Work Text:
It's just nice to sit down, Kara thought, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for just a minute before starting on the layouts.
She'd barely had time to relax at all earlier in the day, what with the catastrophic printing press failure at The Tribune this morning. Add to that the entire weekend that she'd spent putting out July 4th fires all over Southern California, and she was beyond worn out.
She didn't even mind that Miss Grant had asked her to stay late to review the final draft of the magazine's layouts with her. It wasn't hard work, either mentally or physically, and it had something else going for it, too: it wasn't on fire.
Miss Grant might threaten to set them on fire if they're really bad, but she never actually does it, she smirked to herself.
The other reason Kara didn't mind working late - ever - was that it meant spending time alone with her boss without the usual interruptions of the workday. Something she craved even more than potstickers or donuts these days. Especially in the summertime, when 90% of Cat's dresses were short and sleeveless.
Stop torturing yourself, she scolded, the heat of a blush climbing up her neck, across her cheeks, and all the way to the tips of her ears. You know nothing will ever happen. Real life doesn't work like that.
Still, a little daydreaming wasn't necessarily a bad way to spend her first motionless minutes in days, and she deserved a treat, didn't she?
Kara settled in for a few minutes of harmless fantasy, reveling in the cool quiet of Cat's monumental office, smiling to herself about her secret crush…
And promptly fell fast asleep.
Entering her office at speed, Cat Grant glanced at her erstwhile assistant seated on the couch to the right, a layout sleeve across her lap.
"Oh, Keira, good," she said, vexed, and stalked to her desk to flip open her laptop. She sat with rigid, ire-fueled posture, fumbled for a pair of readers, slammed them onto her face, and began to type. "I'll join you when I finish sending this less-scathing-than-it-should-be email to the CEO of that hack maintenance firm that caused the myriad fires we've been putting out all day."
Focusing for a moment, she increased the speed and intensity of her typing.
"The only reason I'm not suing them out of house and home is that shift manager who somehow managed to find the required parts and replace them in under ten hours, something I'm positive he couldn't have managed, even in his prime." She scoffed. "She should run his company for him."
She typed furiously for a few more seconds, then hit send with a flourish, a self-satisfied smile tugging the corner of her mouth upward. Finished with her indulgent gloating, she snapped her laptop closed and tossed her readers back onto the desk.
"What's the matter, Keira?" she asked, glancing at the back of Kara's head as she passed, on the way to pour herself a congratulatory bourbon. "Did they misspell 'CatCo' again?"
When Kara didn't respond, Cat slowly lowered the stopper back into place on the bourbon decanter.
"Keira?" she asked sharply.
Kara's continued silence panicked Cat, and she hurried around the couch, crouching in front of her to get a better look at her face.
"Kara?" she asked, lightly tracing the younger woman's cheek with her fingertips.
For too long a moment, she thought Kara wasn't breathing. A quiet sound, somewhere between a buzz and a sigh, dispelled that fear instantly, and Cat chuckled, relieved.
She was about to wake Kara up when she remembered the significance of the date.
July 6th, the Monday after Independence Day.
Meaning Kara had spent the day helping Cat put out dozens of metaphorical fires after spending the weekend putting out hundreds of literal ones.
She probably fell asleep the moment she sat down, she thought affectionately.
Realizing how exhausted Kara must be, Cat gently removed her glasses and retrieved the layout from her lap, placing both on the coffee table behind her. Then she gathered throw pillows from around the room and piled them against the arm of the couch.
Before she touched Kara again, she experienced a brief jolt of trepidation at the thought of startling her while she slept. Who knew what a frightened superhero might do when awakened suddenly?
Finally, Cat rolled her eyes at herself and nudged Kara's shoulder.
It was barely a tap, but Kara toppled over into the nest of pillows Cat had procured for her and - without waking - hugged one of them to her cheek, burrowing happily into the others.
Cat bent down to remove Kara's uninspiring beige flats and tapped Kara's knee as she stood back up.
Kara pulled her legs onto the couch and curled onto her side with a content and utterly adorable sigh.
Stop it, admonished a stern inner voice. You can't have her - no matter how adorably she sighs or how beautiful you think she is. We've been over this.
Cat resisted the urge to mock-salute her voice of wisdom and, instead, sat next to Kara. She pulled the first layout into her lap and gazed at the sleeping woman one last time.
"Sleep well, Supergirl," she whispered, smiling softly.
Then she got to work.
Ow, Kara thought when she woke up. Her neck hurt. Well, not hurt so much as tingled oddly. She didn't like it. Hence, ow.
In no hurry to open her eyes, she instead indulged in a little game she sometimes played and inhaled deeply to identify the scents around her. First she smelled warm velvet and goose down. Then fresh linen and grease pencil. Then, there was smoky bourbon and, best of all, Cat's favorite perfu—
Kara gasped and bolted upright on the couch, afraid to open her eyes because she knew exactly what she would see. She'd fallen asleep in Cat's office and - worse! - Cat had obviously found her there.
She swallowed. It sounded loud in the cavernous space.
"'The sleeper has awakened,'" Cat quoted from her desk. "Welcome back."
Kara could hear her smirk.
"Um, how long?" she asked hesitantly.
Kara kept her eyes firmly closed. What if she had drooled? Or talked in her sleep? What if she had talked in her sleep about CAT?
That's how her sister had found out about her crush, and Alex had been teasing her mercilessly ever since.
I would literally die if Cat heard me talking about her in my sleep, Kara thought, mortified.
"How long did you sleep?" Cat looked at the time in the corner of her laptop screen. "About four and a half hours, give or take. Depending on when you fell asleep, of course. I returned from Garrett's office just after six and found you sitting up with a layout across your lap, snoozing the evening away."
Kara hung her head to hide the prickly blush she felt creeping up her face.
"I'm sorry, Miss Grant," she whispered, embarrassed.
Cat whipped her head around when she heard the self-recrimination in Kara's voice.
"Don't be ridiculous," she said, coming around her desk to crouch in front of Kara very much as she had done a few hours ago. Her frown deepened.
"Look at me," she commanded softly.
Kara shook her head.
Cat laid her hand over Kara's, which were folded tightly and tucked between her knees, ostensibly to keep them from shaking.
"Kara, look at me."
Kara's eyes popped open, a pale, surprised blue.
"You only call me 'Kara' when you're worried," she noted.
"I am worried," Cat chided her. "When was the last time you slept—" She held her hand up when Kara started to reply. "—for more than four hours?"
Kara honestly didn't know.
"Thursday night, maybe?" she guessed, shrugging. "People always start setting off fireworks early when the 4th is on a weekend."
"Why didn't you say something?" asked Cat, distraught. "I would have sent you home if I'd known. You should have taken the day off. I don't want you to think you're chained to your desk, Kara. You're allowed to rest."
"I don't feel chained to my desk!" Kara protested. "And I didn't come to work today out of some twisted sense of obligation, Cat," she added, too tired and irritated to realize she'd dropped the expected professional formalities. "I came here because I wanted to! Because it's cool and quiet and familiar. Because I needed distractions more than I needed sleep. Because here, I know what I'm doing and I know I do it well. Out there…"
Kara nodded at the balcony door and blinked back unwanted tears.
"Out there, I never feel like I've done enough."
Cat's town car pulled up outside Kara's apartment building just after midnight.
"Thank you for indulging my protective streak," Cat said quietly, unable to look Kara in the eye. "I realize you don't need it - especially from someone like me - but not knowing whether you made it home safely…" She glanced up at Kara. "Silly, I know."
"Only to you," said Kara, grateful for the weak light from the street lamp down the street, hopefully keeping the flush of heat in her cheeks from being noticed. "It's nice to have someone worry about something so…"
"Asinine?" asked Cat, one eyebrow arching in challenge.
Kara shook her head. "Normal," she replied softly.
"I want you to come in late tomorrow," Cat said, waving away Kara's expected protest. "No earlier than ten. I'll tell everyone you're doing some research for the next issue of the magazine. No one will question it." She smiled evilly. "No one would dare."
"What about your latte?" Kara asked, brows diving into a disapproving frown.
"I have a building filled with eager-to-please minions, Kara. Surely one of them can manage to bring me a latte." Gray-green eyes flicked down and back up. "It won't be as hot, obviously, but I'll live."
Kara swallowed a tiny gasp.
Did Cat just—? No. Did she? Is Cat…flirting with me?
"I'll alert the media," Kara smirked, staring at Cat with faux-exasperation. "Oh, wait…"
Cat laughed a genuine, delighted laugh, and Kara stopped breathing on the spot.
Once again, she appreciated the semidarkness in the back of the town car.
Otherwise, she'd see the little hearts floating around my head, she thought ruefully.
"Go to bed," Cat quipped, elegantly pointing in the direction of Kara's building. "I'll see you tomorrow at ten."
Kara nodded. "Thank you for the ride, Miss Grant," she said, back to being plain old Kara Danvers now that the moment had passed. "See you tomorrow."
She'd barely closed the car door when she heard its automatic window lower, and she turned back.
"And Kara…"
"Yes, Miss Grant?" Kara asked, concerned.
"Call me Cat from now on. All right?"
Kara froze on the sidewalk, eyes wide.
"Okay," she agreed, drawing the word out as if she were waiting to be let in on the joke.
Apparently, there was none.
"Good night, Kara," said Cat.
"Good night, M-mi, um, Cat," Kara replied.
Cat's single arched eyebrow served as a wave, and she raised the window.
As the car drove away, Kara heard her add, "I prefer the way it sounds when you say it."
Then again, when the car turned the corner, "And yes, Kara, I know you can still hear me."
A slow, rakish smile spread across Kara's face.
She was flirting with me! she thought giddily, and she skipped up the stairs.
fin