"You had to invite Kiera of all people."
"Come on. Kara's like my only friend. Well, my only friend within a thousand miles that's not an engineer and we need a fourth for a lot of the more fun games. And you like her. It wouldn't hurt you to admit it."
Cat huffed as she busied herself with straightening the living room.
"Nervous?" Adam asked, as he toyed with a small but expensive clock.
She itched to take it out his hands, but stopped herself. "Of what?"
"Kara told me you said maybe."
Cat turned her head away from him and closed her eyes. "She certainly has a big mouth."
"She doesn't. I'm just one of the few people she's talked about it with," he said, placing the clock back down on the end table. "Talking about your problems can help, you know."
"You're my son, Adam. I'm not talking about this with you."
"Okay fine, but I just want you to know I support whatever you decide. Even though it might be weird having a stepmom younger than me," he said with a wink.
Cat rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Just stay out of it. You've already made her uncomfortable and awkward to be around."
"I don't think your 'maybe' helped that any."
"It was a moment of weakness," Cat said.
"Those darn pretty assistants preying on their rich bosses' weaknesses for short skirts."
"Kiera doesn't wear short skirts," she said. "Usually."
"Uh huh," he said, grinning.
The doorbell rang and Carter yelled that he had it. Cat and Adam shared a look.
"If this goes bad, I blame you," she said, smoothing her hands over her pants and left to greet Kara.
Things had been quiet lately, but as Supergirl Kara never knew when she would be needed so she made excuses as she followed Cat and her sons into the living room. She said it was family drama. Cat actually looked concerned so she downplayed it as best she could.
"We need to separate those two. I'm pretty sure they would crush us," Adam whispered loudly to Kara as she settled into the plush couch.
Carter grinned. "He's probably right."
"Carter shh," Cat said as she handed him the box for the Name Game.
"I call Adam then if I can't have mom," Carter said. Cat caught the shared look between her sons. She wondered what her eldest had said to Carter. She glared at them suspicious of their intentions.
"You better have learned something from that Office Game night I've heard so much about," Cat said, eying her assistant warily. "I don't like to lose. Even if it's to my sons."
"Yep. Learned lots!" Kara smiled back awkwardly, bunching up her fists.
"Stop fidgeting," Cat said looking at her hands. "Relax. This should be easy for you. You know how my mind works," Cat said. Kara wasn't too sure about that. Half of the time she just used her super hearing and overheard Cat. She wasn't a mind reader.
Carter and Adam didn't do all that well. They were still learning each other's personalities and didn't have the inside jokes that make the game easier.
"Time," Cat said, looking at the stop watch.
Carter flopped onto the couch looking like a mini Cat. "I should have went with you, mom."
"Obviously."
"Your turn, Kara," Adam said, grinning. He'd promised to be good, but it was fun watching his birth mom and assistant dance around each other.
Kara picked up her cards and looked to Cat who smiled in encouragement. Kara remembered how in sync James and Lucy had been during their game and knew Cat was expecting just such a performance from her. Her nerves flared up again. Carter flipped the timer.
She read the card and blurted out, "Your beach boy!"
"John Stamos," Cat said with a narrowing of her eyes and a quick glance at Carter.
"Yes!" Kara said ignoring the look and taking the next card. She snorted and realized that this was actually easier than she thought. She was lucky that her boss was so opinionated.
"You once referred to her as the creepy version of Madonna."
"Lady Gaga."
"Yes," Kara hissed, her excitement rising as she drew the next card. "Oh! You called her songs ear worms that," she looked at Carter. "Uh."
"Taylor Swift," Cat said with a smirk, clearly remembering her comment.
"You got it!"
Kara kept going. Every name easily brought to mind a comment from Cat. Cat didn't seem to have forgotten a single one.
"Time!" Adam called, waving the timer. He calculated their score with a grimace, while Carter groaned beside him.
Kara sat down beside Cat with a large grin that Cat matched. She did know Cat.
"See?" Cat said, stroking Kara's arm absently. "We make a good team."
Kara put her hand on top of Cat's, stilling the motion. Cat looked at her in surprise, lips parting. "We do," Kara said with a small smile. Cat licked her lips and Kara couldn't help staring. The fingers on her arm squeezed and she flexed slightly. Cat bit her lip.
Her sister's voice in her ear rang in her ear just as her phone started buzzing. She looked apologetically at her boss before getting up and answering out of earshot.
"Metropolis had a prison break."
"What does that have to do with National City or the DEO?" Kara snapped more aggressively than usual. Alex knew where she was. Across the room, Cat tilted her head
"Your cousin contacted us," Alex said with a sigh.
"Oh,""I'll be right there."
"Sorry."
"I don't think I believe you," Kara said, looking back at Cat who was watching her.
"Kara."
"I'm on my way."
She rejoined the group with a frown. "I'm sorry. I have to go."
"Let us know if there is anything we can do," Adam said.
"It's not that big of a deal, but they need me." she said, just as Cat's emergency phone started ringing.
Carter looked over at Adam as his mom moved to answer it with a frown. "Looks like game night is over."
"Kiera, I'll need you tonight as well. If it's not that big of a deal," Cat said, holding her hand over the microphone.
Kara nodded and gave Adam and Carter quick hugs before she left.
"So, what are we looking at?" Kara asked, as she stormed into the DEO. "Why would Kal contact you about a prison break? Is Metropolis housing aliens in their prisons?"
"Not exactly," Alex said.
"Then why would he contact you?"
"He's fairly sure that some of the escapees are working with Non and your aunt. He has intel that they are on their way to National City. He's busy dealing with the ones that stayed, but he thought we should be warned."
"That was nice of him," Kara grumbled. "What are we looking at?"
"Environmental terrorists for the most part."
"Sounds easy enough."
"They use bombs, Kara and they target people," Alex said. "I have their files. It's not pretty."
"What can I do? I'm not a bomb sniffing dog and if they are with Non…"
"We need you to talk to Astra," Hank said, coming up behind her.
"Seriously?"
"This has been in motion for a long time. She must know something about it," Alex said, with a frown.
"Because she's been so open to talking," Kara mumbled. Talking to her aunt never went the way she wanted it to. She kept holding out hope that Astra would have a change of heart, but it didn't seem likely the longer they kept her locked up.
"Finally," Cat said as Kara entered her office. "There was a prison break in Metropolis. We have a list of escapees. Take this down to research. Metropolis PD thinks some of them are heading this way."
"Yes, Miss Grant."
"Kiera," Cat said, stopping Kara before she left. "There's a name on that list you might recognize."
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
Kara scanned through the names. "I don't…" Her eyes fell toward the bottom. Schott. Winslow Schott. Her eyes shot up to Cat's. "What?"
"His father apparently," Cat said, pursing her lips. "I take it you didn't know."
"I knew he wasn't a good person." Kara hadn't even known her boss knew Winn's name.
"Take that down to research. Call him if you must. I'd like to get an interview with him."
"No. He won't do it."
"We don't know that unless you ask," Cat said, toying with her glasses. "I could fire him."
"You wouldn't."
Cat rolled her eyes. "As long as I don't see him on Diane Sawyer. Get that down to research. Chop chop."
Kara left the office. She couldn't stop staring at Winn's name. She dropped the list off at the research offices in a daze. Alex had the list too and hadn't said a word to her about it. She stopped by the elevators and dialed Winn.
"This is Winn Schott Jr. Please leave a message." The junior at the end of his name stood out much more than it had before. No wonder he always made sure to add that part.
"Winn. It's Kara. There was a prison break in Metropolis. Your dad. Please call me right away. I'm at the office if you need me. Please Winn. Call me."
She stared at the phone, willing it to ring. It didn't. She was tempted to just fly over to his place. It was still early. He wouldn't be sleeping yet. But Cat was waiting for her. She called him again, but got his voicemail again.
She stepped toward the elevator, but stopped and called him again. She just spent time talking to her own homicidal relative. She knew it was hard. It hurt that he wasn't answering. She couldn't help him if he didn't want to be helped and she had a job to do, but it was Winn.
They left late that night and were back bright and early the next morning. Kara and Cat looked fresh and chipper whereas the rest of the staff looked exhausted. Kara didn't actually need sleep and Cat was running off the high of an interesting story, but it didn't endear either of them to the rest of the staff.
Winn appeared a little after 9 looking like he had been hit by a train. Kara immediately abandoned what she was working on to drag him outside away from his desk and the watchful eyes of their coworkers. Everyone knew about his dad now. The Toyman, mass murderer.
"She wants an interview, doesn't she?" he asked as soon as the door shut behind them.
"She does."
"And everything Cat Grant wants she gets. You want me to do it."
"I told her no."
"That a first?"
"Winn." She lay her hand gently on his arm.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head.
"Why didn't you tell me about your dad?"
"He stopped being my dad the day he murdered innocent people," he said, looking out at the city. "He killed a lot of people. Children, Kara. It's not something I wanted you to know. You're already looking at me differently," he said.
"You aren't your father, Winn."
"Don't call him that. He's the Toyman. Not my father."
"Okay," she said. "Are you okay?"
"What do you think? Let's just talk about catching him."
"Well, he escaped with a bunch of environmental terrorists that use bombs. Do you think he's working with them?"
Winn sighed. "He likes bombs, but he doesn't…" Winn rubbed his face. "He doesn't trust people. He might have used them to escape, but I doubt he's actually working with them."
"Okay," Kara said. "I'm sorry, but has he tried to contact you at all?"
"The last time I talked to him, he wanted to be a family again. I told him I had a new family here at CatCo and I didn't need him anymore." Winn grit his teeth and held up an action figure she hadn't noticed he was carrying. "This was on my desk. It's not mine." He pinched the bridge of his nose and held it out to her. "Is it a bomb?"
She quickly scanned it and sighed in relief. "No, Winn."
"At least he's not trying to kill me. I guess."
He looked down at the toy in his hand and sighed before pushing the button on the center of figure. A man's voice came out of the toy saying, "These people aren't your family, Winn. You said you've replaced me. I'll just have to replace you."
Winn's eyes widened and he covered his mouth. "He's going to go after children, Kara. We have to stop him."