Work Text:
Cat Grant is exhausted.
She's hiding it well, keeping her posture stiff, and her expensive concealer carefully blended.
Still, Kara can tell. Cat has been on the precipice for days, and Kara doesn't know what's wrong, but she knows she wants to fix it. She's not even sure why. Maybe Alex is right, and she wants to fix everything. She's not sure that's the reason though.
It's day five of something being wrong, the whole week has been...off...somehow. Cat's yelled at everyone more than normal, and the entire office is on edge. What makes it worse is that her tiffs are interspersed with moments of unnatural quiet. It's eerie.
When Kara woke up this morning she knew that she had to do something.
Cat has asked for her third latte of the day, asked for it without even looking up from the papers that she's pouring over, and Kara is really really hesitant to give it to her. For one thing, it's 10am. Way too early for Cat to need a third cup. For another, Kara's almost certain that what Cat needs is sleep, and a lot of it. And coffee isn't exactly conducive to human sleep habits.
"Miss Grant," Kara says, awkwardly shifting in front of Cat's desk, one hand around the steaming paper cup.
Cat sighs. "What is it, Kiera?" She glances up briefly, and even though Kara's expecting it her heart sinks at the dark circles under Cat's eyes.
And so, Kara makes a decision. A kind of stupid one but, well, it's necessary. She thinks.
"Your car will be here in five minutes for the meeting you arranged with George yesterday," Kara states emphatically, turning on her heel and exiting the office without another word.
So, apparently it's not beneath Kara to take advantage of the fact that Cat's mind is working way way below its standard. Glancing back into the office from the safety of her desk, Kara sees Cat wrinkle her nose for a moment. That's Cat's tell for frustration and confusion, but she doesn't call Kara back. Which would be unusual, except that Kara's pretty sure that Cat's embarrassed about supposedly forgetting an appointment she herself arranged and...Kara really hopes this is worth it.
Realizing with a start that she's still holding the coffee, Kara surreptitiously slides it into the trash. She feels vindicated by her decision a few minutes later, when Cat stands at her desk only to falter. It's a split second, unlikely that anyone else's senses would be sharp enough to notice it, but Kara sees it and she aches.
She watches carefully, one step behind Cat as they head to the elevator, reflexes alert. But Cat saunters as she always does, strolling into her personal elevator and insinuating that she would like Kara to follow with a sharp flick of her wrist.
The elevator doors ding shut as it smoothly begins its descent, and almost instantly Cat drops her facade, head falling back against the smooth wood wall and eyes fluttering shut. Kara feels honored. Cat so rarely shows weakness in front of anyone (and despite what Kara herself thinks, Cat would certainly consider this a weakness). Cat being herself, if only for a moment, is a huge display of trust.
Kara wants to touch her, to tell her that whatever is wrong they'll solve it together. But they don't do that.
She's texted the driver ahead of time, told him that Miss Grant needs time out of the office to make personal phone calls, and that he ought to drive in circles for two hours. This would seem crazy, except for the fact that Cat herself has made the same request in the past. Used it as a way to avoid her minions tracking her down, a way to get work done in a serious time crunch when it requires her full attention.
So, while it's a little odd that the request has come from Kara, the driver accepted it immediately.
They both slide into the town car, disappearing behind tinted windows. The privacy divider is already up, separating them from the driver, as it always is when Cat does business in the car. So, that's step one of Kara's brilliant plan achieved. The next part rests on Cat herself which...
"Miss Grant," Kara begins, after the car has pulled away from the curb. "It will take us 40 minutes to get there with traffic. Perhaps you'd like to take a short," she swallows a little nervously, "nap?"
Cat scoffs and Kara's stomach sinks. "A 'cat nap', if you will?" Cat says wryly, voice tinged with a slight amusement. But she adjusts a little on the leather seat, leaning back and closing her eyes.
And that alone shows Kara that Cat is truly burned out. The lack of resistance, the acceptance of an idea that's not her own? That's not Cat Grant.
Still, Kara is thankful for it now. Cat needs this, and she hopes that she'll wake up refreshed and better equipped to handle whatever is really wrong.
Sliding forward slowly so as not to disturb Cat, Kara adjusts the thermostat for their part of the car, lowering the temperature. She's read that a colder space can be better for sleeping, and she wants to make this environment as beneficial for Cat as possible.
Thirty minutes pass, and Cat is like a statute, unmoving except for her deep steady breaths. But then, suddenly, she whimpers and jerks awake, eyes frantically searching her surroundings.
Kara is at her side in a moment, no stranger to bad dreams. And, without hesitating, she reaches out a hand and rubs Cat's back. "It's all right, you're safe, you're with Kara, no one else is here, you're safe." Cat's breathing calms a little, though Kara can still hear the thumping of her heartbeat.
Cat is struggling to keep her eyes open, and Kara can tell from the way the older woman is looking at her she's not quite there, stuck somewhere between asleep and awake.
"Shhh," Kara murmurs, and she shifts closer to Cat, encouraging the older woman to rest her head on her shoulder. She continues to rub small circles on Cat's back. "You're safe, it's okay, everything is okay."
Cat's breathing deepens, and Kara blushes a little to realize that she has pulled Cat firmly against her. That's going to be fun to explain when Cat wakes up. Still, the other woman is fast asleep again, breathing slow and steady.
Cat panics every twenty to thirty minutes, heart racing each time, and it's no longer surprising to Kara that Cat is so exhausted. She knows that Cat will have kept this to herself, knows that it is a privilege to be the one to soothe Cat back to sleep. And, she's surprisingly good at doing so. For someone so uncomfortable with human touch, Cat seems calmest when Kara's rubbing her back.
After each outburst, she nuzzles closer into Kara's side, face now pressed against Kara's throat.
Kara texts the driver from Cat's phone, an infraction that may or may not get her fired, and tells him to park in the garage under the penthouse, to take another car home himself. He does so without question. There's a reason that Miss Grant pays her employees well, and a reason she herself is considered completely unreasonable.
Kara is getting better at recognizing what Cat needs after each nightmare, likely due to her encyclopedic knowledge of the woman, but even so Cat has had no interrupted sleep. And the two hours have gone by far too quickly.
Kara glances around the garage, relieved to see that no one else is around. She slides out of the car carefully, adjusting Cat so that the woman is in her arms. Cat gives a low groan at being jostled, but she doesn't wake.
Apparently this kind of contact is helpful, because Kara can hear Cat's heartbeat slowing as she is wrapped in Kara's arms.
They miraculously make it up the elevator without another passenger interrupting them, and Kara uses Cat's own key to get them into the penthouse. Everything is spotless, as normal, but Kara's nose twitches at the undertone of alcohol that she can smell. It's fairly clear, and not at all surprising, that Cat's tried medicating herself.
Kara finds Cat's bedroom easily enough, pulling the curtains closed with one hand while the other keeps the woman close. Cat's arms and legs are dangling, but her head is tucked securely against Kara's chest, and Kara smirks at the drool that's gathering below Cat's mouth.
It's early still, and as Kara settles on the bed, Cat a tight ball on top of her, she mentally rearranges their work schedule, whipping out her phone to ensure that no one comes looking.
Another hour passes, and at each murmur Kara is able to settle her back into sleep, so much so that she barely wakes at all.
But then, she lifts her head from Kara's chest, tangled curls partly obscuring her face, 'What?' she clears her throat, voice raspy from sleep, "what's happening?" She's annoyed and irritated in a typical Cat Grant fashion, but Kara isn't frightened. She's still half laying on Kara, a dried bit of drool on the side of her mouth, and she's so endearing that...Kara's confused by her own reaction. But she's not intimidated.
"You're taking a nap," Kara states the obvious, knowing a reaction is coming whether she wants it or not.
"Kiera, I can't take naps, in case it's escaped your notice I have a multi-million dollar empire to run. I don't have time to take breaks. I can't believe you --" A massive yawn interrupts her tirade, and she glances away.
"You need more sleep," Kara says calmly, rationally. And Cat can't fight with that. She's struggling to keep her eyes open, her arms shaking from the simple action of holding her upper body up.
Still, she's always been a fighter.
"Please, Cat," Kara says softly, raising her hand and gently smoothing the curls back from Cat's face. And Cat finds her eyes slipping shut in response. She's not sure if it's the touch, or the use of her first name, but suddenly the fight abandons her.
She practically collapses back on top of Kara, and the younger woman wraps both arms around her securely, rubbing swirls on her lower back. There's a spark of attraction in response to Kara's fingers sliding on the small sliver of exposed skin, but it's subtle, as tired as she is, and soon she's sleeping again.