"Cat, what are you doing?" Kara asks once they're back at Cat's apartment, neither willing to let the other go just yet. Leslie is safely in an insulated cell at the DEO. Kara had to take a short phone call from Director Henshaw soon after they'd gotten there, defending Cat's knowledge of her identity and right to her privacy, but now she wants to curl up with the woman for a while, maybe have that talk they really need to have before things go any further.
But Cat isn't in the living room or study, and Kara doesn't want to pry by using her super senses to track her down. There are only a handful of places left to look, really, so with a quiet sigh and a hope she's not overstepping, Kara starts down the hallway to check them.
She finds Cat in her altar room, which really she should have expected. Cat is nothing but thorough about documenting her various witchy endeavors, and tonight definitely counts. The sharing of magic between them had been far more intimate than the kisses they'd shared, and an entirely new facet of magic for them both.
"You aren't avoiding me, are you?" Kara has to ask as she takes in the sight of Cat seated at her antique desk, carefully writing down her thoughts on scratch paper, spell book lying open to a blank page next to her. "Because if you really want space, I won't push tonight." She'll push later, of course, but not tonight. Not if Cat is overwhelmed and needs room to regain her emotional footing.
"Of course not," Cat says with a disbelieving look, one that Kara matches with a raised brow of her own. She knows Cat better than anyone at this point just from being at her side for so long, and avoidance is definitely one of Cat's favorite coping methods. "I'm not avoiding you, I'm well aware that it wouldn't work, at least not for very long. You're far too stubborn for that."
"I'd give you space if you needed it," Kara protests, because she would. If it was too much for Cat to handle, she'd back off in an instant until it wasn't.
"I know you would, Kara, I do. But we both know avoiding it tonight would be less about needing space and more about running from what happened." To hear Cat acknowledge the kiss so clearly settles something in Kara's stomach, letting her breathe.
"Do you want to run?" she can't help asking, wanting to be sure Cat is okay with things. "I mean, I don't want you to, but I know it was sudden."
"It wasn't sudden," Cat says, turning from her notes to meet Kara's eyes. "I mean yes, the kiss itself was a bit sudden, but it's been building for months now. Running won't change that fact."
Kara notices that Cat hadn't really answered the conversation, but the answer she had given was enough. At least it implies that they have a chance, once they talk about things.
"So what are you working on?" she asks rather than pushing, crossing the room to Cat's side.
"I'm writing my notes on what happened tonight," Cat explains, turning back to the table and picking her pen back up. "I'll transfer it to my spell book later, but I want to get my impressions down before the memory fades too much."
"And you needed to use the good pen for that?" Kara teases, knowing what the answer will be. She's mostly convinced Cat that she doesn't need the high end tools and supplies she'd bought over the years, but the pen hadn't changed.
"Are you sure you want to tease me about this pen tonight of all nights?" Cat asks with a pointed look up at her. "If I were you, I'd want to avoid upsetting me before we talk."
"I just don't understand why it always has to be that pen," Kara says, because she's never really understood that. "Even for the practice sheets, you always use that same pen."
"This pen has been with me for years, I've used it since I first started practicing. It was a gift to myself after I cast my first successful spell, and I've used it to keep track of every bit of magic I've performed. At this point, this pen is as much a part of my magic as I am." Cat had stopped writing as she began to talk, staring down at the pen in her hands with what almost seemed like reverence, maybe a step or two below.
"I didn't know," Kara says softly, wanting to apologize but not knowing how. "I didn't realize it was so important to you."
"How could you have?" Cat says, looking up with a small but genuine smile. "There's plenty in my life that you don't know, no matter how much you learned as my assistant."
"Will I have a chance to learn?" Kara can't help asking, breathing a sigh of relief when Cat nods, just once. "Okay, good," she can't help adding, earning the expected eye roll and sigh of exasperation from Cat.
"If you're quite done distracting me, the sooner I finish this, the sooner I can get to other things," Cat says with a slightly suggestive smirk, and Kara blinks rapidly in response as her brain nearly short circuits. Not that she's complaining, but that's a bit of a turnaround from Cat's earlier hesitation, and she doesn't know what's causing it.
"Are you sure?" she asks, needing to know.
"Kara, do I ever do anything I'm not sure about?" Cat asks pointedly, earning a quick head shake from Kara. "We'll talk before anything and go from there, as long as you're comfortable."
"I am," Kara rushes out, smiling at Cat's reaction to her eagerness. "I just don't want to rush into anything, or rush you into it."
"Then we'll talk about that too," Cat says easily, reaching out with the hand holding the pen to grab one of Kara's hands. And the pen is warm in their grasp, full of Cat's power. She can feel it, pulsing between them as the contact lingers and grows.
"Remind me to never tease you about the pen again," Kara says once Cat turns back to writing, content to watch for now.
"I'm sure I'll come up with plenty ways to remind you," Cat teases, breaking the tension.
Things might be different, and they might still need to talk, but at least they seem to have a chance.
