"Kara!" Alex yelled as she hurried down the hall to meet her sister, stopping abruptly when she realized who she was carrying. "Oh my god. What…"

"She needs help!" Kara demanded, looking around as the medics came to her. "She's hurt."

"I'm fine," Cat argued, refusing to leave with them as Kara slowly let her down. "It's just a few cuts. I've broken both arms white water-rafting down the Amazon. I'll survive this."

She shook herself free from Supergirl's grip, letting the sand roll off her silk shirt, fixing her hair as she took in her surroundings, before quickly turning back to Kara, then to Alex.

Time stood still for a moment as Cat stared at her, letting it seep in, the room spinning a bit as she realized the name she had just heard her call Supergirl.

She closed her eyes, swallowing hard as everything became clear, remembering them all gathered together in the small television studio during Myriad, remembering months earlier when Alex visited Kara at the office, multiple times. She thought she looked familiar but couldn't place her then. Now, she felt idiotic for not putting the pieces together sooner.

"Ms. Grant, I…"

"No," Cat practically whispered, breathing through her nose. "You don't have to say anything. I can see for myself."

"I'm...I would have told you, eventually...if…"

"If what?" Cat shrugged. "I get it. I'm a journalist. You assumed you couldn't trust me."

"But I know now that you would never…"

"It's fine," Cat seethed, trying to pretend it was, not sure if it really was or how she felt about anything at the moment. "Truth be told, I knew all along. What I still don't know is how you tricked me with that stunt when there were two of you in my office."

"I'm...there's...a lot, Ms. Grant. A lot you don't know, but I'll explain everything."

"Kara," Alex looked at her sharply.

"What was I supposed to do!?" she turned to Alex, exasperated. "She was almost killed, again, by this monster! I couldn't just leave her out there! We have to figure out why it's after her."

Alex sighed, closing her eyes, trying to think through all the protocols that were being broken, but knowing Kara was right. She turned to face Cat again.

"Are you an alien too?" Cat asked, eyeing her curiously.

"No," Alex shook her head. "But before you ask any other questions, I think we need to ask you a few ourselves."

"I have no idea what this thing is or what it wants from me," Cat rolled her eyes. "But you can ask whatever you want."

"I'm afraid we need to do more than that," Hank told them as he approached. "Whatever's causing this entity to target you may be deeper than a few simple questions can answer."

Cat began to shift, looking back and forth between the agents, then around again at the facility.

"You mean you want to examine me, like a lab rat in one of these chambers? I told you, I don't know anything. I'm not the one you should be studying to figure out how to stop this."

"How can we be sure?" he asked. "If you're what it wants, maybe there's something within you that's drawing it out."

"No," Kara shook her head. "I trust her completely. I know she's not hiding anything. You can't subject her to…"

"I don't need you defending me," Cat interrupted. "If these glorified mercenaries want to cut me open and see what's inside, fine. I don't know what you think you'll find, but if that will get you to turn your attention back to the real threat, I'll submit to your tests."

"Very well," he nodded. "This way."

"Wait!" Kara stopped them, turning to Cat, eyes glistening as she looked at her intensely. "Ms. Grant...I need you to know that...I believe in you. I know you're upset that I've been keeping this secret, but...I hope you understand why I did. You...working for you...with you...means more to me than I can put in words. Whatever happens, I'm not going anywhere. I'm the same person I was before, just…"

"I know," Cat said softly, looking back at her with eyes full, fighting once again to maintain her distance, before following Hank into the lab.

"I can't believe you brought her here," Alex scolded.

"How could I not?" Kara asked. "I almost didn't make it in time. Again, Alex! I couldn't have lived with myself if she…"

Kara fought back her tears, refusing to break.

"I know," Alex sighed, bringing her hand to her sister's shoulder. "I'm sorry to be harsh. I'm just worried, about Hank...J'onn. He's out to the DEO, but we've worked so hard to keep his story from the rest of the world. You might think she's loyal to you, but that doesn't mean she will be to anyone else. She could write about anything and everything she sees."

"She won't," Kara shook her head. "I know she won't."

Alex looked at her skeptically, taken aback by just how upset Kara was over this, beyond the fear and frustration of dealing with another attack.

Slowly, she watched her sister's face become grave.

"How many others were…"

Kara had almost forgotten the way the tornado ripped through the city, tearing across several blocks before making it to Cat. She couldn't believe how narrow her focus had been, that she hadn't tried to save more lives before whisking Cat out of harm's way.

"We don't know final numbers," Alex told her. "Thankfully, they were office buildings, except for Ms. Grant's. Most people had gone home by the time it…"

"What about the others in her building?"

Alex shook her head.

"I think when it got there, it changed its path to just her floor, but...I can't be sure."

She wished she could protect Kara from this kind of pain, but knew that as time went on, she would need to face the fact that she couldn't save everyone.

"I didn't know anything was happening," Kara shook her head. "I couldn't even sense anything was wrong until...she called me...I…"

"Neither could we," Alex assured. "We got the call just before you got here."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Kara breathed. "It feels like it's getting stronger and I'm getting weaker."

"That's not true," Alex insisted. "You were able to pull Cat away and bring her here."

"But I should have lifted the whole building!" she groaned. "I could have stopped…"

"Kara," Alex grabbed her shoulders. "You are able to do amazing things, save people time and again from all forms of havoc. But you're just one person, superpowered or not. No one can do it all alone. You need to come to terms with that."

"Where is Clark, then, huh?" Kara scoffed. "If I'm not able to stop this myself, why isn't he swooping in to help me?"

"Because he can't."

They both swirled around to the deep voice behind them.

"James," Kara spoke, surprised to see him.

"I got back from Metropolis last night," he told them. "I asked Clark if he'd heard about this entity. He said he had, but he didn't want to jump in unless you really needed him. Tonight, he tried to come when he heard about the tornado, but something stopped him from being able to use his powers. Like…an invisible forcefield, but internal. It was like a switch turned everything off from the inside. He can't figure out what it is either."

"Great," Kara sighed. "So I am alone, then. I'm not powerful enough to defeat this."

"You don't know that," Alex stopped her. "And you're not alone. You've got all of us. Even Ms. Grant's in there doing what she can to…"

"Wait, Cat's here?" James interrupted. "How did…"

"There's a lot for you to catch up on," Lucy said as she joined them. "Hank's with her right now. He'll let us know the results as soon as he's finished."

"I'm confused," James shook his head.

"Join the club," Alex agreed.

"You shouldn't be here," Lucy told him, still somewhat bitter, though they'd started trying to be friends again. "But since you are, why don't I give you the update."

He nodded, following her back into the main atrium. Before he left, he turned to face Kara.

"It'll be alright," he said. "I know you'll figure this out. Clark has faith in you. We all do."

"Thanks," Kara smiled hesitantly, hoping he was right.

Hank called Alex and Kara into the lab. Cat sat on the edge of an exam table, feet dangling over metal, looking into her lap.

Kara felt a lump in her throat when she saw Cat's face, despondent, scared, embarrassed. She wanted to reach out so badly, let her know that whatever this was, she would help stop it, but she knew she needed to listen to what the tests revealed first. She was sure it was nothing, but then again, she'd been surprised before, especially by J'onn. Still, Cat being anything other than human seemed impossible.

"So," Alex crossed her arms. "Are you an alien too?"

"Alex," Kara chided, watching Ms. Grant continue to fidget.

"She's one hundred percent human," Hank confirmed.

"Of course she is," Kara spoke quickly. "I told you she's not hiding…"

"That's not exactly true," Hank stopped her. "I ran a number of tests—biophysical, psychological, checked her blood. She is human, but…"

He looked at Cat, this time with more compassion than before. Kara swallowed hard, eyes darting back and forth between them.

"Do you want to tell them?" he asked.

"No, no," Cat sighed, seeming defeated. "You're the expert. Why don't you...illuminate them...on my behalf."

Hank took a deep breath as he walked closer to Cat, standing near her, offering what support he could.

"She's an empath," Hank finally told them.

Kara kept looking at Cat, trying not to stare, noticing the red creeping up her neck and flushing her cheeks as her boss kept her eyes fixed on the ground.

"I've heard that term before," Kara spoke softly. "But...what exactly does it mean?"

"It means I'm a living, breathing, ticking time bomb of emotion," Cat finally spoke. "It means I can feel things...more deeply, more thoroughly than others, if I choose to, which I don't. It means it would be nearly impossible for me to have any sort of objectivity, to be trusted, as a journalist, if people knew the extent to which I feel...everything."

Kara's brow furrowed, shaking her head.

"I don't understand," she continued. "I know you're a deeply compassionate person, underneath the tough exterior you show the world, but...how does being an empath make you that different from the rest of us? And why is it a bad thing?"

"It's not," Hank assured, putting a hand on Cat's shoulder. She flinched at first, but then softened, letting it stay there. "There's nothing bad or wrong or evil about it. In fact, Cat Grant may be one of the most genuinely kind-hearted people on this planet."

"Does she also have some kind of mind control that's making you say that?" Alex questioned. "Because she may not be a villain, but she can also be a pretty big…"

"Hey!" Kara stopped her again, knowing her sister was just trying to be protective, but she refused to make this harder than it had to be. "Enough."

"Sorry," Alex whispered.

"The truth is," Hank continued. "When she's not putting up a wall preventing it, Ms. Grant can sense people's emotions to an extraordinary degree. She can tell when they're afraid, when they're happy, when they're lying, you name it."

Kara swallowed, hard, looking up at Cat again, catching her eye before turning back to Hank.

"I've rarely seen anyone, of any species, with this strong of an empathic ability," Hank reported. "What I don't get is how it's connected to what's been trying to kill her."

Kara began pacing, thinking through what her mother told her about the apocalyptic creature when she and Cat were in the Fortress.

"Alura said the entity feeds off fear, violence, everything negative that people have done to the Earth and continue inflicting on each other," she told them. "But from what you're saying, Cat's abilities are the opposite of that."

"For the most part," he said. "She has the ability to relate to others, be in tune with whatever they're feeling, and that makes her more inclined to want to do good by them, to help society alleviate what afflicts them. But whatever she's feeling, whether it's a positive emotion like joy or something more painful like depression or anger, could be amplified by the same power she has to pick up on what those around her are feeling."

"What were you feeling right before the tornado came for you?" Alex asked.

"I'm not going to start confessing every emotion I happen to allow to flutter through my brain," Cat seethed. "It's enough for everyone to know I'm not made of stone. I don't need people thinking they can chip away at me now that they've realized how weak I am."

"How can you say that?" Kara shook her head, stepping closer to Cat, watching her knees shake as her hands gripped the sides of the table. "Having strong emotions is what makes you incredible. It's what makes you passionate about your work, about letting people know what's out there, what could harm them or what could help them, about doing what's right. You've always had an ethic behind what you do, Ms. Grant. That might not be the kind of journalism some people respect, but it's the kind the world needs."

Cat continued looking away from her, trying not to fall apart in front of all these people, trying to remain stoic even as she knew everyone could see past it now.

She sighed, pursing her lips as she finally allowed herself to peek at Kara's face for just a moment, seeing how much the younger woman wanted to make her feel less scared, how much gratitude and softness and adoration she was channeling towards her. She shook it off, putting up the blocks she'd learned to use so well, before she could allow herself to sense Kara's feelings any deeper.

"That's all well and good," she swallowed. "Meanwhile, there's a demon out there trying to kill me and whoever else falls in its path. I can't believe I somehow caused this."

"My mother did say it wasn't just me who triggered it," Kara remembered. "But that doesn't mean you did anything wrong. Maybe it just...can sense how good you are, how much you're willing to help save the Earth, that it wants to stop you before you get the chance."

"I've given a lot of money and airtime to fight global warming and deforestation, but I'd hardly say I'm some kind of 'eco warrior,'" Cat huffed. "What makes me such a threat?"

"I don't know," Alex interjected. "But we need to keep you here for a while to work through this."

"I'm not going to stay here indefinitely," Cat insisted, a look of panic filling her eyes as she felt the walls closing in. "You can't keep me locked up like one of your Fort Rozz prisoners."

"No, but we can quarantine you," Hank agreed. "Considering this thing is after you, having you roam the streets doesn't make it safer for anyone else out there either."

"This is ridiculous," Cat growled through her teeth. "I have a billion dollar company to run. I am not going to stay underground in this…"

"She can stay with me," Kara blurted out quickly.

Everyone stopped talking and turned towards her.

"Kara, that's not safe," Alex shook her head. "We need to keep her away from…"

"It's not fair to punish her for this. She didn't do anything wrong," Kara argued. "I know what it's like to have powers you didn't ask for, to be a catalyst for things beyond your control just because of who you are. If I stay with her, I can be there when this thing comes back, ready to destroy it."

"And how are you going to do that?" Alex asked. "It tried to kill you too, remember?"

"You and Hank and Lucy can keep researching a way while I try to figure it out on my own," she swallowed. "With Ms. Grant."

Alex and Hank looked at her skeptically.

"Look, unless you have something else to go on, this is the biggest breakthrough we've had yet. But I doubt keeping Cat here, hooked up to some monitoring device, is going to help anything. The entity didn't follow us when I brought her to the Fortress and it didn't follow us here tonight. It only attacked her when she was alone."

"Not the first time," Alex reminded. "There was a whole crowd of people around. And Max…"

"But I stopped it then! Not in time to save Max, but at least before it killed anyone else. Maybe it changed its tactics after that. If I'm with her, it seems far less likely to attack, and it hasn't come after me directly yet."

"Yet," Cat breathed. "How do we know it won't come for both of us?"

"We don't," Kara admitted. "But I'd rather do everything we can to get ahead of this thing now. My mother said we had the power to stop it. I need to figure out what that means, and I think you do too."

Cat chewed the inside of her lip, eyes fluttering toward the ceiling, trying to talk herself out of this.

"I suppose I don't have anywhere else to go," she breathed. "Considering my home and everything in it was destroyed."

"We'll get you what you need," Kara nodded. "You can work from my place until it's safe to go back to the office."

Cat continued to look around the room, running through her options, knowing being near Kara was the safest thing she could do, but also, in many ways, the most unnerving.

"Fine," she finally breathed. "Anything's better than being locked up in this...fallout shelter."

"Great," Kara smiled, trying to be strong for Cat, refusing to let on just how many knots her stomach had twisted itself into at the thought of sharing her personal space.

"We'll finish up here, for now," Hank agreed. "Give us a little more time to run some more tests, and then you're free to go."

Cat nodded in agreement. She looked at Kara, keeping her face as still as she could, hyper aware now of how everything she did might be read by others.

"Just let me know when you're ready," Kara breathed sweetly, gently touching Cat's arm before leaving her again with Hank. "Alex, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Of course," Alex agreed.

Kara practically pulled her sister down the hall, leading them to a empty storage room, far from where anyone could hear them.

"What?" Alex looked at her nervously. "Kara, you're scaring me. What…"

"It's just...there's something else that happened recently that I feel like I need to tell someone, but I really, really need you to promise you won't tell anyone else at the DEO. For now. Probably never. Especially not Hank."

"You know I can't promise anything until you tell me what it is."

Kara squirmed a bit, hoping she could trust Alex with this, before trying to explain.

"Do you remember when I was in high school and I locked myself in the bathroom for a really long time and I almost flooded the house letting the tub overflow?"

"Um...sort of," Alex tried to follow along.

"And I would always take really long baths...and you'd get angry," Kara looked at her pointedly. "You know. Because you thought I was…"

"Oh!" Alex finally understood where she was going with this. "Okay, yes, I remember now. But I wasn't angry. I just needed to use the bathroom, and it was annoying that you always hogged it. There's nothing wrong with…"

"I know, I know," Kara rolled her eyes. "But...what if I told you that when I actually did...that...something really strange happens."

Alex looked at her incredulously.

"Like what?"

"Like…" Kara continued, feeling mortified, but knowing she had to say something. "Like...when I finished...the other day...for the first time, ever...it sort of...sprouted a whole bunch of plants and flowers and vines…"

"What sprouted?" Alex whispered. "Your va…"

"No!" Kara turned bright red. "They just covered my apartment. The walls, the ceiling, and other parts of my body, but not that."

"Were they dangerous?" Alex asked. "These plants? Did they try to hurt you?"

"No. They were just there, taking over, until I stopped. And then I got rid of them."

"Uh huh," Alex tried to figure out the right thing to say. "Well, if they weren't lethal, than I guess there's not really a problem. Congratulations, Kara. Just one more way you've got a leg up on the rest of us."

"But I don't want to!" Kara whispered loudly. "What if it's somehow connected to this...this thing. How do I know it's not dangerous?"

Alex sighed, putting a hand on her sister's shoulder, feeling a lot more like the big sister than she had in a while.

"Kara, you're an alien. There's a lot we still don't know about your physiology, but I'm guessing this is a normal thing that happens with your species. I've never read anything about Kryptonian orgasms being particularly powerful, but if you want my advice, it's nothing to complain about. Just let me know if turns into something worse. Or, you know, better yet, maybe don't do...that...until this other problem is over."

Kara sighed, relieved a bit that her sister wasn't concerned by this.

"Thanks, Alex."

"Just to clarify…you were alone when this happened, correct?"

"Yes," Kara rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Just checking," Alex smirked.

The two made their way back to the lab. Kara found Cat waiting in the room by herself, still looking distressed, but more than that, exhausted. They'd been there for hours. It was the middle of the night, the next morning really. Neither of them had slept, but Cat seemed particularly drained.

"You ready?" Kara asked.

Cat sighed, shaking her hair back, straightening as she appeared to compose herself.

"Ready as I can be I suppose," she answered. "I hope you're not living in some seedy studio on the outskirts of town with a landlord that stomps his foot whenever you're TV's turned up too loud."

Kara laughed, thankful for it after such a long night.

"I think you'll be pretty comfortable. I hope. I'm sure it's not as nice as your place, but...it'll have to do."

Cat eyed her closely, trying to read whether or not she was just as anxious as she was without prying too deeply.

"Well," Cat sighed, playing with the hem of her shirt. "Now we know each other's secrets."

"Ms. Grant...I'm sorry, again...I…"

"You don't need to be sorry," Cat swallowed. "It's me who should be apologizing."

"For what?" Kara asked.

Cat took a long, deep breath. She looked down at her fingers, bringing her hands together in her lap, before looking back up slowly, eyes once again sparkling green as her lids brimmed with tears, staring at the young woman she'd spent so much time with, felt like she knew so well, only to realize she'd missed the most important thing.

"I've been so unfair to you," she swallowed. "For the longest time...I treated you like you were nothing, like I couldn't even see you. And I didn't, much, at first. But then you started opening up, showing more of yourself and what you were capable of, and I still…"

She paused for a moment, looking up at the ceiling, unwilling to shed any more tears in front of Supergirl, at least for tonight.

"You deserve...so much more...than what I've given you."

Kara took a step forward, breathing deeply as she boldly reached out and took Cat's hands in hers.

"Ms. Grant, you've given me exactly what I needed. To feel normal. To learn and grow as a person with more to offer than just my strength and speed. Someone who believed in my abilities, my potential, those you could see, not the ones that come with wearing this suit. You've given me time, encouragement...friendship. At the end of the day, working at CatCo is just a job. A great job! But...you're the reason I want to be there. You're the reason I keep coming back. I need that space to be the parts of myself that don't have to be super all the time. You give me that. I just hope you won't take it away now that you know who I really am."

Cat held her gaze. She watched Kara's lips turn a deeper shade of red, her eyes bright. She looked down at their hands together, then quickly looked away, pulling back slowly as she rose to her feet.

"We'll figure something out," Cat breathed. "If and when we ever go back to work."

"I'm sure we will," Kara told her, hoping it was true.

"For now…" she swallowed, trying to focus on anything but their impending situation. "I suppose you can call me Cat again, while we're not in the office. It feels a bit...odd...having you call me Ms. Grant when you're wearing...that."

She looked down at Kara's uniform, the S, taking it all in for the first time, knowing with absolute certainty that the Girl in Blue was the same girl who'd fetched her lunch every day, who'd brought her Advil every afternoon, who gave her all to every minuscule task she threw at her until she'd stupidly promoted her and sent her to work further down the hall.

"Okay," Kara laughed again lightly. "But...that means you have to keep calling me Kara, not Supergirl. Deal?"

"Really?" Cat scoffed. "That's what you prefer?"

"From the people closest to me, yeah," she smirked.

Cat smiled at the acknowledgement that she was one of those people.

"Very well...Kara," she breathed. "Let's go, before I'm forced to sleep on one of these god forsaken exam tables."

Kara smiled again, feeling more hopeful than she had in days, as they headed back to the city.