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"Kara," Cat says, "what, exactly, are you doing?"
Kara - who had previously crossed the room, laid down in front of the window on the hard wooden floor, and folded her arms underneath her head - pops one eye open lazily.
"I'm taking a nap," she says, as if it should be obvious.
"And why are you taking it on the floor instead of, I don't know, one of our five couches? Or maybe even our bed?"
Kara makes a swirly hand gesture at the floor-to-ceiling window that's currently bathing her in light. "The sunlight gives me dreams."
"Oh." Cat blinks. "Did you not have dreams on Krypton, then?"
She shakes her head. "We had these robots that could project our thoughts on a screen, but, no dreams," she says. "Unless you count fever-induced hallucinations. And we could still have, like, flashbacks in our heads, but..."
"No dreams," Cat finishes. "And you can't have dreams unless you're in direct sunlight?"
"Nope. Alex thinks the sun increases my brain activity."
Cat processes this information.
From the way Kara paints, Cat had always assumed she had dreams at night and threw them onto a canvas during the day. It's a little sad to know that she has to plan a nap ahead of time to have something as simple as a dream.
But, she supposes, she's glad Kara doesn't have to suffer through nightmares. She can only imagine the night terrors losing her entire planet would have caused.
"So we finally found a power humans have that you don't."
Kara chuckles. "Yeah."
Cat closes her laptop and leans forward, resting her chin on her hand. "What do you dream about?"
Kara ducks her head. She pulls her sweater up high enough to cover her nose. "It's embarrassing."
Cat had only used the word "adorable" to describe her son before she met Kara, but the girl fits that description to a T. Perhaps she should ask Lucy if they could get Kara's picture into the dictionary...
"Alright, alright." Cat holds her hands up in surrender. "You don't have to tell me right now."
Kara still has her sweater pulled over her face, but Cat's pretty sure she's smiling. "Thank you." And with that, she closes her eyes again and slows her breathing.
Cat takes a moment to appreciate the shadows the golden light casts on her lover before going back to scrolling through long, coring emails from the board...Until Kara audibly squirms. She closes her laptop with a sigh. "Do you at least want a pillow?" she asks.
"I'm an alien," is Kara's answer. "I don't get sore."
"You were sore last night."
"Ew!" Kara tugs the sweater down to stick her tongue out at her. "Gross."
Cat rolls her eyes at her false juvenile display. "If you're not sore, then why are you wiggling around like an over-excited puppy?"
"It's just that..." Kara bites her lip. "It's nothing."
"Kara."
"It's just that you're kinda sorta maybe being just a little loud?"
If this were anyone else but Kara, Cat would tell them that they couldn't possibly hear her taping away on her computer from several yards away. But Kara can hear someone sneeze across the city, so...
"You only had to ask." Cat stands and starts collecting her papers off the couch. "Honestly, Kara, be more assertive."
"Oh no! You don't have to-" Kara moves to get up, but Cat stops her with a single look.
"Yes, I do." Cat tucks her laptop and notes underneath her arm. She walks over to Kara, runs her hand over her soft, lazy-Sunday-style unruly hair, and pecks her on the lips. "Heroes need naps, too," she says. She kisses Kara once more and then begins her trek down the hall. "I'll be in our room."
"Thank you!" Kara calls after her.
"Dream something nice for me," Cat replies.
Once she gets comfy on their bed, Cat settles back into work easily. She combs through several more tedious emails, proof-reads three articles, and approves layouts sent to her by James for the entire week.
When she looks up, an hour has passed, and she's thirsty. She exits the room and tiptoes down the hallway as quietly as she can because - she peers around the corner - sure enough, Kara is fast asleep.
She's got this wistful little smile on her face. Her sweater got rucked up in her sleep, and the dramatic lighting casts delicious shadows on her abdomen. Cat refrains from placing a pillow underneath Kara's head, since she knows that would accomplish nothing but wake the heroine up.
She does, however, whisper, "Sweet dreams," and sneaks back to their room.
Cat might be a little more than tipsy right now, but it's not like Kara can get drunk, so it's obviously a good idea when Cat slams her up against one of the bar's bathroom stalls and Kara doesn't stop her. In fact, Kara uses her super speed to move them into the stall and latch it shut in a flash. (And still lets herself be pinned.)
Kara's hands are slowly sliding underneath her skirt and the taller woman ducks her head to nip at Cat's throat. The alcohol in her system makes the sensation ten times stronger, and she throws her head back as she moans.
"Tell me," Cat says, voice low and sultry and in her lover's ear as she slips her hands under Kara's tight shirt and scratches her nails harshly down her back, "what do you dream about?"
The question is obviously a huge turn-off, as Kara goes the wrong kind of tense underneath her fingers, and Cat immediately backs off.
"What? What's wrong?" Cat asks. "Are you okay? Did I-?"
"No!" Kara says. "No. You didn't...You're fine. Perfect."
"Then what's wrong?"
"Well, I mean...It's just that..." Kara bites her lip.
"Just spit it out," Cat says.
"I kind of...dream of my parents?" she says. "So, it's just, like, you mentioned my parents right before we were going to do...that? I mean, you didn't, but, still...Kind of weird."
"Oh." Cat draws her eyebrows together and takes a step closer, but not completely in Kara's space. "Why didn't you just tell me you dreamed of your parents? I would have understood."
Kara fiddles with the hem of her shirt, and a tiny ripping sound is the product of her nerves. Cat doesn't say anything about that.
"Because...it's embarrassing," the taller woman says. "I dream that we're just...doing things, as a family, like going on walks, or eating diner. O-or they're putting me to bed. And it's embarrassing because I never dream of, like, what my life would be like if I was an adult an Krypton. I'm always a child, and it's-" Tears are welling up in her eyes out of frustration and she's tugging harder at her shirt.
"Hey." Cat takes another step forward. She uncurls Kara's hand from her shirt and intertwines their fingers. "It's perfectly normal to wish for things to go back to the way they once were, Kara." Even if that's without me, she doesn't say.
Kara hears her anyway. "Hey, no, no, no," she says quickly. "I love you, and Carter, and Alex, and I'm so, so glad that I met you guys and that we're together. I just-"
"Wish that you could have your parents here too?" Cat guesses.
Kara nods fervently. She reaches around and tugs her into a tight (but not for Kara) hug. "I-I can't say that I would do it all over again, because I'm not sure I would," Kara says honestly, "but I do. Love you. A lot. Don't ever doubt that."
Cat relaxes into her embrace and brings her hand up to rub at the taller woman's back. "I know," she says. "I love you, too." They stay there in silence for quite a while, waiting for Kara to calm down.
When she finally does, Cat asks, "Why haven't I seen you take naps before? This doesn't seem like a new thing."
"It'a not," Kara says. "I used to take them all the time, but the Black Mercy ruined it for me. I used to take naps in the sun to feel closer to Krypton, but after the Black Mercy...I realized that I was waking up alone."
Aching. Cat's heart - no, her entire chest aches for this woman, this person who lost everything, and had to grow up too quickly. She pulls back from the hug to kiss her deeply, soothingly.
"You're not alone," Cat says.
"Not anymore, no, now that I live with you and Carter. That's why I started again. Because I'd wake up alone for a split second, but then I'd be able to hear you guys breathing or something, and it was okay."
Cat really doesn't know how to respond. Thankfully, Kara saves her the embarrassment of saying something totally wrong.
"Can we go home?" she asks. "I'm kind of sick of this bar."
Cat nods. "Of course." She tightens her grip on Kara's hand and leads her out of the bathroom.
The next afternoon, Cat and Kara chat idly. Kara finishes her fifth in a line of sandwiches while Cat works from the couch. It's nice. It's peaceful. Kara's pretending like what happened yesterday, didn't.
Cat's found that Kara's good at that; pretending. She has to be. She has to pretend that she didn't lose her entire planet, that she isn't Supergirl. To the outside world, she has to pretend that she's happy all the time, that there's nothing wrong with her seemingly perfect little life.
Kara licks the last bit of mustard, tuna, and pickle juice off her thumb (Kryptonians have the oddest tastes). She washes her plates off in half a second, before shifting back into low gear to stroll across the living room. As she stretches out on the floor - the cheep Superman T-shirt Carter bought for her as gag gift showing off her hips as she does so - Cat pulls herself to her feet and gathers all her notes into one pile.
"I'll be fine this time," Kara says. "You don't have to move."
"I'm not." Cat places her laptop and papers down on the coffee table. Her back will give her hell later, but she lays down next to Kara. She throws an arm around Kara's middle and uses her breasts as her makeshift pillows. "There. Now you don't have to wait a second to remember that you're not alone."
Kara wraps her arms around the shorter woman's shoulders and pulls her up further to bury her face in her arm. "Thank you," she whispers.
"You're welcome," Cat says. "Now, it's very sweet, but this is uncomfortable."
"Oh! Right. Sorry." Kara releases her long enough for Cat to get comfy again, then curls into her. She kisses her mouth, her chin, her eyes, her cheeks, her forehead, alternating between saying "Thank you," and "I love you," in the four languages she knows.
"Yes, yes, I know," Cat says, feigning irritation and shoving her face away. "Honestly, why does Carter want a dog when we have you?"
Kara just chuckles. She knocks her feet against Cat's and hums happily.
The warm, lazy sunlight and being pressed up against Kara is a combination that has Cat drifting off surprisingly fast. She buries her face further into Kara's chest. She smells of laundry detergent and soot from the fire that had been called to Supergirl's attention this morning.
Kara murmurs, "Thank you," against the shorter woman's hair one last time. Cat doesn't have time before Kara's softly snoring in her ear.
Cat kisses her. "Sweet dreams."