The next morning, their routine was a bit easier than the day before, though not without its awkward silences. Kara had the coffee ready before Ms. Grant was even awake, unable to sleep well once again, playing the embrace they'd shared over and over in her mind like a song on repeat. She had some toast ready on the counter for Cat should she want it, taking her own bowl of cereal to the couch, where she flipped on the TV.
After fixing her coffee, Cat joined her on the sofa. Kara looked up from beneath her glasses, gulping down some orange juice as she quickly turned the channel from cartoons to a news station.
"CBS Sunday morning," Cat smiled. "Charles Osgood really is a national treasure. I spent Christmas Eve with he and Jean once."
"He's great," Kara agreed. "I started watching him after your show went off the air."
"You watched my show?" Cat's eyebrows rose.
"Of course," Kara took another bite of cereal, trying not to talk with her mouth full. "I mean...I majored in Communications. It was required."
"Oh," Cat sulked. "I see."
"No! I mean," Kara corrected. "I would have watched it regardless. I wrote my thesis on female media moguls and their rise to power in the old boys club of television news."
"That's right," Cat nodded. "I remember it now from your resume. That's partly why I hired you."
"What was the other part?"
Cat shifted a little, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I appreciated how humble you were," she breathed. "Most of my assistants were so eager to climb the ladder the second they set foot in CatCo, they weren't focused on the job at hand. You, despite your stellar references and clear abilities, were just honored by the prospect of making me copies. It was...sweet."
Kara grinned softly, blushing as she pushed her hair behind her ear, turning back to the TV.
"You didn't watch my afternoon show, did you?"
"I was pretty young then," Kara admitted.
"That's right," Cat swallowed, shaking her head. "I forget how young you are sometimes."
"Well..not...thatyoung," Kara scrambled to correct. "I mean...I was in stasis for fifteen years! So technically that makes me...thirty-nine."
Cat looked at her skeptically, softly rolling her eyes.
"That's fine," she sighed. "Better you didn't spoil your image of me with that vapidness."
"It couldn't have been that bad," Kara argued. "Clearly, you won awards."
"In the 80s and 90s, that's what people wanted," she lamented. "Phil Donahue, Sally Jesse what's-her-face. Only Oprah held her own with any substance. I hope I was at least somewhere in the middle."
"I'm sure you were well beyond that," Kara smiled.
Cat shook her head as she smirked, taking another long sip of coffee.
"You're too nice to me," she sighed.
"No such thing," Kara insisted, scooping another helping of Lucky Charms into her mouth.
Cat settled back against the couch, letting herself relax as they continued watching a segment on burrowing owls, though she found the way Kara ate her breakfast much more entertaining.
They were half way through Face the Nation when Cat's phone rang. Hoping it was Carter, she picked it up excitedly, only to be disappointed when she read the number.
"Chairman of the Board," she scowled. "On a Sunday, really…"
She answered it, crossing into the bedroom for some limited privacy. Kara watched as she held her own in the tense conversation, pacing back and forth, sitting on the small bench at the foot of her bed before getting up again, Lululemon pants dragging a little against the ground as she huffed. She had never seen Cat in anything but professional clothing before. It was sort of a mind trip now, watching her in a sweat shirt, doing this dance in her bedroom while she cleverly diverted what were no doubt legitimate concerns from her board chair.
"Honestly," she seethed as she came back to the living room. "I disappear for forty-eight hours and you'd think the world was ending. I mean...I guess it is, technically."
"What did they say?" Kara asked.
"Just that they're worried, of course, that I can't be at my best to run the company while dealing with the aftermath of being attacked," she shook her head. "I'm the first to insist people physically be in the office for productivity's sake, but being CEO means it's my prerogative to work from wherever I choose."
"What do they want?" Kara swallowed. "Someone to replace you temporarily?"
"Not just temporarily," Cat sighed. "They're always looking for a way to push me out, as you know, power hungry cesspool of corporate vultures that they are, which is why I won't step aside, not even for a day."
Kara chewed her lip a little, knowing how awful the board was, wishing she could let Cat go to work and assure them she was perfectly capable and in charge, even from afar.
"Oh well," Cat breathed. "I'd better write something about what's going on, otherwise they'll have my obituary penned before we know it."
"Just...be careful," Kara warned. "I know you want to let people know what's happening, but until we know more, it might not be such a good idea to…"
"I'm not new at this, Kara," she snipped, pulling at her collar, forgetting she was wearing a hoodie rather than her usual starched couture. She looked down at herself, less put together than usual, vulnerable, definitely not how she'd want the board or anyone else to see her. She looked back at Kara, whose face was filled with worry and dejection.
"Sorry," she breathed, throat aching as she redirected her attitude away from the person trying to save her. "I'm just...frustrated. I don't want anyone thinking I can't do my job."
"Only a fool would think that," Kara told her.
Cat smiled. She stood, putting a hand on Kara's shoulder briefly, very briefly, before retreating to her laptop.