But this mentality of yours ... makes it extremely easy for fans of your fic to get their dosage of your words doesn’t it? Lol. That said, how about Cat having the exact same ‘hold my bourbon’ mentality and going for whatever it is she wants. In another 2 hours? (Or if you’ve really gotta work, please do that first. Lol.)
30 minutes. Boom. (But I probably can’t pull it off again, I have to drive home soon, and there’s a shopping trip on the way)
Cat’s voice is cold, chilly enough that James takes an honest to god step back from her. If it were any colder, it’d rival Kara’s frost breath. It’s a miracle the glass of bourbon in her hand hasn’t frozen solid already.
“She um, she said,” James starts, wincing as he remember what he’d let slip, “she said you’d never get the kind of interview with Supergirl that she gets with Superman.”
Cat’s eyes narrow as she thinks that over, dozens of plans rushing through her mind as she considers her options. She knows exactly what kind of interviews Lois fucking Lane gets with Superman, and only one of the options involves actual investigative techniques. There’s just too much familiarity in the articles Lois writes, it’s obvious to anyone who pays attention that their relationship is more than just interviewer and interesting subject for an article. What secrets does she learn across the pillows at night, bouncing between the hero and the farm boy?
Then there are the articles where Lois has been kidnapped or otherwise threatened to lure the hero out. Cat imagines it would be fairly simple to let something slip in the adrenaline of the moment, and Superman has historically been less than careful with his answers. He’s gotten better over the years, but only an idiot would admit to a weakness the first time he gave an interview.
So she has options. Whether they’re good or not, Cat doesn’t much care right now. She knows what she wants to do, and she isn’t going to sit around debating whether it’s particularly smart of her.
“James, thirty seconds,” she says as she passes off her glass of bourbon, heading towards the balcony and ignoring his questions and protests. If she stops to think about this she’ll never have the guts. But Kara is at her desk, working away and pretending she isn’t eavesdropping, so Cat feels secure enough.
At least until she’s actually pulled herself onto the ledge, looking down at the fall she’s taken once before. Kara saved her then, and Cat believes she’ll save her now, but it’s still a helluva drop. If this goes wrong…
But a quick glance over her shoulder shows James frantically scrabbling at the watch on his wrist, eyes darting between Cat’s precarious perch and Kara’s desk, and Cat knows she’ll be fine. He’d protest a lot more if he knew something she didn’t. As it is, he can’t protest too much without risking Kara’s secret, and Cat is selfishly glad of that.
With another deep breath and a half formed prayer Cat lets herself tip over the edge, making sure to put enough momentum into her fall to keep from slamming into the wall of the building on the way down. It’s terrifying, and exhilarating, and Cat honestly debates having Kara set up a quick trip so she can go base jumping again just to feel this rush.
And then careful arms catch her, barely ten stories below CatCo’s offices, and Cat knows her risk paid off. Kara is in full Supergirl mode, her ‘secret’ still safe. The added warning to James gave her plenty of time to slip out and that keeps this from being a terrible attempt at blackmailing. Cat might want an interview, or at least a headline about this particular save, but she has lines of decency where it comes to Kara. Falling in love with her seems to have had that effect, and Cat doesn’t know how to change it now. Doesn’t know if she even wants to try.
“You should be more careful, Miss Grant,” Kara says formally as she starts to lift them back towards Cat’s balcony. “National City needs you.”
That earnestness, that belief in a better nature Cat’s pushed away for too many years, that’s what’s always gotten to her. She can’t resist it, can’t resist the lure of someone actually having faith in her. That’s what’s pushed her to be better over the past few months, pushed her to grow and change, to be the person who truly deserves Kara’s belief even if she can never earn her love.
“Must have slipped,” Cat says with a careless shrug, trying to hide how her heart is racing. Between the jump, the catch, and looking up into Kara’s concerned blue eyes, she’s feeling a little overwhelmed. “Thank goodness you were there to catch me, right Supergirl? It must be a slow day on the crime front.”
“I stopped a robbery on 2nd about an hour ago,” Kara confides, looking amused at Cat’s questioning. “I think one of your reporters was nearby, caught a quick picture as I took off.”
“Anything a little less ordinary over the last month or so?” Cat tries again, looking for some kind of soundbite. Anything to print and prove Lois wrong.
“Well, there was a strange woman who threw herself off a balcony so I’d catch her, but I’d rather that not be spread around too much,” Kara teases. “Wouldn’t want National City to get any ideas.”
Metaphorical bourbon tossed to the wind as she hears the hint of flirting in Kara’s voice, Cat brings her hand up to trace the edges of the crest she can see from her position held against Kara’s chest. “You mean you don’t always pick women up this way? Lucky me.”The daring rescue might not have worked, but there’s always pillow talk. And if Cat’s looking forward to what comes before that more than she is the talking, well. She’s only human after all.
