#reginalovesemma

“Saving you from yourself, it appears.”  She popped open the first aid box and pulled out an antiseptic wipe, two butterfly closures, a tube of antibiotic ointment and a large band-aid.  She laid her haul on the counter and began pulling the towels off Kara’s finger.  “My sous chef dropped a fresh gallon of buttermilk on my kitchen floor.  I came to see if you could spare a couple of pints.”  With surgical proficiency, she cleaned, closed, treated and bandaged Kara’s wound.

Kara didn’t speak and tried to ignore the pounding of her heart at the feel of Cat’s soft hands on her own.  She hissed at the sting of the alcohol against her open wound then gulped audibly as Cat bent her head and blew gently across the sensitive skin before continuing her treatment.  She nodded and managed to choke out a response.  “Yeah, of course.  Whatever you need.  Anything for a fellow chef.”

Cat rolled her eyes.  “Let’s not pretend, Chef Danvers.  We’re competition, not friends.”  She hesitated.  “But thank you.  My veal suffers impossibly without buttermilk.”

Kara smiled.  “Well, I assure you, what comes fresh from our cows is miles better than anything you get at your fancy organic market.  Ouch!”  Cat had pressed on her newly bandaged finger in retaliation.

“Snob.  At least I know how to wield a knife and keep my extremities intact.  Honestly, Kiera a professional chef who can’t even julienne properly is tragic.”  She smirked and gestured to the walk-in behind Kara.  “May I?”

“I’ll get it.  No way you’re getting in my cooler.”

Kara disappeared into the cooler, giving Alex an indifferent shrug on her way.  Alex narrowed her eyes at their main competitor through the warming lamps and breathed a satisfied sigh as Cat averted her eyes.  Her shallow smile returned as Kara came back and handed her a half gallon glass bottle of pale cream buttermilk.

Cat flipped her hair.  “Merci.  As payment, I’ll teach you some proper knife skills.  We close at 10:30.  If you think you can get across the street without falling over, I’ll have you doing a perfect brunoise by midnight.”  She popped open the jug, gave the milk a sniff and nodded.  “Good.”  Then she turned on her heel and was gone.

Kara exhaled heavily and felt a heated flush reach her cheeks.  She bit her lip and pulled the lapels of her chef coat out to give herself a bit of air.  Her sister’s voice over her shoulder startled her out of her haze.

“You’ve resisted knife lessons from both me and mom since the day she let you in the kitchen and one snotty visit from Cat Grant and suddenly you’re interested?”

The crunch of cement next to her head was less disturbing than the cry of horror coming from the woman in front of her.  She exhaled and opened her eyes just in time to see Kara stagger away from her, apologies spilling from her lips.

“I’m sorry, Susan.  Rao, I’m so sorry.  I almost… I didn’t mean…”

Susan sprang into action.  “It’s okay.  I’m okay.”  She placed her arms on Kara’s coiled biceps and forced her to meet her eyes.  “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

Kara’s face crumpled.  “I’m so stupid.  I really thought he’d changed, that he could be someone I could…”  she stopped and shook her head.  “He’s from home… kind of… I just… wanted someone who at least shared my sun… but…”  Kara stepped away and wrung her hands.

“But?”  Vasquez coaxed, but didn’t reach for Kara again.

“But he doesn’t care about Krypton, or Rao, or even Daxam, really.”  She shook her head and sighed.  ”He wants to date me.  It’s the only reason he’s stuck around or let me train him.”

Vasquez groaned internally.  Of course.  Just like every other useless frat boy she’d ever met.  He’s given the greatest gift in the world and he just wants to use it like a chew toy.  She contemplated her words for a moment.  She badly wanted to comfort this woman, but Kara was wound like a watch spring and Susan thought it might be better to get some of that energy out.

She grinned, showing her dimples and tucked her hands in her pockets.  “Well, it’s a gorgeous spring day, Supergirl, and our sun is out.  How about you and I go share a little of it.”  She dared a step closer.  “I know it isn’t Rao, Kara, and I know you weren’t born under it, but it’s given us both a lot.”  Kara’s sharp blue eyes turned to hers again.  “Let me share it with you?”

Kara blushed and smiled.  “Lead the way, Susie.”

+++++++++

Susan had managed to get Kara out of her supersuit and into a DEO issue tanktop and shorts.  She couldn’t help but think this may have been a mistake.  Kara’s legs went on for days and Susan’s knees went a little weak.  It was made infinitely worse by the feel of Kara’s long arms around her waist, squeezing gently as she ducked in and out of traffic on her Yamaha.

She parked and turned just in time to see Kara pull the helmet off and shake miles of golden hair off her face.  Susan was doomed, especially once Kara pulled all that hair into a long ponytail and topped it with an NC Comets baseball cap.  “The batting cages?  Susan, you know I can’t.  I’ll knock the covers off the ball with one swing.”

Susan shrugged.  “I called in a favor.  I play softball with the owner.  It’s been under renovations for the past month.  It’s perfectly safe, but totally deserted.  She gave me permission to hang out for the day.  Ever hit a ball, Supergirl?”

Kara shook her head.  Her voice was quiet, wistful.  “I wasn’t ever allowed.  Too much risk of exposure.”

Susan’s dimples made another appearance.  “Now’s your chance, come on.”  Without thinking, she took Kara by the hand and led her to the employee entrance.  Kara’s hand was warm and soft, but she could feel the steel beneath long fingers.  She punched a code into the door and they were inside.

Within a few minutes, Kara was standing inside black netting, holding a sturdy aluminum bat awkwardly in two hands and facing a menacing looking machine.  Having watched the machine spit a couple of balls past her face, she squared her shoulders and fixed her eyes on the machine,  “Okay, I think I’m ready.”  She took her stance and held the bat the way she’d seen Alex do in high school and how she’d seen players do the few times she’d endured games on TV when Eliza’s Hawks were playing.  It was unsure and tentative and so impossibly cute that Susan couldn’t help but feel her heart thump in her chest affectionately as she fed a ball into the machine.

Kara swung, missed and spun in a circle before the bat flew from her hands.  Vasquez ducked and watched the bat fly past her head.  Kara sped to the other end of the net and caught the bat before it could tear through the cage and do any damage.  She looked up at Susan in horror and Susan looked back, awestruck.  A few seconds passed and they simultaneously broke into giggles.  Kara covered her face with her hands.  “I’m so sorry.  I’m… really terrible at stuff like this… I should have told you.  It took Alex weeks to teach me how to even punch correctly.”

Susan held out a hand.  “This won’t take weeks.  Here.  I’ll show you.”  She pulled Kara back to the plate.  Slowly, gently, she wrapped Kara’s long, warm fingers around the handle of the bat.  Her voice was soft, with an air of sweet amusement.  “Choke up a bit on the bat.”  She moved Kara’s hands further up, leaving a few inches at the bottom.  “Hold on, but not too tight.  You should be able to pivot the bat in your hands.”  She demonstrated by rocking the bat back and forth, her hands covering Kara’s.  She kept her breath steady but thought she noticed Kara’s breathing shorten slightly.  Susan chose to ignore that and focus on her instruction.  

She moved behind Kara and bit her lip, knowing what came next would likely cross lines she would not be able to uncross, but it didn’t matter.  Kara deserved fun and adventure and someone who could enjoy time with her without ulterior motives.  She would never ask Kara for more than this, she promised herself as she slipped her arms around Kara’s bare ones and laid her hands across Kara’s again.  The air between them became heavy and warm as Susan’s breath ghosted across Kara’s shoulder and neck.  She was shorter than Kara, by at least a couple of inches, but it didn’t matter as she stepped closer.  

“Keep both hands on the bat,” she husked.  “Don’t let go with one the way the pros do.  You want to hang on and follow through.”  She bent Kara’s arms into position.  “Keep your back elbow up.  Bend your knees a little.”  Kara bent and Susan was assaulted by the scent of Kara’s faint perfume as her nose became suddenly even with her pulse point.  She swallowed and licked her lips, then continued.  

“Eye on the ball.  When it crosses the plate, straighten your arms and swing.  But,” she slid her hands from where they rested on Kara’s forearms and rested them on her hips, where the hem of her tanktop met her shorts, “all of your power comes from here.  Turn your hips into the swing.”  

With just a suggestion, Kara went slowly through the motions and Susan followed from behind.  “Good,” she whispered.  “Just like that.”  But Kara kept turning, letting the bat drop from one hand and placing the other on Susan’s collarbone.  Their eyes met and volumes were spoken in the silence between them.

“Susan, I-”

Susan stepped away and grinned.  Kara needed a friend.  She’d already gone too far.  “Let’s try it again.”  She left Kara standing at the plate, bat dangling from her fingers.  She tossed a ball up and caught it.  To break the tension she winked and held up the ball.  “Eye on the ball, SG,” she reminded.  “Knock its cover off.”

Kara took a deep breath, flashed a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and took her stance.  “OK.”

The ball flew from the machine with a dull thump and Susan could practically see time slow as Kara did exactly as she’d been taught.  She executed a near perfect swing, connected with the ball and they watched the ball fly up off the bat, through the nylon net above Susan’s head and away.  There was no telling where it went and as the world sped up again, Susan tried to spy the ball’s trajectory and approximately where they might be able to find it.  She wasn’t paying attention as Kara bounced up next to her.  “We won’t find it,” she said proudly.  “It might be in orbit.”

Susan crossed her arms and ventured a glance back over her shoulder and her stomach flipped at Kara, practically glowing under the spring sun.  “I think you might be right.”  She turned fully to face Kara.  “Our meager paychecks won’t buy any more of these brand new nets.  My turn?”

Kara nodded, clearly relieved to be off the hook.  “Does that mean I get to run that ball machine?” She was adorably eager to give Susan a turn.  

Vasquez jogged to the plate and picked up the bat with a practiced flip and a showy flourish.  “Do your worst, SG.”  She winked.

An hour later they were letting themselves out the employee door and Kara tucked an arm into Susan’s elbow as they made their way back to the waiting motorcycle.  Vasquez pulled her spare helmet out and held it out for Kara.

Instead of taking the proffered helmet, she pulled Susan by the wrist and into the circle of her arms.  It was a suspiciously un-Kara-like move and Vasquez’s face flushed unexpectedly.  “I… wanted to thank you… for sharing your sun with me today.  I feel… warm and happy.”

Susan smiled.  She couldn’t resist reaching up to stroke a thumb across Kara’s smooth cheek.  Her eyes slipped shut as Kara bent and pressed a single, soft kiss on Susan’s cheek, right where the dimple appeared when she smiled.  And if it was just a bit too close to the corner of her mouth, neither of them mentioned it as flashing blue eyes met warm brown.

++++++++++++

Three Weeks Later

“C’mon Vasquez!  Knock it outta the park!” Kara shrieked through a mouthful of bubble gum.  She clapped her hands and leaned forward, threading her fingers through the chain link behind home plate.

“Hey, down in front!” A burly voice came from the bleachers behind her.

Kara turned, blew a cheeky bubble with her gum and shouted back.  “In a minute!”

Vasquez gave a final practice swing, flipped the bat once, threw a wink back at Kara and stepped into the batter’s box.  She took her stance, squeezed the bat and waited.  A flawless fastball crossed the plate and Vasquez swung.  The ball flew over the infield, outfield and cleared the fence into the manicured grass on a neighboring diamond.  The crowd went wild and Vasquez dropped her bat and made for first base.  She turned back, blew a kiss at Kara who was already scaling the six-foot chain link next to the backstop.  She dropped onto the dirt as Susan was rounding third.

Kara met her at home plate by sweeping Susan into her arms and planting a free and easy kiss on her lips.  “You did it, Susie!  You won!”

Susan let herself back onto the ground, arms still securely about Kara’s neck.  “Couldn’t have done it without my good luck charm.  How about some ice cream?”

Kara’s eyes sparkled.  “Take me home after?”

Susan answered with another melting kiss and a squeeze of Kara’s fingers.