"Cat, read to me." Catherine Jane Grant had never loved to hear a phrase so much as that one before. The only phrases that compared were when her sons or girlfriend said 'I love you', 'you were right' from someone who was wrong, or 'we scooped The Planet'.
Kara had been diagnosed with dyslexia by her super-genius doctor foster parents as a way to cover for her struggles with the English written word. It was the super-heroine's dirtiest little secret and one of her greatest shames. This particular secret was even more well kept than Kara's secret identity. Cat herself hadn't even found out until the pair had been dating for four months already. However, with Kara's natural ability to learn languages, it was totally unexpected.
2 months ago -----/////-----
"Kiera!" Cat had called from her office. It was nickname now, said with the slightest hint of affection and no malice. "Come here, please!"
Kara strode with one of her easy smiles into Cat's office. The internet was down on Cat's floor and the last meeting's notes had to be taken by hand. Kara assumed that Cat had called her in to decipher Kara's almost always illegible handwriting. Cat's brow was rumpled into an unreadable expression that was new to Kara. She seemed concerned, but Kara couldn't guess about what.
"In the past few months that we have been together, would you say that we have learned a lot about one another, Kara?" Cat asked, dropping the source of her confusion back onto her desk.
"Yes, I feel like I've learned a lot more about you in the past four months. I wouldn't trade it of the world. Why do you ask? What are you on about, Cat?" Kara asks, growing increasingly uneasy.
The older blonde blindly grabs a book from the top drawer of her. She hands it to Kara.
"Read me the first paragraph." Cat instructs.
"Ms.Grant, I ... why?" Kara asks, her face draining of color.
"Kara, how have you managed to hide this from everyone for so long? You can't read?" Cat's voice is a cross of worry and anger.
"I can read! I just... I have trouble reading in English. Kryptonian is easy." Kara protests quickly. "I'm not stupid or something."
"You're dyslexic." Cat stated simply.
"In essence, yes. Reading is confusing, I don't exhibit the same symptoms and if I stare at something for long enough I can figure it out eventually." Kara says. This isn't something that she likes to talk about. "My foster father, Jeremiah Danvers, he made an application that I can download onto almost anything I'd like to. It translates English to Kryptonian for me quickly enough that it's almost unnoticeable."
Cat almost wishes that she hadn't said anything at all from the look of shame on Kara's face. It was almost heartbreaking for Cat to see. Her emotional distress was understandable. However Kara had been working for Cat for almost five years before Cat had known about this and she's been the best assistant that CatCo had ever seen before. She was shocked that she hadn't ever heard, noticed, or seen anything about this before.
As the days passed, Cat considered the new information in their interactions. Kara was still competent and incredibly intelligent. It only meant that her respect for the alien had risen even more exponentially. Her strength was clearly insurmountable Cat's heart warmed, she ached inside, and she felt her love for the girl grow just a little bit more.
It wasn't until they were watching Harry Potter that some of the other facets of Kara's dyslexia came to the light. Kara, Cat, and Carter all really loved the Harry Potter series. The boy sat happily on the couch between them. He grinned up at them every now and then at times. He was sooo happy to see his mom happy with someone, especially when that someone was Kara Danvers.
