"You're gonna be okay?" Shadow Agent leaned in and kissed Kara quickly, careful of the take-out tray laden with caffeinated drinks and healthy juices that Kara had in her hands. They were on top of Catco, having flown in. The Hero of National City had arrived at Kara's with breakfast in celebration of the blonde's first day back at work. Then she had offered to fly Kara into the city because what was the use of having a girlfriend who could fly if she couldn't fly you in?
"Yes." Kara hummed happily. The two had been inseparable since their first date, with Shadow Agent only leaving when Kara needed to sleep or when she needed to do 'hero things'. Besides the first night where they had gotten interrupted by Winn, they had tried to keep it to chaste kisses. Well. Hour-long make-out sessions. Okay, maybe more HOURS. And just warm embraces. Some butt-grabbing. Some. Maybe a lot.
"I'll text you?" Shadow Agent pecked one more kiss on Kara's lips.
"Yes, please." Kara nodded happily. Shadow Agent had brought her a gift on their next date, just another phone that looked very much like a small, cheap smartphone. This phone had only one contact programmed in and Shadow Agent had explained that it was a special phone, and only that phone would be able to reach Shadow Agent.
"Don't work too hard, okay? And if you feel dizzy, you have to take break immediately, or better yet, go home. Concussions are no joke." Shadow Agent backed away and floated up in the air a little bit. "Actually, call me if you do feel dizzy."
"What will you even do to help? Give me mouth to mouth?" Kara teased, her feet taking her closer to Shadow Agent. She reached up, balancing her tray in one hand, and pulled at Shadow Agent's collar, bringing the hero down for a proper kiss on the mouth. Slow, languid, and wet.
"Stay safe, hero."
"Ms. Zorel." Shadow Agent nodded, looking a bit dazed and more than a bit thoroughly kissed. Then, before they could get distracted by another make-out session, Shadow Agent flew reluctantly away.
Kara sighed, watching her girlfriend disappear into the clouds, before making her way to the door leading down the stairs and to the service elevator. She had to go down to the first cross-over floor which was where marketing was housed, then to the normal elevators that would bring her to her own floor.
When the doors to the elevator opened on her level, she screamed in shock as what looked like everyone-even some of the people who seemed to have sprinted down from the marketing floor-were standing there greeting her.
"SURPRISE!"
There were balloons and the little cracker things that spew confetti when you pull a string at the back, and cake, and chips, and tears of joy.
"Don't ever leave!" Kelly had pushed through the crowd and thrown herself on Kara. Kara barely managed to raise the take-out tray above her head. Poor Kelly was Kara's back-up. The marketing people piled on next and then everyone on her floor joined the group hug.
"Uh. Guys?" Kara laughed. "What's wrong?"
"Keira!"
The crowds cleared as Cat Grant marched towards her, ignoring the scattering of people.
"Ms. Grant, your latte." Kara quickly offered the drink to Cat Grant on her take-out tray. "Also, um, if you need your green smoothie first, it's there. And, oh, that drink that Gwyneth Paltrow likes to drink-"
"Yes, yes, yes." Cat took the entire tray out of Kara's hands, then looked around to give the evil eye to some of her staff that were loitering. They quickly hid where they could or tried to look busy.
"Well. Since they did plan this party for you, I suppose you can get me a piece of cake after they have properly checked you over to make sure you haven't been broken irreparably." Cat rolled her eyes. "Carry on!"
Everyone waited until their boss had retreated to her room before moving back in, jostling Kara with their well-wishes. A slice of cake was carefully cut out for Cat and Kelly volunteered to bring it to the CEO before she came looking again. Kelly was happy to do it since Kara was finally back and she would no longer be at Cat's beck and call.
"You honestly have the patience of a saint." Tommy, one of the guys in sales, passed her a little plastic cup of coca-cola.
"She was just so… cutting. Moreso without you here." Winn agreed. "I don't know how you do it."
"She's nice." Kara defended her boss, half-heartedly though, because her eye was on the cake James was bringing to her. "And thank you! Where's Lucy?"
Everyone kind of grimaced.
"She's doing damage control from your week away. Honestly, never leave again. How did this place not fall apart before you?" Kelly was back and had her own cake in hand. "And stay away from Lucy, that girl is on a warpath-"
"What about Lucy?" Lucy loomed behind Kelly. "This is gossiping. And contributing to a poisoned work environment. Do I have to advise HR about you, too, Kelly?"
Kelly eeped and hid behind Kara.
"Kara." Lucy's eyes zoomed in on Kara with laser-like accuracy. The tiny woman-not so tiny in the heels she insists on wearing-strode forward until she was right in front of Kara.
"Lucy?" Kara grinned nervously. The lawyer replied by embracing Kara furiously, not saying anything else.
"I, uh, take it you missed me?" Kara chuckled, returning the hug carefully, still holding her cake and drink. Kelly swooped in to take away Kara's things so she could properly hug Lucy.
"It's been hard?" Kara rocked Lucy. The lawyer nodded wordlessly. "But you did great. I'm so proud of you, Lucy!"
Lucy pushed away to pin Kara with a serious look. "Never leave. Ever."
"We're back together!" Winn had a cake for Lucy, shoving it in her hands and cheering.
"Yeah!" Tommy from sales cheered along.
"Not you, Tommy." Winn knocked his shoulder against the young man.
"Oh I see how it is. Keeping all the ladies to yourself." Tommy slung an arm around Kelly and Lucy, glaring at Winn balefully.
"Get out of here!" Winn swatted at the taller man playfully, Tommy ducking quickly, laughing. They spent some time finishing off drinks and Kara found herself surrounded by a big group of people from marketing, all of who seemed unbelievably happy she was back. So happy they offered to clean up and possibly grab Kara lunch for the next week.
"Guys," Kara asked while they were walking back to their desk. "Why is marketing being so nice? I mean they're usually nice, but this is like…"
"You saved their life nice? Yeah." Lucy rolled her eyes. "That's because you have. Cat threatened to fire all of them if they didn't work magic at the Shadow Agent event she's hosting for the special issue launch party."
"What?" Kara's jaw dropped at this news about this Shadow Agent party, while Winn looked at her excitedly. She glared at him, hoping that he understood not to say a word about what he had dropped in on.
"The photoshoot and the interview with Shadow Agent? Well, she's doing a whole special issue on it and wants a launch party." James chipped in.
"No." Kara groaned. Launch parties took so much work to plan and organize! "That's why everyone's running around and-when is this supposed to go down?"
"End of this week."
"And when did she say she wanted this?"
"Middle of last week."
"No!" Kara was off and running. The thing about Kara was that she sometimes just ran with her emotions and said whatever she was feeling. Nobody else dared to do that, especially not to Cat Grant, but somehow, Kara was able to do it as she burst into Cat's office.
"You started planning a launch party without me?" Kara was not disappointed, but more scared for the rest of Catco staff.
"I wanted to call you back but my own counsel threatened to sue me." Cat rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's difficult to find loyal help these days."
"I'll get right on it!" Kara was off like a shot, back to her desk to see what had been done. Marketing knew to copy her on all important information and Kelly quickly got her up to speed on what was happening. She was singularly focused and energetic, the chaos from the past few days disappearing as they circled her and she delegated, checked off boxes on to-do lists, made calls, organized the masses. She was Cat Grant's longest standing assistant for a reason, after all. It wasn't until about one o'clock that she was pulled from her work by a buzzing in her purse, slung over the back of her chair.
'Did you eat yet?'
Kara's face broke into a wide smile at the message. Shadow Agent wasn't the most articulate of texters and liked to get straight to the point.
'They surprised me with a party! And there was cake! But i'm hungry now.'
Kara texted back, adding the appropriate number of relevant emojis to her text.
'Want to have lunch?'
'Yes'
Kara texted back quickly.
'Come up to the roof.'
Kara sent a thumbs-up emoji and then a kiss emoji, before trying to sneakily slip out, but Kara had never been really good at sneaky and banged into the corner of her table.
"Fudge!" Kara held her hip in pain, Kelly and Winn both looking at her with amusement.
"It's time for lunch, isn't it?" Kelly took a look at her watch. "Wow, yeah. Let's go, guys. Noonan's must have cleared out by now."
"I'll grab James and get him to take Lucy along." Winn picked up the phone, already dialing James' extension.
"No, no, no. Sorry!" Kara waved her hands frantically. "I'm… I-I'm meeting someone."
"Oh, meeting who?" Kelly was up out of her desk. There weren't many people still left in the office as they had gone off to get lunch, but still enough for the rumour mill to churn as ears and eyes turned to Kara with interest.
"My… my… LUCY!"
Lucy, who was just crossing the floor with a couple of files froze in place.
"Lucy! We're going to lunch! Yes!"
"Well, why can't we all come along-"
"Girl stuff! We're talking girl stuff!"
Kelly looked hurt. "I'm a girl."
"Uh, uh, legal… girl stuff."
"Oh." Winn and Kelly shuddered. They had seen the ugliness legal had to deal with this past week and were not eager to be part of it. Legal girl stuff didn't sound fun.
"I don't want to do that during lunchtime! And I still have my files with me." Lucy complained as she was dragged away and into an elevator that had just arrived.
"Hm, you're right." Kara agreed and quickly pushed Lucy out of the elevator, stabbing at the button to the floor that crossed over to the elevator to the roof while simultaneously stabbing the close door button. "Sorry Lucy I'll explain later bye!"
"Kara! Where-"
"Sorry sorry sorry!" Kara called out through the crack in between the doors of the elevator, hoping Lucy could still hear her. She cut across marketing again and made it up to the roof without encountering anyone else.
"Tell me if this is too much." Shadow Agent said as soon as Kara was out on the roof. The superhero had spread out a picnic blanket and had takeout boxes open, revealing that lunch today would be Indian food.
"From the little Indian place in Chinatown?" Kara clapped her hands gleefully, then threw herself at Shadow Agent, who caught her easily and twirled her around.
"You're the best girlfriend ever!" Kara announced and kissed Shadow Agent happily, which the hero returned. Finally setting her girlfriend down, Shadow Agent motioned to the spread.
"I don't know what you like, so I bought a little of everything. Butter chicken, dal, lamb roganjosh, a couple sides of naan, and extra large mango lassi's for both of us." Shadow Agent tugged her to their little picnic and nervously motioned for her to sit down.
"This is just amazing!" Kara had been actually craving Indian food since their talk about their favourite Indian place.
"I'm glad you like it." The shy smile visible below Shadow Agent's mask made Kara's heart flutter and she just had to lean in to kiss Shadow Agent again. And again, and soon she had been pulled into the hero's lap and they were making out again like teenagers.
"We gotta… stop so you can eat." Shadow Agent said between kisses. She would have to confess that she was quite addicted to them.
"You're right…" Kara was suddenly shy, ducking her head to rest it on Shadow Agent's shoulder, trying to get her heart to stop racing. "We are moving too fast, aren't we?"
"I really can't help it." Shadow Agent was surprisingly cute as she cuddled the blonde in her lap. "Like I said before, I really like you, Kara Zorel."
"I really like you, too." Kara kissed Shadow Agent on her nosepiece, then slipped off the hero's lap to put some distance between them so they could eat.
They had separate plates and heaped food on them, and though they tried their best to stay on opposite sides, they gravitated towards each other until they were sitting shoulder to shoulder, eating Indian food, chatting about their day. Kara told Shadow Agent about how much marketing had missed her, and Shadow Agent spoke about how her boss was a big softie and had been busy trying to plan one of the analyst's surprise birthday party. It was altogether unbelievably mundane, but something that they both found unbelievably enjoyable, just having someone there for them.
"This is the best dal," Kara groaned out loud. "Like, the best."
"Right?" Shadow Agent chuckled, sipping at her mango lassi. "It's a hidden gem. I tell everyone about the restaurant and I keep going back because I want to make sure they never go out of business."
"So you're telling me a lot of superheroes go there?" Kara laughed, the idea of Aquaman ordering tandoori chicken tickling her funny bone.
"Better believe it." Shadow Agent winked. "So are you busy at work? It's your first day back, I would think Cat Grant would give you some time to acclimatize again."
Kara groaned, and it wasn't a good groan now. "Ms. Grant wants to do a magazine cover launch party and gave everyone a week and a half as the timeline for that to happen. You feature on the cover of the big reveal."
"Oh. Wow." Shadow Agent frowned. She was at a loss. She had never liked the camera, and that had not suddenly changed. Being in the public eye made her really nervous.
"She had a cut-out of you made with a backdrop so people can take a picture beside it. There's a drink called 'Shadow Agent' that Ms. Grant had someone make to serve at the opening. Pictures of you taken by Jimmy Olsen will be tastefully framed and hang suspended from the ceiling so they'll look like they're floating in mid-air." Kara glanced at her watch. She had… fifteen more minutes before she had to leave. They really had spent a lot of time making out right at the beginning of lunch.
"Are you going to take pictures with the cut-out?" Shadow Agent chuckled.
"Well, maybe. The pictures are pretty flattering." Kara grinned at her girlfriend while taking a sip of her mango lassi. Girlfriend. How did she get so lucky?
"How did I get so lucky?" Shadow Agent murmured as she leaned in to steal a quick kiss.
"Are one of your superpowers mind-reading? Because that was to exactly what I was thinking." Kara looked down at their entwined hand, beaming at the feel of Shadow Agent's hand.
"Well, aren't we just two peas in a pod." Shadow Agent leaned in to kiss her again when there was three quick vibrations from her belt.
"I swear that's my phone." Shadow Agent deadpanned, making Kara laugh out loud. The hero fished out the device and frowned at the message.
"Time to go back to work?" Kara asked tentatively. The regretful smile on the hero's face told her what she needed to know.
"Let's finish quickly-just leave everything here, I'll take it with me to throw away."
The two quickly finished off their meal, as Kara's phone started beeping with messages, too. She checked it between bites of naan and butter chicken.
"Oh geez." Kara frowned.
"What's up?"
"Ms. Grant wants me to see if I can get some dry ice real quick… and seems like we're having some trouble with the venue so I have to get Marketing to go scout out a few more places." Kara messaged back Cat quickly, putting notes in her phone and copying her Marketing point of contact to arrange it. An email quickly arrived confirming that things would be done.
Shadow Agent grinned at her girlfriend. "You know, you're really impressive, right?"
"What?" Kara laughed looking at the masked hero. "Pffft. I'm just-well. What am I doing that's so impressive?"
"Just doing you. Arranging these things and helping Cat Grant."
"Anybody can do this."
"I really doubt it. You're amazing." Shadow Agent smiled fondly at Kara. "You'll be okay, though? No headaches or dizziness today?"
"I'm fine. Really." Kara reassured, she stood up and held out her hand to help Shadow Agent up. "I'll see you later?"
"Maybe not tonight." Shadow Agent said apologetically. "I might have to scout around the city and try to see if we can figure out how to pinpoint Reactron."
"You'll be careful?" Kara felt an irrational spike of fear, suddenly remembering, as she looked at her girlfriend's masked face, that Shadow Agent went up against super-powered beings, some who could level a whole city block if they wanted to.
"I will," Shadow Agent kissed Kara again. "You have fun, and I'll call you tonight? I might not be able to answer any messages, I'll have my phone on silent while I'm at work."
"I won't text you then?" Kara pulled Shadow Agent closer and the hero circled her arms around Kara's waist easily, comfortable in each other's embrace.
"Why not?"
"You know, it's like in World War Z, where the zombies find out Brad Pitt's location cuz his wife calls him."
"Ugh. Zombie movies." Shadow Agent shudders. "No, you can message but I probably won't answer until I'm off."
"Okay." Kara picked up her phone and her work pass, taking a look around to make sure she didn't forget anything. "I can help you clean up-"
"No, it's fine. You go on ahead." Shadow Agent gave Kara one last kiss before shooing her to the door. The blonde left, waving a shy good-bye to Shadow Agent. She was on cloud nine. She felt like she was floating on air as she kind of meandered back to her desk, practically glowing.
"Kara Zorel, you are nasty!"
Kara startled at Kelly's gleeful face and hushed whisper.
"What? No!" Kara protested. "I'm… I feel like I'm a nice person! Oh my god. Are you angry that we didn't go to lunch together? I'm so sorry-"
"No, no, not that." Kelly leaned forward. "You're practically glowing! And Tommy called down and said he saw you come down from the roof elevator! You were getting some!"
Kara tilted her head to the side, confused. "Getting some… Indian food? Are you saying I smell? Is that. Wait. Heeeey... Kelly, that's rude. And insensitive."
"No. Kara, oh my god. Were you on the roof having sex during lunch!"
"No!" Kara screeched, horrified.
"Substitute assistant, are you bothering my main assistant?" Cat Grant's voice floated out of her office, making Kelly scurry back to her desk. Winn was next up, eyes gleaming.
"You were with Shadow Agent, weren't you?" Winn whispered, his breathing harsh and excited.
"You're scaring me, Winn." Kara mock-frowned at her friend's fangirling.
"Just… just please invite me next time?" Winn begged. "Do you know who she is under the mask? Is it like, totally something you didn't expect?"
"Winn, even if she did, I would NEVER tell." Kara said, deadly serious. She had never asked for Shadow Agent to unmask and if her girlfriend did, she would take the secret to the grave. Winn looked like he wanted to continue asking questions but scurried off too as Kara's phone trilled, signalling that Cat wanted to see her.
"Yes, Ms. Grant?" Kara hurried into Cat's office.
"I need you to send out invitations to this list of people, personally." Cat handed Kara a sheet of paper where she had scribbled down a list of names. It wasn't much, but this meant that Cat wanted a personal touch and a promise that these people would come. There were local celebrities and a few random important people, industry movers and shakers, and Maxwell Lord.
"Make sure Max gets a nice gift basket." Cat's eyes had already wandered back to the screen of her computer, waving Kara off dismissively. "You know how he gets."
"Yes, Ms. Grant."
"You'll be out of the office the rest of the day, I suppose." Cat sighed, as if it was a huge inconvenience. And as if SHE wasn't the one who had sent Kara out in the first place.
"Take some taxi chits and go. Maybe then your friends will stop preventing you from working."
"Oh, no, they're not-"
The CEO of Catco scowled at Kara. "You're done at five today, by the way. So take your things with you."
"Are you," Kara's stomach dropped. "Are you firing me?"
"No," Cat Grant rolled her eyes and let out a little noise of frustration. "Just go home at five. You can get all the invitations delivered by tomorrow end of working day, at the latest. God knows I don't need Ms. Lane squawking after me about giving you enough rest."
"Oh." Kara smiled one of her brightest smiles at Cat Grant, who just rolled her eyes again, seeming to sense what Kara was doing without looking up.
"That will be all, Kiera."
Kara nodded happily and pattered off, putting up an away message on her email and waving a quick bye to a couple of people before leaving. Cat Grant was a nice person, Kara was adamant about that. The list Kara was given wasn't that long at all, and she could be done everything by today, definitely, but Cat had given her more time. And Cat had wanted to make sure nobody bothered her about her being kidnapped by Vartox. Kelly and Winn weren't really bothering her, but Cat had been watching out for her!
Getting on the elevator, she turned her smile onto the random Catco employees in the elevator.
"Ms. Grant isn't all that bad!" Kara exclaimed. No preamble, no explanation. The employees just nodded and smiled back politely.