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12" by 8"

Summary:

Objectively, it’s a beautiful photograph. A high definition immortalisation of a kiss in the sky, two figures pressed impossibly close, hands tangled in hair and around waists as they hover sixty storeys in the air, illuminated gently by the neon of the CatCo Worldwide Media sign. But all she really sees when she looks at it is proof of Lena Luthor cheating on Kara Danvers.

///

The one where Cat discovers that Lena's stepping out with Supergirl (and decides to deal with the problem herself).

Notes:

Note accompanying this chapter has been removed.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: in which the wrath of cat grant is incurred

Chapter Text

Cat glares fiercely at the photograph clenched in her fingers, eyes narrowed and pupils burning, as if by focusing enough anger at the image, it’ll simply burst into flames, and take the moment it captures with it when it turns to ash.

Objectively, she can see that it’s a beautiful photograph. A high definition immortalisation of a kiss in the sky, two figures pressed impossibly close, hands tangled in hair and around waists as they hover sixty storeys in the air, illuminated gently by the neon of the CatCo Worldwide Media sign.

No, it’s not the quality of the picture that’s the problem. It’s the subjects. Because one of her underlings has just given her the only existing evidence of a kiss between Supergirl and Lena Luthor, not twenty feet from where she now stands on the balcony of her office. She knows she ought to grasp the opportunity to create this decade’s greatest power couple with both hands, but there is an assistant-shaped reason sitting out in the next room that stops the idea in its tracks. Because it has not escaped Cat’s notice that Kara has been dating the CEO of L-Corp for over a year now. As far as she’s aware, they’ve always been perfectly happy: press darlings, nauseatingly adorable, and such a perfect contrast of bright and grey that the articles just write themselves.

Cat has spent enough time around Supergirl to understand the pull she has – beautiful, powerful, full of righteous hope and unending faith in humanity. She’s a magnet, and if Lena were dating anyone other than Kara, Cat couldn’t have faulted her for caving to that charming gravity.
But it is Kara, and that makes this personal. Because Kara puts all of her heart into everything she is and does, and she’s never learned to roll with the punches, which means a headline like this would break her with a solid hit to the ribs.

Cat never expected to have to deal with something like this. Supergirl finally having a relationship with a human is exactly the kind of media sensation she’s been waiting on, but this revelation tastes bitter and harsh.

They seem so happy, so completely dedicated to each other, and yet here is the 12” by 8” proof that somehow all that wasn’t enough to stop Lena from falling for National City’s resident hero. And it is falling; Cat can tell from the way they’re smiling into the kiss, holding each other so close and spinning gently that this is more than adrenaline and searching for the sensation of being alive.

She can’t bring herself to walk back to her desk, knowing that it affords her an unimpeded view of the twenty-something whose relationship is about to come crashing down around her, sooner or later.

Then again, maybe not, if Cat has anything to say about it. She tries to tell herself that it would be bad press for Supergirl, and therefore CatCo, but deep down she knows it’s because she couldn’t bear to lose the sunny glow of the presence at the desk down the hall.

///

She asks Kara to set up an appointment with Lena Luthor, and watching her assistant smile slightly at the name as she exits the office reminds Cat of the symmetry of all this; after all, a CatCo meeting is how they met.

She remembers it well, even after all these months. Lena had been far less sharp than Cat had come to expect, and Kara was even more awkward than usual, stumbling over words and dropping papers the entire hour, hands constantly jumping up to adjust her glasses or twist a lock of her hair. Cat had put it down to too much coffee, and spared her any slight criticism given that they were in company. Afterwards, when Lena had pulled Kara aside for a moment, Cat had left, under the assumption that it was merely about scheduling another talk. She still recalls finding out that it was far more than that, not three weeks later.

“You can come along, Kiera. Mingle with the business elite. Make some connections. Heaven knows you can’t stay my assistant forever,” Cat snaps somewhat caustically, and Kara jumps. As unexpectedly incredible of an employee as she is, Cat will have to scare her into the above and beyond eventually. Forcing her out of her shell at one of these galas might just be the way to go. “Of course, your primary purpose will be to remind me of people’s names, and when I’m next available in case anyone wants to set anything up.”

Kara fidgets in that way Cat knows means she has something she needs to say, and instead of pressing her like she normally would, the look of sheer discomfort on Kara’s face prompts her to allow her assistant a minute to psych herself up for whatever it is she has to share. A string of mumbles pours quietly out of her typically bright and open aid.

“What was that?” she demands.

“I – I can’t go with you to the gala. I mean, I’ll be there, so if you need me, you can get me. But – but – I’m sort of, um, already going.” At Cat’s raised eyebrow, Kara clarifies. “Uh – with Lena Luthor. You know, from L-Corp.”

“Yes, I am, interestingly, aware of Ms Luthor’s position. I didn’t realise you two were friends.”

Kara blushes slightly, but Cat misses the significance of it. Until the next day, of course, when she sees “Lena Luthor & Mystery Woman?” in the gossip section of the Daily Planet.

///

“Kara!”

Her assistant jumps out of her chair and quickly makes her way into Cat’s office, hovering a few feet away. “Yes, Ms Grant?” She looks so naive and eager that it makes Cat stomach twist. After all these years in a cut-throat industry, Cat has some of the toughest skin in existence, and a vice as ordinary as resisting monogamy hardly phases her. People lie, people cheat, c’est la vie. But Kara – Kara has none of that cynicism, and far too much trust.

“I need you to get James to ask Supergirl to come visit me. Straight after Ms Luthor, please,” Cat demands.

Kara nods rapidly, fingering the frames of her glasses. “Of course. I’ll see what he can do. What should I tell him it’s about?”

Cat shakes her head. “It’s confidential, Kara. But be sure he informs our friend that it is urgent. Warn her that should she not show and resolve this with me, she may lose the support of CatCo forever,” she says gravely.

Kara visibly starts, looking slightly horrified. Cat sighs. Poor kid. Her girlfriend chooses, of all the people to step out with, her idol. Life is a bitch. “Oh god,” she mumbles. “Are you sure this isn’t some kind of misunderstanding?”

“Kiera, do you suppose I got this far by jumping the gun? No. Go see James,” Cat instructs, and Kara scurries away.

When Lena arrives, she lingers at Kara’s desk before coming in to make her appointment with Cat. The two kiss quickly and chastely, mindful of the glass wall. Still, it’s not quite innocent enough, and Cat averts her gaze, deliberately staring at her screen.

“Ms Grant,” Lena greets politely when she enters, all dark lipstick and tall heels. She’s beautiful and commanding and it’s easy to see why Kara is enamoured, although not as easy as it is to understand why Lena is drawn to Kara. It’s hard to find things as pure as her in a world like this. Lena may operate in a sphere of grey, but Cat knows it’s been a much lighter grey since Kara came about.

“Ms Luthor,” Cat returns, in a voice so sharp it could cut diamonds. While Kara seems relatively oblivious, writing it off as merely the Queen of Media in one of her moods, Lena is immediately on guard. “Kiera, I want you to accompany Mr Olsen to the opening ceremony of that new digital smoothie bar across town. And take that little IT gnome with you. His face is irritating me today.”

Kara’s face brightens at the possibility of hanging out with her friends, as Cat knew it would, distracting her from the fact that she is being made to leave instead of taking notes. Cat doesn’t want her to watch this conversation through the glass, plus that girl has freakishly good hearing, and Cat can’t risk even a little eavesdropping.

“Really? Great. Thanks, Ms Grant. Call if you need anything. Bye, babe. Uh – wait, no – I mean, goodbye, Ms Luthor,” Kara stammers, finally recalling the professional setting. Cat rolls her eyes.

Perhaps having realised that this is something Cat deems Kara mustn’t be present for, Lena has the good sense to wait until the gaggling trio of CatCo employees are safely in the elevator down to the lobby.

“You’re protecting Kara from something,” Lena observes, scrutinising the businesswoman behind the desk. “Something you think has to do with me.”

There it is – part of the reason Cat is so angry about this. With all Lena’s astuteness and acumen, not to mention ambition and potential, she’s exactly the sort of person her assistant ought to end up with. Kara to bring the happiness and optimism, and Lena to keep the focus and realism, because Cat won’t be there to counteract the rose-tint in Kara’s glasses and steer her away from trouble forever.

“Quite,” Cat agrees, pursing her lips. She frowns, searching Lena’s face for any indication that she knows what this is about. She comes up empty, but decides to maintain her silence so Lena can sweat it out for a while.

“Look,” Lena sighs, “whatever you think I did, I didn’t. I would never hurt Kara, surely you know that. You source is misleading you.”

“My source,” Cat spits, slightly offended that Lena doesn’t realise she hasn’t got this far by going out on a limb, “is a photograph.” She pulls it out of the envelope she’s hidden it in to ensure it never reaches Kara’s eyes. “Now, that doesn’t seem very misleading to me. Indeed, it seems pretty clear what you were doing.”

She holds the image up in Lena’s face, waving it gently, tauntingly. “Perhaps, Kara’s personal life ought not to be my problem. But you made it my problem when you brought her into the public eye, and certainly again when you use my own branded hero to betray her with.”

Lena just stares at her, lips moving slightly as she scrambles for something to say. “What, no ready excuse?” Cat enquires maliciously. “Or perhaps you’ll choose a traditional route. Deny everything? Swear you can’t recall anything like this every happening?”

///

The truth is, Lena remembers it perfectly:

It’s 1am, and Lena is finally on the last paragraph of an achingly dull sales report when there’s a knock on her – window? She rushes out onto the balcony and sees Kara hovering in the air, just beyond the rail. It still makes her stomach lurch, watching her girlfriend simply floating, as if half of her is convinced that at some point, gravity will set in, and Kara will fall from the sky.

“Hey there, Supergirl,” she smiles. Kara always looks ethereal like this – her skin reflecting the glow of the city lights, hair tousled from the wind, and cape fluttering behind her. The image of her girlfriend just so makes Lena’s stomach twist for an entirely different reason.

“Hi,” Kara grins, and for all the statuesque severity she usually tries to project as Supergirl, she’s never really been able to properly repress that puppy-dog joy which shines through now. “You said you were working late, so I thought you could use a break. I’ve got something to show you.”

“Where?”


“Up here. Trust me?” Kara asks as she drifts down to stand beside her girlfriend.

“Of course,” Lena responds immediately, the person in front of her the only one she could ever say that honestly to.

Kara wraps her arms securely around Lena’s waist, and for a minute they simply rest a mere foot in the air, waiting for Lena to adjust to the sensation before slowly lifting off, travelling above the rest of National City at about a tenth of Supergirl’s usual speed. Helicopters, planes, gliders – they all unsettle her, scare her, even, but flying with Kara is safe and there is no horrible lurch in her insides, just a soft warmth.
The wind whips Lena’s hair about her as they soar past penthouses and helipads, Kara the city’s guardian angel as they survey the night. Eventually, they come to a stop mid-air, and after a moment, Lena realises they’re just a few feet in front of the CatCo building.

“I like to come here a lot,” Kara admits. “There are only a few places that I feel like I can be both Karas at once. One of them is here. Another is with you.”

Lena kisses her then, because even though she’s known Kara was Supergirl since she saved the plane, her girlfriend is sometimes still slow to open up about her life on Krypton and the struggles of trying to remain on the pedestal of heroism. She holds moments like this close to her chest, filled impossibly with feelings of love and luck.

Kara smiles into her mouth, quickly, just a brief upturn of lips, before kissing her back harder, deeper. As Lena slides her hands up to tangle in long, blonde hair, she feels the arms around her waist tighten, so the two of them are pulled even closer, curves fitting together.
When Lena bites Kara’s bottom lip, the other girl seems to stumble on air, tripping to press them into the ‘T’ of the CatCo sign, finally allowing them some of the friction they need.

“I love you,” Lena whispers, wanting to say it but knowing she’ll forget about words soon. Even if she’s lost count of how often she’s said it, it seems more true and more significant each time.

Kara, whose hands and mouth are always more daring and eager when she is high on adrenaline from a night of stopping crime, still manages to pause where her lips are resting against Lena’s pulse point to breathe the words back.

Lena loses track of time after that, swimming in visceral sensation, until -

“Oh no, we have to get back to your place. I forgot you were working.” Kara pulls away, looking horrified at having ruined Lena’s schedule, but honestly, with Kara’s hands tracing over her hipbones like that, Lena couldn’t have cared less about those reports even if they had a deadline for tomorrow. She pulls Kara’s mouth to her own in lieu of an answer.

“Or we could join the mile-high club,” Lena suggests, enjoying how Kara’s blush makes her skin glow, from her chest to the roots of her hair.

“I – uh, ha,” Kara fumbles over phonetics as Lena laughs. “I - oh, hush.”

The city blurs under them, and it’s barely a minute before they’re back on Lena’s balcony and the Luthor heir is tugging them both inside, determined to make Kara finish what she started.