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“Do you ever think about it? Us? Married?”
Alex took a deep breath and glanced up from the chart she was reviewing, shooting a worried look at Cat Grant. Much to her surprise, the Queen of All Media didn’t look ruffled by Kara’s question in the least, but she did smirk slightly.
“Do you?” Cat asked nonchalantly, leaning forward in her chair as Kara stared at her from her bed in the medical bay of the DEO.
Biting her lip, Alex barely refrained from interjecting. Her sister had always had some weird… thing… for this woman, and, for the first time, Alex was witnessing it firsthand. She had to admit, the two women had chemistry, but with Kara powerless and drugged to the hilt on pain medication, now might not be the best time to let a former reporter interrogate her sister.
“Do I what?” Kara asked, sounding so light and airy Alex wondered if she’d float out of the bed if she’d been able to.
“Think about us being married?” Cat’s smirk became more pronounced.
Making an adjustment to Kara’s I.V., Alex noted the new dose on her chart before slipping it into the slot at the end of Kara’s bed. The sun lamps were on, raising the temperature in the room enough that she and Cat were perspiring lightly.
“We’d be awesome married,” Kara declared sleepily.
“Oh we would, would we?” Cat glanced at Alex. “I bet she’s colorful when she’s drunk.”
“You have no idea,” Alex mumbled. Weary on her feet, she moved to Clark’s bed and checked his vitals. It had been two of the longest days of her life, but now that the worst was over, she craved a hot shower and a long nap.
“What makes you think we’d be ‘awesome?’” Cat asked Kara.
“Winn says we’re practically married already.” Kara snorted adorably and chuckled. “He says when it comes to you, I’m whipped.”
Alex coughed into her fist to cover the tiny laugh that bubbled up in her chest.
“Does he now?” Cat’s tone was warm and indulgent. “Well, you do know me better than either of my husbands did.”
Alex’s eyebrows arched at that, but she didn’t turn, too busy making sure Clark was recovering from his own injuries. The fight between him and Kara had laid waste to three city blocks including CatCo. When he woke and remembered what he’d done to National City, to Kara, while under the Red K… Alex swallowed. As soon as her family was healed enough to leave the medical bay, she was going to track down Maxwell Lord and make him regret the day he was born.
“I know you, Cat Grant,” Kara slurred. “You try to hide, but I know your heart. I know how you think with that brilliant brain… And I know we’re perfect for each other.”
“Think so, hmm?” Cat asked softly.
Alex glanced back, curious. Cat and her sister was staring at one another as if they were the only people in the world, and the soft, sad smile on Cat’s lips made Alex’s chest ache in empathy. Maybe her sister wasn’t the only one who felt something in the equation, Alex realized worriedly. “Can I get you anything?” she asked, interrupting the moment before Kara actually popped the damn question.
Cat shook her head. “I have all I need, thank you.”
There was no reason for Alex to linger, and she desperately needed sleep, but Alex hesitated to leave.
“We’ll be fine,” Cat promised, picking up on Alex’s reluctance. “Get some rest, Agent Danvers.”
“You realize she’s medicated…” Alex felt the need to explain.
Cat gave Alex a droll look.
Alex pursed her lips. “Just… try not to get anything out of her, okay? Her responses are unreliable at best.”
“Naturally.”
With a sigh, Alex left the pair alone. She prayed Kara would forgive her.
****
“I don’t think your sister trusts me very much,” Cat said with a wisp of a grin when Alex was gone. Kara’s blue eyes were fixated on her, full of soft, sleepy affection. Cat imagined they would be a beautiful sight to wake up to every morning.
“Alex doesn’t trust anybody,” Kara said with a giggle.
Cat’s smile widened. She hated that Kara was powerless and in pain, but seeing her so silly was precious. It felt like a gift after nearly losing her, and Cat refused to give ground to darker thoughts when they tried to intrude in the moment. She could remember cradling Kara’s broken body on the ruined floor of CatCo another time. Right now, she had Kara here with her, alive and breathing, and looking at her like she was the most beautiful thing on Earth.
“You’re so pretty,” Kara whispered.
Cat’s ego preened happily. “So are you,” she confessed, figuring Kara wouldn’t remember a damn word of this conversation later.
“Does that mean you’ll marry me?”
“We’re just going to leap straight into that, are we?” Cat tried to ignore the pang in her chest, but the more Kara persisted with this train of thought, the more it ached. Kara wouldn’t want this, want her, when she was thinking clearly, but to know some part of her could imagine them together was both a balm and a burden on Cat’s soul.
Kara’s eyes blinked heavily and closed, and, for a moment, Cat thought she’d fallen back asleep.
“We could go out on a date first.”
Shaking her head, Cat chuckled wryly. She should have known better. “We could. Where would we go?”
“You’re just humoring me,” Kara grumped adorably. “You wouldn’t want to be seen with some like me.”
“Someone kind? Someone beautiful?” Cat asked as she stood and approached the bed. “I’d be proud to have you on my arm, Kara.”
Kara stared up at her, her blue eyes a little more focused than they had been earlier, or perhaps it was simply Cat’s imagination.
Cat gave into temptation, figuring she’d never have another chance. She gently ran her fingers through Kara’s hair at her temple. “Who wouldn’t want to be with someone as astonishing as you?”
Kara turned into her touch, and Cat’s breath caught as Kara nuzzled her hand.
“Then be with me,” Kara implored, sounding more in the moment than she had all day. “Let’s stop pretending, Cat. Stop pretending we both don’t feel what’s between us.”
“Kara…” Cat’s voice faltered even as her heart threatened to soar. “You’re medicated. You don’t…”
“I do.” Kara closed her eyes again and swallowed. “We would be so good together.”
Kara was nothing if not persistent on this particular drug-fueled topic. “Are you proposing?” Cat teased, even though it hurt. She soothed herself by stroking Kara’s soft skin.
Frowning, Kara looked confused for a moment. “I didn’t get you a ring.”
“Just as well,” Cat murmured with a sad smile. She took a breath. “I should let you sleep.”
“Don’t go,” Kara’s voice broke. “I can get one. I’ll make you one…”
“Kara…” Cat scolded.
“But you should go out on a date with me first,” Kara added seriously. “Date first. Then ring. Then we get married.” Plan in place, she nodded once in approval.
“Got it all sorted, do you?” Cat sighed. She leaned her arms on the bed rail, suddenly so tired she could barely stand.
“We could improvise a little,” Kara said sleepily.
“And how do we do that?” The conversation was no longer cute or funny. It hurt, rubbing the wound that was Cat’s unrequited feelings for Kara raw.
“You could kiss me first.”
Cat shivered in surprise. “That’s…”
“Please?” Kara looked up at her imploringly, but her gaze was sharp now. Crystal clear. “We can pretend it was the drugs tomorrow. Pretend I won’t remember.”
“Kara,” Cat pleaded.
“I want to know what your lips feel like on mine. I thought… fighting Kal… that I would never get the chance to know. Please,” Kara whispered only to have Cat lean forward and silence her with a searing kiss.
Injured or not, Kara kissed Cat back with passion. When they finally parted, Cat’s whole body was shaking.
“Wow,” Kara mumbled with a drowsy smile. “Wow.”
“You better not remember that,” Cat warned her in a husky voice, more affected than she wanted to admit by what just happened between them.
“I’m gonna,” Kara vowed, her eyes slipping closed again, a wide, dopey grin on her lips. “And then I’m gonna ask you out, and you’re gonna say yes.”
“Am I?” Cat asked as she watched the tension ease from Kara’s body as she began to slip toward unconsciousness once more. If the damn woman remembered, Cat suspected Kara would be right. Cat had gotten quite adept at resisting temptation most of her life, but Kara Danvers was too potent a temptation to deny herself.
“You’ll see.” Kara took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she faded back into sleep.
“I guess we will,” Cat murmured.