"Kara, you need to come to headquarters as soon as possible."
Kara reads the text and glances nervously over to where Cat is still working on the press release.
"Problem?" Cat asks without looking up.
"Uh, not exactly, it's just my sister is asking when I'll be done. She needs help with something," Kara explains carefully not lying.
"Fine, you can go. I'll finish this and send it to you for review and we'll send it out first thing tomorrow morning," Cat replies dismissing her with a wave of her hand.
"A-Are you sure Ms Grant?" Kara asks.
"Yes, it's your day off Kara go enjoy it," Cat replies firmly.
"I can explain. This is all just a terrible misunderstanding," Kara says when she enters the DEO.
"Kara, it doesn't matter. There is a photo of you in the National City Examiner with a headline calling you Supergirl," Alex replies, "I don't think that I need to tell you how potentially bad this is."
"It's calling me Cat Grant's Supergirl," Kara points out.
"It's dangerous Kara, do you have any idea how many photos of you there are from that event yesterday?" Alex argues, "And what is this rumor that you've been promoted to fashion editor?"
"Ms Grant has finally promoted me, Alex." Kara replies, "I know you think that this is bad, but it's not. It's good for me, it's good for Kara Danvers," she exclaims.
"It's dangerous for both Kara and Supergirl!" Alex blurts out exasperated. "Maxima has already promised to come back for you and do you want her showing up at CATCO Plaza to kidnap you in front of everyone?"
"M-Ms Grant? You're going on Good Afternoon National City with Gayle Anderson...today?" Kara asks bursting into Cat's office the next morning.
"Yes Kiera, she called me last night and offered me a chance to dispel the notions that I'm having an affair with my assistant," Cat replies glancing up at her for a moment, then dropping her pen and staring at the girl in front of her.
Kara is wearing a sleeveless shift dress that fades from light pink to fuschia to almost black with a pair of black strappy wedges.
Slowly Cat rises up from her chair to walk around Kara openly admiring her. "Who designed this dress? She asks, taking off her glasses and chewing on the ear piece.
"Uh, my sister has a friend from college who works at a design house, it's just a piece that didn't get chosen for the line, this one was my size, so she gave it to me," Kara explains nervously. "I just thought that since you're always complaining about my other clothes, I'd try wearing some of these clothes," she rambles.
Cat continues to circle her and finally steps in close to touch the fabric and run her hands over Kara's shoulders, smiling slyly when she feels Kara tremble at her touch.
"But you know, I can just run home and change. I should have known that wearing unknown designers was a bad idea..." Kara says taking a step back out to leave the office.
"No." Cat says sharply. "You wear this well," she adds. "Although the Steve Madden shoes scream discount shop, this dress is perfect for you."
"Uh thank you," Kara says relieved. It's rare for Cat to approve of her clothing and Kara is elated as she realizes how much Cat likes it on her.
"Now, I am curious which house your friend works in. There's a possible story here Kara," Cat adds and it's not lost on Kara that Cat used her actual name again. "Now go clear my schedule for the day so I can do this godforsaken show with Gayle, but schedule a meeting for us to discuss this sometime early next week."
"Yes, Ms Grant," Kara answers. "And what time should I have the car take you over to the studio?"
"I'm not going to the studio, they're doing the show here at CATCO on the employee balcony," Cat gestures to the team of maintenance men working on clearing it. "Unfortunately my balcony wasn't large enough to accommodate the set," she explains with a little pout.
"Wait, what?" Kara blurts out.
Cat smiles at her stammering assistant. "You should order in some refreshments, set up an impromptu green room in the break room. Oh and move Dave's desk so that he's behind something, his hair will be distracting in the background."
"K-Kara what's going on? You've been staring in at the bullpen for ten minutes," Winn asks joining her on the patio.
"The bullpen is the backdrop for the show and Ms Grant wants me to hide Dave behind something, she says his hair is distracting," Kara explains nervously.
"Maybe if I raise my monitor," Winn suggests rushing inside to show her.
"It's not enough," Kara replies when he returns to her side. "I know, what if his computer went out and he had to sit at another desk?" She asks.
"Well, Kelly is out on maternity leave, so if he works over at her desk then it would put him out of the main background," Winn points out.
"Great, so you'll figure out how to get him to move over to her desk?" Kara asks.
"Yeah, I'll think of something," Winn replies smiling at her.
"Thanks Winn. Now I have a hundred more things to do in the next two hours," Kara replies returning the smile.
"Good afternoon National City! Gayle Anderson coming to you live from CATCO Plaza our guest on today's show is none other than the self-proclaimed Queen of Media, Cat Grant, CEO of CATCO. We'll be interviewing her after the rundown of today's top stories in National City!" Gayle exclaims breathlessly waiting for the cue to cut as they send the show back to the studio for the rundown.
"SELF-PROCLAIMED QUEEN OF ALL MEDIA?" Cat roars when the director cues the cut. "Gayle you know perfectly well that Anderson Cooper was the first to call me Queen of all Media. Now you will make a retraction or I'll have my team dig up that video and run it on a loop on every screen in the bullpen behind us!" she threatens.
The producer steps in to mediate and to Cat's surprise, Gayle agrees to use the Anderson Cooper footage to let Cat refute the opening claim.
Cat suddenly realizes why and she motions for Kara to come over, "She's setting me up, the Anderson Cooper show is where I met Cate Blanchett and we had a moment of sorts right after he called me Queen of All Media, she's trying to frame me as a lesbian provocateur," Cat explains rapidly. "Get Anderson Cooper on the phone and have our team patch the call into our sound system," she instructs.
"Yes Ms Grant," Kara says making a mental note to watch that episode of Anderson Cooper as soon as possible.
"We are back with Cat Grant at CATCO Plaza," Gayle says into the camera, while Cat smiles tightly next to her. "And we need to make a slight correction, don't we Cat?"
"Yes, while it's true that I have playfully referred to myself as the Queen of all Media, it was actually my good friend Anderson Cooper who first bestowed me with that title," Cat explains lightly.
"Yes, let's cue the video," Gayles says nodding to her producer.
"Oh that's not necessary, I have Anderson on the phone, let's just ask him," Cat says nodding to her sound guy.
"Anderson?" Cat calls out sweetly.
"Cat! Always good to hear from the Queen of All Media," he replies, repeating what Kara asked him to say.
"Anderson, I'm sitting here with Gayle Anderson on Good Afternoon National City," Cat explains.
"Oh well hello Gayle and hello National City," Anderson says pleasantly.
"Anderson do you remember a few years back when I was in New York as a guest on your show, I believe that you were the first to call me the Queen of All Media," she prompts.
"Of course, Cat. You were the talk of New York, your talk show was just picked up for syndication, you'd just launched your magazine and you were moving the Tribune into CATCO Plaza," Anderson replies. "And there's no doubt that you're still the Queen of all Media, you were trending on Twitter all weekend" he adds.
"Thank you for pointing that out Mr Cooper. Let's show the viewers the highlights from Twitter," Gayle says cutting off the call.
"Cat let's talk about you and Supergirl," Gayle says when they come back from break. The screen shows the Supergirl special edition of CATCO magazine and then cuts to footage of the launch party.
"Supergirl is National City's own superhero," Cat replies proudly. "And we put out a special edition of CATCO magazine to celebrate."
"And I understand that Supergirl even showed up for this event," Gayle remarks.
On the screen, the video shows Maxima's dramatic entrance followed by Supergirl's arrival. Thankfully the producer freezes the frame with Supergirl and Maxima squaring off.
"Now Cat was this staged for theatrical purpose?" Gayle asks.
"Definitely not Gayle. I had no idea who this Maxima person was until she crashed the launch party looking for Supergirl," Cat explains.
"We need to cut for a commercial break, but when we come back, we'll take a look at Cat Grant's personal Supergirl, her assistant Kara Danvers," Gayle says staring directly into the camera.
"Gayle, this is ridiculous. Why do you insist on calling Kara my personal Supergirl?" Cat asks angrily.
"Maybe because she's gorgeous, built like an Amazon and rather protective of you. Cat, have you not seen the coverage from last weekend?" Gayle teases.
"How long is this break?" Cat asks impatiently.
"You have 4 minutes," the producer replies.
"I'll be right back," Cat says rushing out to find Kara.
"Kiera?" Cat pushes open the door to the balcony off her office and finds Kara sitting there wringing her hands.
"I'm sorry, this show is off the rails. Gayle is not following any of the guidelines that we agreed to. I-I never should have agreed to do the show live," Cat says sitting down beside the girl on the small settee.
Kara turns and places her arm along the back of the settee,"Ms Grant, I'm worried about them connecting you to Supergirl. Maxima is dangerous and what's to stop her from kidnapping you to get to Supergirl like she kidnapped Lois Lane to get to Superman?" Kara asks.
Noting Kara's concern, Cat reaches out and places a hand on Kara's leg. "Well, Kara I'm not dating Supergirl for one thing," Cat points out. "And the story is that you are my personal Supergirl which has nothing to do with Maxima or Superman," she adds. "I'm more worried about how this story is going to affect your personal narrative. You're continually being downgraded as nothing more than my assistant."
"Super Assistant," Kara corrects her with a nervous smile.
"We both know that you're much more than that," Cat says softly.
"Ms Grant, 90 seconds to air," a man says stepping out onto the patio.
"Thank you, I'm on my way," Cat replies standing up. "Kara, we will discuss this later," she adds.
Kara sits on the couch in Ms Grant's office watching the show and cringing at each photo they use to portray her as Cat's Super Assistant.
"There's not a lot that you do to counteract this type of publicity," James says entering the office and sitting down on the opposite couch.
"I know," Kara replies. "And now the DEO says working at CATCO is too dangerous for Kara Danvers."
"I see their point," James says nodding at the screen, where there is a photo of Kara and Supergirl side by side.
"Oh no," Kara exclaims jumping up to pace the office.
"Look, the photo of Supergirl is grainy, it's not one of mine at least," he points out. "And the photo of Kara Danvers is a side profile, so not many people will notice the resemblance," James adds trying to comfort her.
"It's just a matter of time though James," Kara counters sadly. "Look, I need to leave for a bit to clear my head. Can you cover me for an hour or so?" she asks.
"Sure, but just be careful, Cat has the newscopter on standby in case you show up here," he reminds her.
"You disappeared before the end of the show," Cat states when Kara enters the office later that afternoon.
"I just needed to get some air... I-I-I'm not like you Ms Grant, I'm not used to being part of the story," Kara explains.
"I do not enjoy being the story either Kara," Cat remarks. "Now shut the office door and take a seat. I need to show you something and we're going to have a very frank discussion about it." The media mogul picks up her laptop and walks over to sit on the couch.
Kara takes her place on the opposite couch and Cat glares at her until she moves over to sit beside her.
"I had not seen this footage of Maxima crashing into the launch party until today and do you know what I see Kara?" Cat asks carefully.
"Uh, Maxima crashing down from the roof and then Supergirl appearing a few minutes later," Kara says narrating the video.
"Look more closely," Cat says restarting the video and pointing to herself standing with Kara behind her one moment and the next moment Kara is missing from the video. "Now I have examined this footage myself and there is no time gap, you simply disappeared. And a few minutes later Supergirl descends from the roof. Explain please."
Kara stands up and begins wringing her hands. "Ms Grant..." she begins pacing the room, trying to pull her thoughts together.
Impatiently Cat walks over to her, "Honestly Kara, there's only one plausible explanation for this," she points out as they stand in front of the patio door. "Take off your glasses please," Cat asks softly.
"Ms Grant, I'd be blind without them," Kara blurts out.
"Somehow I doubt that," Cat says reaching up and gently pulling Kara's hair down. Using both hands to fluff and pull her hair down to frame her face, before demanding again, "Glasses off now, please."
Kara looks down and slowly pulls the glasses off. Cat reaches out and gently lifts the girl's chin with her fingers.
"Supergirl," Cat exclaims breathlessly. "You've been right here in front of me this whole time," she adds glancing around and leading them both outside to the balcony.
"Ms Grant, I can explain. I didn't want to mislead you and it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that knowing who I am puts people in danger," Kara answers.
"More danger than having you around me day in and day out, Kara?" Cat questions.
"No one is targeting Kara Danvers Ms Grant," Kara counters, "Although that may change with all of this Super Assistant publicity."
"I feel partly responsible for this, but honestly I had no idea. It make sense to me now why I was immediately drawn to her," Cat remarks, idly wandering across the balcony deep in thought.
A familiar whoosh reaches Kara's ears before she can react Maxima lands between Kara and Cat.
"Saw you on TV all weekend my dear Supergirl," Maxima taunts. "You really have a thing for humans don't you?"
"I'm not Supergirl, I'm Kara Danvers, Cat Grant's assistant," Kara replies stammering a bit to sound less like Supergirl.
"You're not fooling me Kara Zor-El," Maxima replies in a bored voice. "Now why don't you go find Superman and then we can meet up later to trade," she adds snatching Cat up in her arms and flying off.