too big and too strange!
"Stop crying." The big dog scoffed. He looked even bigger up close as he snuffled at her belly.
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself." He cocked an eyebrow at her, which was so weird for a dog. "What's your name, pup?"
"I'm Kara." Kara whimpered.
"I'm Tigger." The German Shepherd introduced himself. "Follow me, and don't talk to any strange dogs."
"You're a strange dog." Kara hurried after her long-limbed companion. "And where's your owner?"
"My human is back at the park with everyone else. I just left to explore! And I'm a good dog, so I'm okay." Tigger sounded almost offended. "But there are other dogs around that aren't so friendly, so stick with me."
"Okay, Mr. Tigger."
"It's just Tigger." He waited for her, tongue lolling as he eyed her costume. "Nice outfit, pup. You a fan of the flying girl?"
"Supergirl." Kara wagged her tail, suddenly curious as to what animals thought of her. "Yeah. I'm a huge fan! What about you?"
"Yeah, she's pretty cool. She saved a friend of mine, once. She was stuck up a tree and Supergirl brought her down."
"Oh, you're friends with a cat?" Kara wagged her tail. She loved kitties!
"Oh, no. Fluffy's a snake."
"Oh! I remember her!" Kara shook herself out, shuddering and remembering the feel of scales against her hands.
"You've met Fluffy?" Tigger tilted his head, looking at Kara.
"Um, that is, I saw her. On TV." Kara didn't know why she lied and why she would lie to Tigger. He was just a dog!
"Fluffy would be happy to hear!" Tigger wagged his tail, panting loudly in a doggy laugh. "She thinks she's super photogenic. I think she looks beautiful, too! Her scales are super shiny!"
Kara wagged her tail happily at how great this German Shepherd was. Tigger was so nice, he really was a good boy!
"Can you describe your human?" Tigger asked as they loped along.
"She's very pretty," Kara struggled to keep up. Tigger slowed down as she stumbled a bit, allowing her to pick herself back up and follow the big dog. He was so fast!
"She has red hair-"
"What's red?" Tigger had a comically expressive face and his brows were furrowed in puzzlement.
"Oh. Um. It's like… the colour of roses."
"What's colour?"
"Uhhh-"
"Kidding, pup." Tigger chuckled. "But what I was asking was what does she smell like? Anything we can pick out?"
"She just… she just smells like Alex." Kara said hopelessly, slowing down in her stumbling run to sit down and whimper.
"Don't be sad, Kara." Tigger circled around her and nudged her until she started moving again. "We'll go to the park. Maybe my human can help. Or maybe your human is there looking for you!"
"Alright." Kara perked up, determination shining in her puppy eyes. She would find Alex! And she had her new friend, Tigger, to help her!