Chapter Text
Cat drew in a slow breath, the kind one takes subconsciously as they rouse from sleep. Deep, filling, a breath that relays the internal argument of either turning over and going back to sleep or resigning oneself to the day and getting up.
In this particular moment however, the choice was compounded by the throb of Cat’s head and the drumming beat of her heart against her temples. She let out a gruff noise of displeasure, realizing she was hung over, a rarity anymore but not impossible. She pressed fingers to her forehead, trying to squeeze the building pain there away while turning over.
Only she didn’t turn over, couldn’t turn over.
Her headache was instantly forgotten, the rough carpet-y feel of her tongue against the roof of her mouth made that much more apparent as she realized it wasn’t a blanket keeping her warm. At least not entirely.
There was a blanket, thankfully, but there was also an arm, and a leg and the curve of a hip. Cat’s eyebrow shot into her hairline as she propped herself on an elbow, trying to get a better vantage of the woman tucked against her back and half draped across her.
Given her angle, and the death grip the other person had on her she couldn’t see much but with a slight pull of the blanket upward she realized that woman was half naked. Her breath caught sharply, heart somewhere in the top of her throat.
Granted this wasn’t the first time she had woken up with someone who had caught her fancy after a night of drinking, that was ironically how she landed husband number two. However, she hadn’t indulged in that particular bout of behavior in years and had no reason to lapse into such now.
Well that wasn’t entirely true, there was a reason. Tall, blonde and impossible. But her former assistant certainly wasn’t someone she would have wrecked herself over or even attempted to find a substitute for to get Kara out of her system.
Another thought struck her then, giving her pause as she chanced a look down at herself, letting out a breath of relief when she realized she was still clothed, at least from the waist up although with a test of her legs she realized her skirt from the day before were indeed gone.
“The hell did you do!?” Cat screamed at herself internally. Trying to recall the last thing she remembered around the pound of her head. She remembered her rooftop vaguely, but before she could even hope to recall those events the figure behind her moved.
Hips dug into her from behind, the curl of that slender leg pulling her back in while strong arms surrounded her body. What made her whimper however was the soft press of lips against her spine, the tip of someone’s nose pushing at her hair before their hot breath washed over her neck sending goosebumps all over her body.
“Cat…”
The entire world spun with that sleepy murmur, a voice she knew all too well despite its rough and arduous tone against her skin. Her hands wrapped around the forearm at her waist, fingers clawing at the blanket obscuring the wrist until she caught a flash of a gold watch band.
“Kara!” Cat said aloud in surprise hand coming over her mouth a second after as she waited only to feel the nod behind her, the nuzzle into the wings of her shoulders while those arms tightened and hugged her closer.
“Cat..” Kara murmured again, digging in deep, with small undulations of her body that were easily pushing Cat’s temperature higher and higher with each movement against her.
“Kara…” Cat warned, unsure how she was going to jostle the other woman awake without ending up on the floor. “God..” she sucked in a breath, licking her lips tightly as she tried to turn, to push, only to realize Kara was far stronger than she should have appeared.
“Warm..” Kara muttered and Cat let out another soft whimper when she felt the woman behind her fit her mouth around the exposed skin along the back of her neck.
“Ohstop… uhm.. Kara.. wake up..” Cat tried, only to feel Kara’s hand start to drift higher across her torso, pulling the button up she had on up with it.
“SUPERGIRL!”
Kara startled awake, another shout sent her way just before a thump to the floor resounded. Kara blinked bleary eyed before her features contorted into a pained expression, eyes slamming shut as she drew her body up to a more seated position, fingers filtering into her hair as she squeezed her head.
“What….” She croaked, letting out another growl of discomfort at the pounding in her skull.
“Not exactly how I imagined that absolute confirmation.”
Kara froze, eyes popping open before she lifted her head, eyes growing wider as she caught sight of Cat, on the floor, braced back on her palms in nothing but a shirt and black underwear.
“Oh fuck-” And not just any shirt. “-Rao.”
Cat gave her a knowing look, reflecting the sentiment before clearing her throat gently causing Kara to frown until she tracked Cat’s gaze and looked down, immediately grabbing the blanket around her waist and pulling it up to cover herself.
Cat would have to be dead not to have noticed the pull of the other woman’s muscles with her sudden actions, swallowing visibly as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and held it there, trying to contemplate what exactly to say or do.
“Ms. Grant..”
“That’s formal.”
“I..oh.. Kay.. sor..y.. Cat.. I..” Kara winced again, grabbing for the crown of her head again to push at the pounding still there.
“Do… you remember...?” Cat chanced, watching Kara’s shoulders drop a bit before that hand rubbed down the length of her face, surrounding her mouth and jaw firmly.
She looked up at Cat then, worry coloring her expression and something else, something that made Cat’s stomach turn sour as she shook her head no.
Cat nodded slowly, tugging down at the edges of Kara’s shirt around herself as she pushed up on her knees, moving to the couch edge while Kara seemed to sink deeper into it and away from her. She held her hands up for the other woman to see, easing them gently onto the round of Kara’s knees, feeling her jump.
“Kara… listen to me very carefully.”
Her hand was still over her mouth, digging into her face but she nodded, eyes never leaving Cat though she swore the woman could probably feel her heart beating its way out of her chest despite trying to appear calm.
Cat wasn’t sure how exactly to broach her next question but she had to be sure.
“You.. you’ve been with, slept with-” Cat was silenced with Kara’s shake of her head, feeling her heart sink before flexing her hands around Kara’s knees. “Okay… you’ve.. Taken care of yourself yes?”
If Kara’s face flushed any redder she’d be a lobster. Hand still in place Cat saw how hard she swallowed and felt the slight rise in the other woman’s body temperature before she gave a short burst of nods in response.
Cat started again, only to have her voice break slightly, clearing her throat and suddenly thankful she blushed from the chest upward first, unlike the woman in front of her who clearly did so in the opposing order.
“Okay, good, then you know… “ Cat’s tongue curled up against her upper lip, never in a thousand years could you have convinced her she would be having this conversation, with this particular person, on her knees, both of them half dressed and…
“You uhm.. You know your body, what certain things feel like, should feel like after and...mine doesn’t feel…” Cat let her words drift into implication, watching brilliant blue eyes search her features frantically before realization began to seep into them.
“It doesn’t?” Kara spoke behind her hand once the vice of her grip seemed to ease and Cat shook her head slowly, never breaking eye contact.
Cat shifted then, fingers flexing gently, her own nervousness and that same sour feeling pushing at her gut chilling her. She would never, ever, forgive herself if-
“Me-mine neither..”
“Oh thank god.” Cat breathed, her head dropping down as she let out a breath.
She felt Kara stiffen again and couldn’t help but wince at herself, realizing only now how that must have sounded.
“I should go.” Kara said awkwardly and Cat swore internally, knowing the other woman had mistaken her relief for rejection.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Cat amended, lifting her head back up and searching Kara’s expression.
Kara nodded just the same, still holding the blanket to her chest but not as fiercely as before, in fact it had fallen lower around the line of her solar plexus and Cat averted her gaze.
“I should still.. “
“Kara.” Cat interrupted, feeling the other woman’s gaze on her but still kept her eyes lowered at her own hands on Kara’s still clothed knees.
“I don’t, want to say something, that I want to, because I don’t want you to feel that I’m just saying it to placate you in this moment.” Cat drew in a deep and finalizing breath.
“With that in mind, I will instead, offer you breakfast, or at the very least some advil.” She chanced a glance upward, holding Kara’s eyes for a moment until the woman nodded once. Cat mimicked the response, giving Kara’s knees a gentle squeeze.
“Close your eyes.”
Kara rose a brow then before Cat gave her a more pointed expression.
“Close. Your eyes.”
Kara swallowed visibly before obeying. She felt Cat push off her knees and stand, trying not to use her other senses to track her through the room only to feel the brush of fabric across her hands and into her lap.
“You can put your shirt back on.. “ Kara started to open her eyes only to have Cat’s fingertips touch her cheek and halt her motions completely. “-After- you count to thirty…”
Kara waited until she heard a door close somewhere upstairs before falling over onto the couch, bunching up a pillow and letting out a muffled groan into it.
“Oh god, oh godoHgod..OH GOD.” She sat upright again, wincing with another noise of discomfort before standing up, hurriedly buttoning up her pants wondering how that happened. -WHY- that had happened before shrugging back into her shirt, thankfully her bra was still on, despite being somewhat askew and she realized halfway up that she was suddenly surrounding in the unmistakable scent of Cat made vapor.
Kara let out a whine, looking heavenward, cursing Rao while secretly praying he would give her memories back from the night before. She twisted then, looking around until she saw her glasses on a far table, climbing half over the couch and snagging them and with that slight pitch to her body started to look for her shoes.
Cat thumped back against her bedroom door, and a second time for good measure wincing at the reverberation of her hangover through her skull thereafter. She made a grunt of a sound, reminding herself not to have whatever it was Kara had warned her about ever again..
She blinked then, realizing she remembered, at least remembered they were in a bar, as if that narrowed it down. She furrowed her brow trying to grasp at the fleeting haze, it was dark, there was neon and it was somewhere she had never been. The rest faded back away behind a throb of her headache and she made another grunt of disapproval before heading to her bathroom.
Cat scrubbed at her face, patting it dry with a towel before pulling on some clothes, knowing she had nowhere to go like the office, and with a small hop to pull the hem of the legs up, fastened the button to her jeans. Hands threaded through an over-sized sweater, hoping that surrounding herself in comfort and familiarity would ease the bursts of anxiety that continued to claw up from her belly and over her spine.
She grabbed the handle of her bedroom door, realizing, albeit briefly, that she was actually hoping Kara had stayed and not bolted like Cat suspected she might.
Kara whirled around with the sound of the door opening, fitting her glasses on her face before grabbing for the back of the armchair nearby to keep herself from spinning completely of balance as her equilibrium tried to remind her she was indeed hungover.
She winced at herself, rubbing at the back of her neck to ease the throbbing in her skull before looking back towards the stairs Cat was descending from. Her sweat off the shoulder and twice the size it should be, while the fitted dark pants she wore exposed the skin beneath along her thighs and across her knees.
“That’s… different.” Kara commented lamely while Cat rose a brow at her.
“That’s disheveled.” Cat replied, Kara’s shirt was wrinkled beyond repair, fastened hastily and out of sync with the line of button versus holes, untucked while her charcoal slacks mercilessly hugged every square inch of the woman impossibly so.
They stood across the room from one another, Kara biting at her bottom lip unseen while Cat eyed her before making an approach. Kara’s lungs filled with air, the hand at the back of her neck dropping slowly when the other woman was within arms reach.
“Your buttons are off.” Cat murmured before gesturing towards the kitchen. “I’ll, meet you in there.”