Kara's new office was perfect for Super-squad meetings. Alex could come under the guise of food delivery (Which meant noms for Supergirl) and nobody had to know what they were talking about. However, it was quiet and lonely when Kara was doing her actual job. It was almost enough to make her miss being belittled by Cat Grant. The media queen got her name right every time now and Kara reveled in it.
Their offices were close together so they still saw one another regularly in passing. It was odd to Kara to not have to be waiting with a latte each morning though. She had heard through the grape vine (and through the walls) that not one of Cat's new assistants had come even close to meeting the bar that Kara had set. Cat never got their names right and Kara had started a list of them just for her own entertainment, of the assistants and Cat's approximations of their names. Her own was at the top with a dash, followed by Kiera.
Kara - Kiera (2 years)
Owen - Ollie (1 ½ hours)
Jasmine - Jackson, Julie, Janet (4 hours)
Ben - Bart, Brent, Baker (3 hours)
Nick - Rick, Dick, Nate (2 ½ hours)...
The list took up two pages of a legal pad, back and front now. SHe had added four names today because of the heat wave. Her Kryptonian cells found the heat quite pleasant and it didn't bother her at all, though Supergirl was needed a little bit more often than was ordinary. Heat stroke, Kara discovered, was a very real thing that humans suffered from. Luckily nobody could tell that Kara was totally okay because of the totally windowless office. It also meant that it was impossible to tell if Kara was actually in there or not.
Now, she was adding:
Jake- Justin, Jared (20 minutes) to the list when Cat Grant slammed into her office without preamble, shutting the door behind her.
"Blow me." she demanded.
Kara's entire body flushed at the words immediately upon hearing them.
"Excuse you?" Kara asked in a tone that she had never dared to use with her boss before.
"Get your head out of the gutter, you silly girl. Freeze breath, it's one of your powers, correct? Use it on me, now. Consider it a public service before I do more than fire one of these nincompoops." Cat grumbles.
"We've talked about this, Ms.Grant. I'm not Supergirl. I don't have any superpowers. Now, since even I could hear you fire poor, Jake, I'll run out and get you one of those Iced Energy Green Teas that you like when it's hot. Feel free to stay here until you've calmed down." Kara brushes by her to one of the comfy chairs that she'd procured to decorate with. If the temperature dropped in the room by about ten degrees when she left, then no one needed to know.
Cat didn't know or begin to understand why Kara insisted on the charade of pretending to not be Supergirl. It was why she had procure this office for the girl, specifically. It was why she had started to use her actual name consistently. Cat had thought that maybe if she had put on a show of good faith for Kara's human side, maybe she would let Cat in. She already came to Cat for assistance in both halves of her life, would it be that hard for her to combine the two?
Cat stood and glanced around. Kara had decorated with three paintings and numerous photos of her friends and family. Adoptive family, Cat mentally corrected, Kara had told her that her parents had died a long time ago. Will, James Olsen, and the Baby Lane were in a few, accompanied by Agent Scully and Kara herself. She wondered at who might have been behind the camera, or if it might have been on a timer.
Cat didn't recognize the paintings and looked them over with a critical eye. The first was predominantly in pastels. Pinks, light blues, light greens, and yellows mixed together to convey a happy mix that warmed Cat's insides. The next reminded Cat of one of her own comments about a color wheel throwing up.
Blues, golds, and reds came together in commanding tones that made Cat think of strength, courage, and spirit. It filled her with hope and made her believe in herself and the people around her. The same symbol that adorned Supergirl's chest stood out in the foreground. It was left empty, like an open-ended question. Cat put her thoughts about the possible meanings behind that to the side as she turned to the last painting in the series.
It was this one that drew Cat's attention. Pastel pinks, yellows, greens and blues met the bolder blues, golds, and reds to make white, grey, and a soft yellow golden tone that reminded her so much of Kara's blonde hair that it hurt. It was a meeting of the minds it seemed. The painting itself was like a discovery of something new and different. Cat couldn't help but to wonder at the thoughts that must have gone through the artist's mind. Cat found herself captivated. She was still lost in it when Kara returned, a green tea icee in each hand.
"That one is my favorite." she admitted. "The others are nice, but they don't capture the whole feeling. They don't tell you about all that could be."
"Where'd you get these? They aren't signed." Cat asks, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"They're mine." Kara says with a raised eyebrow. "I paint in my free time. I thought that the room could use some color and those are from my only three part series."
Cat worries the information over and over in her mind until she actually makes it fit into the puzzle of Kara Danvers. She points to it first.
"You, as my assistant."
She turns to the second.
"You, as Supergirl."
Finally, she comes to stand in front of the last, the combination of both halves of the girl, and orphaned alien.
"You as you see yourself, but no one else can reconcile. The hero and the woman, a single being." Cat finishes before turning to see Kara behind her desk, drink in hand, but with her hair down and glasses off.
"I am only me." Kara offers Cat the drink with a soft and sad smile. "And that is all that I can be."
There's an audible click as the air conditioning finally kicks back on.
"We will discuss this more at a later date. I have an empire to run and you have lives to save." Cat glares at her pointedly and Kara's smile brightens just a little bit.
