Chapter Text
“Emily Blunt is so hot in this film,” Kara sighed, stretching her arms above her head as she and Cat returned to sitting upright.
“Just this film?” Cat asked with a smirk. Kara grinned, pulling the throw pillow behind her out to swat at Cat’s lap, earning herself a chuckle. Cat’s face fell shortly after. “Crick in your neck?” she asked, finally deciding to comment on Kara constantly stretching and trying to relieve something all night.
“Yeaaah, it’s fine though,” Kara said, waving her head in an all too Cat-like manner. Cat refrained from smiling at that, but it was cute how they had taken on different aspects of the other over the years. If they weren’t careful some would think they’re sisters and how wrong they would be.
“Come here,” Cat said, sitting sideways on the couch. Kara hesitated for a moment, wondering if sitting between Cat’s legs was such a good idea today. When Cat narrowed her eyes as thought speaking with one of her employees, Kara complied, scooting back to Cat until she felt Cat’s left leg curled on the couch. Cat’s hands came up and began to massage Kara’s neck and shoulder muscles. “Tense…” she whispered, a little surprised.
“Musta...worked out a little too hard the other day,” Kara spoke carefully.
“Well, breathe now, don’t tense up more, dork,” Cat said, smacking Kara’s shoulder lightly. Kara laughed and took a deep breath. “It’s just me.”
Yeah...just Cat. Feeling just how tuat and strong her muscles were, trying to work the knots out with her graceful fingers. Wondering why she was so stressed out and in mild pain. Kara had picked up a handful of sports and medium extreme exercise regimes over the years to explain away her strength, endurance and stamina, but she never came off as a himbo or enthusiast. She was far too interested in other artistic pursuits.
Cat’s ministrations to Kara’s upper back slowed as she began to run her hands over Kara’s shoulders and down her arms in a far more soothing than massage manner. Kara’s heartbeat picked up, breathing deeply to try and calm herself down, not picking up on how methodical Cat’s own breathing had become. She twitched when she felt a flutter of a touch on her right shoulder blade. That...that couldn’t have been a kiss. Could it?
Kara glanced over her shoulder but Cat’s eyes were downcast, forehead nearly touching her back. “Ca...Cat?” she asked, voice wavering.
She began to shake her head back and forth slightly. “I...I can’t do this anymore, Kara,” Cat stood up, the lack of contact chilling Kara to her bones. Cat wrapped her arms around her body as she moved away from the living room, towards the balcony.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t go on pretending like this is okay, that I’m okay with this.”
Kara’s mind reeled, trying to figure out what Cat was talking about. Did she put it together and figure out she wasn’t human, that she was Superwoman. Did she figure out that Kara felt more for her than just friendship? She stood up abruptly. “Cat..whatever, whatever it is, we can work through it. I can...fix this,” she offered. She couldn’t lose Cat’s friendship; it was one of the few genuine\ things in her life that grounded her, made her feel normal, feel like she belonged on this world.
Cat barked out a sharp laugh, startling Kara with how snide it sounded. “You can’t fix this, Kara, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have…” Cat sighed, unable to continue.
Suddenly she saw long blond hair and a concerned face in front of her. “Cat...I don’t understand. What’s going on? I...let me help you, please?"
Cat's bewildered eyes closed when Kara's voice dropped an octave, pleading with her.
"Please," she repeated. "I...can't lose you too." One of Kara's hands came up to cup Cat's cheek, the other resting lightly on her bicep. "You mean too much to me," she admitted, trying to tell this headstrong, stubborn woman that she was the single most important person to her on Earth without revealing she was in love with her.
"And you mean too much to me," Cat whispered, leaning into Kara's touch. "But this hurts. Only seeing each other a few times a year and only for a day or two at a time. Especially when you show up with aches and the occasional bruise that I can't help heal," Cat explained, finally landing on an explanation she could reveal freely, a safe compromise to what really ached.
"But you do help heal them. Even if they don't go away, you help me forget when we visit, distract me so I don't notice it as much. Just being with you helps, Cat. You're right though, it does suck not seeing each other as much as we did in college and right after. I uhh…," Kara racked her brain, trying to find a good solution. Technically she was a freelance writer, on loan to various news sources when they proposed a great topic she was interested in. "I could come work for you?" she offered.
"Kara...you could never stay in one place for too long," Cat said, reaching up to hold Kara's hand in hers, pulling it from her cheek.
"Perhaps, but I would be based here; I'd have an apartment here and we could see each other multiple times a week and that would be an improvement and then if I got called out for assignment elsewhere, it wouldn't hurt as much to be gone, knowing I'm coming home to you," Kara said with a brilliant smile.
"Home...to me," Cat muttered, glancing up into those blue eyes she could drown in. She sighed.
Kara's smile faltered, wondering if she had upset Cat again. She would do anything to ensure Cat's happiness, even if it meant passing on amazing writing opportunities. She would do it.
"You're too sweet and considerate, Kara. Some days I can't handle how infuriatingly precious you are!"
Kara's mouth opened to refute Cat's words, to ask for further explanation, to compliment Cat herself, but before any of that could happen, she was being pulled down to Cat's level by her shirt and the silkiest of touches graced her lips.
Cat was kissing her, firm and intense.
And then she wasn't.
Kara's eyes remained closed, head bobbing forward trying to chase her.
Cat's hands released the shirt and she bowed her head. She shouldn't have done that. She's ruined everything they've had for the past decade. What a love-struck fool she was.
“I'm sorry.”
“I'm Superwoman.”
They spoke at the same time, overlapping. Cat needed to try and fix this. Kara needed Cat to know who she really was.
Cat spun back around and if she had longer hair, she'd have smacked Kara's chest without meaning too. Her face was shocked, shook. More than Kara had been moments ago when they locked lips. “Y—you, what?”
“We can't do this, Cat. I'm Superwoman. I'm...not...human...” Kara trailed off, eyes watery with tears. Tears for losing Cat's friendship, tears for all they'd never be. “I'm sorry for never telling you. Our relationship—our friendship meant so much to me, it made me feel normal, like I belonged on this planet, that I found my perfect other half. I understand that you're upset I lied. I'll leave and never contact you again,” Kara began collecting her jacket and bag, careful to use human speed despite her need for distance.
“Kara, wait, no. I...” Cat paused, then realization dawned on her. It all made sense now. Kara constantly correcting herself when they spoke, biting her lip to stop her from saying something else. The casual cuddles and teasing flirting. On more than one occasion Cat had been told they acted like an old married couple. Just now 'perfect other half'. “Kara, wait,” Cat said again, more firmly now.
“No, Cat. Thank you for your friendship all these years.”
“I'm not upset that you're an alien and I'm certainly not mad at you for hiding it.”
“I'd be putting you in danger, Cat,” Kara shook her head, staring at the ground.
“I don't care. I want you, Kara!”
“Don't you see I love you?!” Kara spun on her heel to look at Cat fiercely.
Cat's breath caught in her throat, tears pricking her eyes. “And I love you,” she breathed reverently, moving toward Kara. “And we can work through this,” her hands came up to cup Kara's cheeks. “Our friendship hasn't put me at risk yet,” she leaned up on her toes, smiling when she felt a hand on her hip to keep her balanced. “Can't we try something more?” she asked, so close to kissing Kara, the Kryptonian felt lightheaded already.
A thump sounded as Kara let go of her bag and closed the minuscule distance between them, kissing Cat as she kissed her just minutes ago. Her now free hand, reached up and tangled in Cat's hair, keeping her close. This time when they kissed, there was reciprocation, a wobble in their legs as they finally took this step together, passion they always knew the other had but now directed in a romantic loving manner toward each other.
Noses brushed as they continued to swap kisses, the rest of the world a blur in the background, even without her glasses Kara knew her super hearing would hear nothing but Cat's heart racing, the delicate deep breaths of her lungs, their sighs and—moans.
Cat pulled back finally, gripping Kara's shirt in her fists as she stood flat footed again. “We should...” she breathed heavily. “We should slow down some,” she said, licking her swollen lips.
“Okay,” Kara conceded but not before leaning in to kiss the side of Cat's neck where her pulse thrummed. Cat bit her lip, eyes closed as she tried to regain some semblance of equilibrium.
“I love you,” Cat whispered again, sighed and then chuckled. It was such a relief to finally tell Kara those precious few words. Her chest was heavy but in a different way now; nerves about what came next, that they were finally here, that Kara was finally hers.
“I love you too,” Kara said easily, lifting Cat up off the ground and spinning them around once and then again.
“We're gonna have to talk about that too at some point,” Cat said, pointing a finger at Kara's chest.
Kara nodded amicably. “I know.”
“But for now...sleepover? I don't want to let you go just yet,” Cat said, a fact confirmed in the media mogul still holding onto Kara in some way.
“And there was only one bed?” Kara asked, eyebrows raised, grin cracking her face in twain.
Cat swatted at Kara's bicep ineffectually. “You're such a dork, but yes. Cuddle with me tonight?"
“Any and all nights,” Kara promised, leaning down to capture Cat's lips once more.