Chapter Text
When I Need You
Chapter 1
Everyone in National City had seen the fight. It was rather difficult to miss since it had occurred virtually right above everyone's heads.
It had started in the hospital district, with the usual property damage and panic before Supergirl had swept onto the scene. That was when the CatCo helicopter had arrived and begun filming, and that was when Cat had felt her heart leap up to lodge firmly in her chest. She had seen numerous fights between Supergirl and various Fort Rozz escapees of the week but this just felt different from the start. The alien was bigger and stronger and clearly smarter than most who usually appeared to have the IQs of meteors. He had started the fight in one of the most vulnerable areas of the city, with five hospitals within a three block radius, one of them a children's hospital. There had been no question that Supergirl would come to stop him and of course she had.
Then she had expended valuable energy getting him to move from the hospital district and into the warehouse district and then out of the city entirely. The CatCo helicopter had shadowed them and Cat had watched Supergirl taking multiple blows from the other alien while she scanned the distance for the black ops vehicles that always seemed to appear out of nowhere. This time they were late.
They didn't arrive until the alien finally got a smug look on his face, said something in another language and pressed a button on his suit. A horrified expression had taken hold of Supergirl and she had sped towards the alien, wrapped herself around him and shot skyward. Less than thirty seconds later came the explosion. Even from above the clouds, the shock waves rattled windows and set off car alarms. Cat had just gasped, hands clutching the back of her chair as she leaned against her desk and murmured under her breath, waiting to see Supergirl fly back into the frame. She appeared - falling - and Cat had turned from the screen before watching her crash into the ground.
When she turned back, all that was visible was a plume of dust and then, speeding through it, those ubiquitous black SUVs. People had jumped from them, gathered up the fallen hero and sped off as a black helicopter zoomed in, and a voice through a loudspeaker demanded that the CatCo helicopter land and await debriefing.
The work day was almost over, and being a Friday, people had already started to surreptitiously leave early, and Cat was glad, for once, that not everyone had her work ethic. It meant that she could pace her office without having every eye in the bullpen fastened on her. By the time the clock hands circled around to five, the CatCo helicopter had landed and Cat had grilled the pilot and reporter about what they had seen. Sadly, it wasn't much more than had been recorded for the news, and when it came to any specifics about Supergirl after she crashed, they both mentioned the papers they had been required to sign, and their own intense desires to avoid prison. Cat sent her new and not horrible assistant home, and walked out onto her balcony to wait.
Kara always called. Always. Even if she was already on her way back to the penthouse, the beach house or the office, she still called to let Cat know that she was alive and healthy. Cat's hand clenched around her phone and mentally begged it to ring.
It had been four months after Myriad before she and Kara had finally sat down and had an honest discussion about what was happening between them. It had happened right on that balcony, as a matter of fact, and Cat had polished off three glasses of bourbon while Kara had settled on nervously twisting her hands together since alcohol did nothing for her. The entire Supergirl charade had ended that night, not that either of them had really been trying very hard to maintain it since the events of Myriad. It would have been difficult for Kara to explain why "Agent Scully's" mother was so familiar with Supergirl, and why Scully's herself had looked and acted so disconsolate after her battle with the super hero. It was just so obvious that they were family, even if multiple people hadn't slipped and called Eliza "Dr. Danvers" in her presence.
They had just never been quite ready to confront the deceit and what it all meant. Until that night. Cat had nearly been killed by a freak car accident, and the look on Supergirl's face as she'd pulled the car back from the edge of the Bay Bridge had belied any attempt at neutrality. It had been all Kara.
Kara had been just so very tired of pretending that Cat was nothing more than a boss - now work associate since she didn't directly report to her anymore - and Cat had been equally exhausted at trying to act as if she didn't miss Kara's daily presence in her life, and they had both just let it all spill out on that balcony under the moon and the stars as just a few whispy clouds hovered above like witnesses to something vastly important.
They had started seeing each other romantically the very next day. They never called it dating, because they didn't go on dates. They stayed late at the office and ordered take-out and talked about everything except work. Or they hung out at the penthouse when Carter wasn't there and played Boggle and Scrabble and Word-Up with fierce competitiveness. Or they fell into Kara's bed and talked deep into the night before curling around one another and sharing every part of themselves. Eventually, despite Kara's nervousness, they told Carter that they were something more than friends, and then the beach house became a refuge for them, swimming, chasing the waves, flying a kite with Carter holding the string and Kara providing the breeze when the ocean winds died down.
Cat had told Kara that she was fine with the younger woman telling her sister and close friends about them, especially after Carter knew, but Kara always shied away from the suggestion. She said she was happy the way things were and that telling more people would only complicate things and that as much as she loved Alex, she didn't have to share everything with her. Not yet. Not until they were sure.
Sure about what, Cat couldn't say, because she thought they had already loosely committed to some kind of future together, and she had tried not to feel insecure and petty. She knew that she hadn't exactly been the kindest of bosses to Kara, and no doubt Alex Danvers had heard all about that. Kara was probably afraid that her sister would vehemently object to their relationship, and she knew she would probably do the same in her place.
But that was why the call after every fight, every disaster, every near-miss, was so important. Because no one else would know to contact her. She needed Kara to tell her she was okay.
She waited at CatCo long past when she expected Kara to return. She had called Carter's nanny and told her she needed to work late. Then she had spoken to Carter and assured him that everything was fine. She hadn't wanted to go home and then have to lie to her son while she ached to just stare off into the sky looking for some sign of red and blue. When she was certain that Carter would be sleeping, she finally called her driver.
Saturday morning dawned and painted the sky with marvelous hues that Cat knew Kara would love to paint. She had barely slept, and the phone on the nightstand seemed to mock her with its silence. She felt sick with worry, and a weight had settled in the center of her chest keeping her from drawing a full breath. As much as she told herself that Supergirl was indestructible, she knew that it wasn't true, and so she tried to quell her fears with the thought that surely if the worst had happened then the DEO (yes, Kara had told her the name of her government agency) would have released some sort of statement.
That was what she continued to tell herself all weekend long. To Carter, she explained that sometimes Kara had lengthy debriefing sessions after missions. It wasn't exactly a lie. The look in Carter's eye told her that he was only humoring her by going along with her story, but he stopped asking questions, which meant that Cat wouldn't have to struggle to keep her voice steady when she said Kara's name.
It was a quiet weekend, with Carter retreating to his room to work on a science project and Cat retreating to her study where she could nurse glasses of Glenlivet and go over layouts. She knew she would have to look at them all again because her mind wasn't capable of concentrating on such mundane things when the woman she loved was probably unconscious and certainly injured and lying in some sterile room in a government bunker.
But she would be back on Monday morning, of that she was sure. Supergirl had never disappeared for longer than that. And maybe her phone had broken or she wasn't able to call out from the DEO facility, but come Monday morning she would be standing in the office waiting for Cat to arrive, just like always, even though her days as an assistant were long past.
As her driver pulled up to the CatCo building after the longest weekend in memory, Cat finally saw the familiar outline of red and blue speeding by overhead. And she knew it wasn't actually Kara, because if Kara was capable of flight, she would have found a way to contact her.
She hurried into the building and tapped her foot the entire way up to the fortieth floor. Her new assistant was at her desk, and she stood when Cat stepped out of the elevator, but Cat didn't even glance in that direction, instead turning sharply and heading to the photography department.
After rapping sharply on the door, she proceeded to push it open with force, and marched in as James looked up from his desk, appearing startled and exhausted.
"Where is she?" she asked, and her voice sounded much firmer and calmer in the air than it did in her head.
"Kara?" Yeah, sorry she didn't call you herself," James began, and for a moment, Cat felt a mix of anger and relief, but then he continued, "she caught some kind of stomach bug over the weekend, went to the ER and everything. She's back home but she's not supposed to come in for at least a few days."
The lie stung, but more than that, it scared her. At least a few days? They were expecting her to be gone that long? She didn't want to think of what might have happened to her.
"No, she does not have a stomach bug," she said, letting the frustration and anger seep into her voice, "and you need to take me to her. Now."
"Ms Grant, I'm not sure what you're getting at..."
"I know, damn it. I know she is Supergirl," she hissed, swinging the door closed before moving to stand right in front of James' desk.
"I know her real name is Kara Zor-El. I know how she got the scar by her eyebrow from falling into a table back on Krypton. I know her mother's name was Alura and her aunt's name was Astra. I know that Winn made her costume after first trying to get her to wear boy shorts and a sports bra," she rolled her eyes at that but kept talking. "I know that she sings in the shower and sleeps on her stomach and I know damn well that was not her flying around National City this morning."
She took a breath and James just stood there looking stunned.
"Please, James," she said, utilizing a word that seldom crossed her lips. "Please just call Alex."
James dropped back into his chair and nodded his head slowly, taking in Cat's weary expression, and the pleading in her eyes. She was dressed impeccably as usual, but there was something about her that made it feel like she had done it all by rote while her real attention was focused far outside herself.
"Okay, Ms Grant. I'll make a call."
"Thank you," she said quietly, before turning to leave.
"Ms Grant," he spoke as she began to open the door. "From what I've heard, she's going to pull through this."
Cat just closed her eyes briefly before opening the door and heading back to her office.