#sgmayhem

A groan escapes the redhead’s mouth, her mind has been spinning at a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out how to get rid of a 6’2” tall, 200 pound dead weight. “I have a few ideas, but you’re not going to like them.”

“Like them? Jesus fuck, Alex. I don’t like anything about this! At this point, it doesn’t fucking matter.” Lena snaps, eyes remaining fixed on her still spiraling best friend. “Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it before he’s too damn stiff to move.” She visibly shudders with the last words that leave her lips.

“Sorry, yes. Okay. You’re right.” The doctor grimaces, her weight still supported by the marble corner of the island under her palm. “The first thing we need to figure out is transport. I do have an idea that might work. Then we have to solve the disposal issue. I also have a few ideas for that, I’m just not sure how to facilitate them yet. We might need your considerable wealth to make it happen. It also might mean something shady though.”

Lena pinches the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, then levels a steely glare at the woman who has been a big sister to her since she was a teen. “You mean more shady than what we’re already doing? Because I’m not sure you can get much more shady than covering up a murder, Alex. Just saying.” She snarks, quickly losing what little patience she still has hanging on by a thread. “Also, let’s be real, I will spend every last dime I have to protect your sister. So, stop talking around everything and tell me your damn ideas. In case you forgot, there’s a fucking dead man six feet away from us right now!”

The CEO’s words are a bit louder and more stern than she means for them to be. Unfortunately, it catches Kara’s attention and pulls her toward them. Her usually calm and personable demeanor is quite disheveled and irritable. “I-I really need you two to stop bickering right now. My husband is dead in the kitchen and I am the one that will go to jail for this. I have no alibi, a very strong motive, and would benefit most from him being gone. So please, stop.”

Kara takes a deep, shaky breath before leaning forward onto the marble countertop. Her whole body is shaking and it’s quite clear she is truly scared. Lena reins her irritation in and rushes to Kara’s side to wrap her in a comforting hug. As frustrating and terrifying as all this is, she knows Kara is the most impacted. Placing a soft kiss to the blonde head now pressed into her cheek, she whispers, “I’m sorry, Darling.”

Kara squeezes her tighter and then stands up to look to the two of them for guidance. “What’s the first step? What do we need to do now?”

From there, things move faster. Alex’s work at the hospital means she occasionally deals with the morgue. It also provides a working knowledge of funeral homes and their transport vans. During medical school, she worked part time for a funeral home transporting bodies. 

The funeral home owner was a very peculiar man with some odd proclivities. In exchange for Alex looking the other way about his behavior, he let her practice some procedures on a few bodies. It’s not something she has shared with anyone and has no plans to. Fortunately, it is something that will come in handy right now. 

“Kara, you need to find James’ laptop, cell phone, wallet, and anything he usually takes with him when he leaves the house. Go pack a suitcase with at least a week's worth of his clothes and grab whatever money he has stashed around.” Alex orders, her shock finally turning into action. 

Waiting until her sister nods, heads up the stairs, and disappears into the bedroom, she turns to Lena. “There’s a man I know named Grimme Graves. Yes, that’s his real name. He owns Graves Mortuary and Cremation. It’s in the industrial district at the outskirts of the city. I used to work for him during med school.” Alex leans forward to make sure Kara is truly out of earshot and continues, “He’s…a very strange man who is into some incredibly shady and disturbing things. I only know a tiny fraction of the shit he does and that is by choice. Anyway, he will likely let us use his transport van so we can load the body, but it will cost us.”

“Cost us, how? If it’s money, fine. Consider it done. Outside of that, I am not sure what I have to offer.” Lena acknowledges, green eyes resting on the dead man lying on the floor. Her mind keeps expecting him to get up and sneer at her or do something creepy like he did days before. She’s not sure the situation has fully sunk in yet. It’s taking time to understand he’s actually truly dead. 

“As for disposal, that is another matter altogether. We can dissolve his body in a drum of acid, it’s one method that wouldn’t require any power tools. However, I’m not sure how to get what we need in a timely manner. We could drive him North toward the rock quarries and stripmines, tie cement blocks onto his body and drop him in the strip pit.” 

The redhead takes a deep breath and she prepares to list the last two ideas on her list. “Or, Grimme knows a pig farmer in the Sierra Nevada foothills that would happily let us feed them. Last, but not least, we can see if Grimme will let us use the crematorium to truly get rid of him for good. It will definitely cost us and I have no idea how much.” She pauses, her honey brown eyes imploring Lena to respond.

She stares at James’ body for a few seconds then levels her eyes at Alex. “First of all, I am not driving any-fucking-where for hours with a corpse sitting behind me. That’s just not happening.” Lena furiously shakes her head to ensure Alex realizes just how serious she is about it. “For the sake of minimizing the number of people involved in this, I think we need to keep things to Grimme and the mortuary. Then, there are only four of us involved. Are you sure money will keep him quiet? How much do we need to tell him?”

“Money will work wonders with Grimme. Honestly, he wouldn’t bat an eye at any of this. I don’t think we’ll need to tell him much. Just that I need to rent his van and the crematorium for a few hours. For him, that should be enough. He’ll make himself scarce.” She sighs, finally moving away from the island and toward James. “The only thing I am worried about is that he might ask for something additional to go with whatever fee he charges.”

This statement makes Lena pause, her stomach lurching at the thought of what additional could possibly mean. “Additional? Dare I ask what sort of extra add-on this peculiar man with a peculiar name might want?”

Alex kneels next to James, her eyes scanning over the visible areas. His skin is ashen and signs of decomposition are setting in. If they don’t get him moved soon, their task will be even harder. She notices some fibers and two distinct hairs in James’ hand, she gently pulls the two hairs from his hand before standing to put them in something for later. “Grimme Graves is a collector of the macabre. He has pieces and parts of bodies that I cannot unsee. Let’s just say his basement would give Israel Keyes and Jeffrey Dahmer nightmares.”

“Okay, seems like you’re right about him not caring, but what do you think his request will be? I can’t think of anything we could possibly give him.” Lena responds, a look of confusion and nausea on her face. 

The doctor stuffs the baggie in her pocket, swallowing hard. A small shudder runs the length of her shoulders before she looks Lena right in the eyes. “Certain body parts. He’s obsessed. I won’t elaborate, but there’s no doubt in my mind he will ask even if he has no idea what we’re doing.”

Nausea hits Lena harder than it has since they discovered James dead on the floor. She cannot wrap her mind around the words Alex has spoken and doesn’t want to. Instead, she just glosses over it and does her best to steer things ahead to the next steps. “You know what, I don’t want to know about any of that. Just call him to find out how much money. I will call someone to look into Grimme in case we need leverage.”

Just as they are about to step away to make their separate phone calls, Alex’s phone rings. Brown eyes stare at the device in her hands with wide eyes. “Shit! It’s Kelly.”

“Fuck.” Lena responds. “Answer it! The last thing we need is for her to come over and figure out her brother is dead and what we’re doing about it.”

“I don’t know what to say! She knows me too well, Lena.” Alex squeaks, her phone still vibrating in her hand. 

“Answer your goddamn phone, Alex.” She growls, anger spiking at the thought of yet another person showing up to get roped into this colossal fiasco. “Do you want her to show up?”

She slides the answer button and does her best to school her voice into calmness. “Hey, babe.” Her eyes are wide as she walks out the still open patio doors to speak with her wife. Lena watches until she is out of sight before she pulls out her own device to contact Wilson. She’s grateful it doesn’t matter what time she calls, he will always answer. 

By the time Alex returns, she has soothed Kelly’s worry by telling her Kara is just having a hard time and asked her to stay over. She promises her wife she’ll call in the morning before work. After appeasing her wife, the phone call with Grimme was far more bizarre. Thankfully, he’s agreed to allow them to rent both the van and the crematorium. 

Lena makes her way into the kitchen shortly after Alex returns. Wilson promised her he would have something for her by the end of the day tomorrow. She looks at Alex with a raised brow in question. “Well, what’s the word?”

“I think Kelly believes me, I’ll find out tomorrow after work.” She sighs, her head is starting to pound. This day feels like it has been a year long and it’s only…she glances at her watch…10:16 p.m. How has it only been an hour since she got here? “Grimme will rent the van and crematorium to us for $250,000 and a body part of his choosing. He wants to see the body first before he decides.”

This makes Lena straighten. The last thing she wants is someone else seeing the body and knowing more than they should. “No. Uh uh. Not happening. No body part and no viewing of the body. We do not need him knowing who is dead or keeping any evidence of what happened. I’ll not pay him a dime if that’s his condition.” 

She crosses her arms and glares at Corpse Jimmy like it’s his fault. Which, now that she thinks about it, it is. “Call him back, tell him we will give him another $150,000, but no contact outside of you. If he says no, tell him we’ll expose his peculiar proclivities to the police. If we go down, he goes down.”

Alex’s eyes go wide, she eyes Lena with a little bit of fear and a lot of respect. “Damn, Luthor. You're kind of scary when you want to be.” She pulls her phone out to call Grimme back and steps back outside. As soon as the redhead disappears into the dark backyard, Kara comes bounding down the stairs with a suitcase and messenger bag in tow. 

“Okay…everything is packed, but I can’t find his wallet, phone, or laptop. He usually has them within reach so I figured they might be down here with his car keys.” Kara pauses next to the couch where she dumps the bags. “Wait, his car isn’t here. It wasn’t in the drive when we got home. Have you seen his keys?”

Lena hasn’t even thought about the car. Since they found him lying dead when they walked in, she hasn’t even considered anything else. If his car is missing, it means someone took it or someone brought him here. His phone and laptop could be in the car as well, but he was hardly ever without his phone. His wallet and phone may be on him, but that is something she will not be checking. Kara or Alex will need to handle it because she will not. It’s going to be plenty enough for her when she has to help get his body on the stretcher. No. Thanks. 

“No. I haven’t seen them. My guess is whoever did this took his car or had something to do with where it is.” Walking toward the body again, she bends down to look around him for his phone. “I don’t see his phone either, but I am not digging in his pockets. Again, whoever did this probably took his phone, wallet, and laptop as well. This whole thing feels very much like they were interrupted before they finished the job. Hence, the back doors being open.”

“You make a good point, Lena. Kara can check his pockets after we get him on the gurney.” Alex replies as she makes her presence known. “Grimme has accepted your counteroffer. I told him I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I’d like to get there faster, but the last thing I want is to get pulled over right now. So, it’ll be nearly an hour before I’m back with the van. I’m leaving my phone here just in case. Better safe than sorry.”

The three of them walk to the door together, the whole house eerily silent. Once the front door is closed and locked, it suddenly occurs to Kara and Lena that they are alone with the body again. Instead of dwelling on it, Lena makes her way to the liquor cabinet to pour herself a few fingers of scotch. This night absolutely calls for something to take the edge off. 

Once the warmth of the scotch spreads through her system, the CEO pulls out her laptop to access a hidden offshore account. It’s under a false name that cannot be traced back to her, something she learned from her father years ago before he died. The account has only been accessed twice over the years and she genuinely hoped she wouldn’t have to again. Now, here she is helping to cover up a murder. 

After verifying the account balance and double checking the account information from Grimme, she sets up the transfer for half of the money. The three of them decided he isn’t getting the other half until everything is finished. Just based on the few things Alex told her about this guy, Lena doesn’t trust him any further than she could throw him. At least she knows she’ll have leverage on him after tomorrow. She plans on making sure this whole thing is ironclad and won’t come back to bite them later. 

True to her word, Alex is back with the van in just under an hour. She is mentally thanking James for being so paranoid and installing a back entrance to their property complete with a full driveway. Nothing says look at me like a windowless panel van pulling into a neighborhood after midnight. 

She backs the van as close to the patio as she can without driving onto the grass. Kara and Lena meet her at the back of the van to help remove the gurney. Now it’s time to do what they’ve all been dreading – vacate Corpse Jimmy from the premises. 

“Here. Put these on. There’s also a box of gloves and masks on top of the gurney.” Alex points to the gurney and hands them the protective gear, her eyes drifting to James still lying face down on the floor. “After we get changed, Kara will need to go through his pockets to make sure we didn’t miss his phone, wallet, or keys.”

All three of them step further into the kitchen to put on the proper protective gear. Lena almost considers going upstairs to take off her suit since it’s her favorite, but dismisses the thought. The mortuary cot sits ominously inside the french doors. It’s like a sentinel of death sitting accusingly next to a dining chair. Lena feels very judged by an inanimate object. 

From the looks of it, it is motorized so at least it should make things easier after getting him onto the cot. Thank goddess all of them work in the medical field in some fashion. Operating medical equipment is in their wheelhouse, even if it is a transport cot for a dead body. 

Kara stands frozen for a bit after she finishes gearing up. It’s still surreal and a bit unbelievable that James is dead. A small part of her feels guilty for wishing he would go away, but a larger part is glad he’s gone. She’s pretty sure it would have come down to him or her and she’d like to live. She hates this is how it happened, but will do whatever it takes to protect sister and her best friend. If that means getting her hands dirty, so be it. 

“Here goes nothing.” Kara quietly says as she kneels next to her dead husband. She starts with his back pockets. Visually, she can tell his wallet isn’t there, but there is a piece of paper. She hands it to Lena and feels around to the front pocket she can reach. It’s empty, no keys or phone. She stands, doing her best to suppress a shudder. He’s a little stiff already and it’s very unnerving. “I won’t be able to check his right pocket until we turn him over. What does the piece of paper say?”

“It’s a name, time, and place.” Lena says, showing the note to the sisters. “Veronica Sinclair, noon, Club Roulette.”

Alex grimaces, she knows that place. There have been numerous overdoses and injuries that have come from in and near that place. She is very familiar with what happens there. It’s run by The Oath Brokers and untouchable by the cops. If James was meeting with someone there, it wasn’t for anything good. “That place is a stronghold for The Oath Brokers. If he was tangled up with them, it opens up the possible suspect list to double, maybe triple digits. Anyway, let’s get moving. The faster we get this done, the faster it’s over.”

“Yeah, then we have to figure out the story we are going to tell. Everything has to line up or we’re fucked.” Lena says, exasperation and exhaustion evident in her voice. “This shit is far from over when we get rid of the body.”

With that, they get to work. Alex spreads the body bag onto the floor next to James, then all three of them roll him over on top of it. Once they get him settled, Kara sifts through his other pocket to come up empty. Both Kara and Lena are incredibly grateful to Alex for the masks because the grossness that was underneath the body isn’t something either of them want to smell, it’s already horrible to see. They’ll already have to clean it up, that’s bad enough. 

Getting James inside the bag is easier than they anticipated, thankfully. However, getting him onto the gurney is a lot more challenging. Since Kara is limited in her lifting capability with her cast, still sore shoulder, and bruised spleen, she can’t really help. They eventually wrestle him onto the cot. There is a lot of swearing, grunting, and sweating, but they do it. 

Loading him into the van goes a lot more smoothly. The three of them head back into the house to clean up the floor. Alex creates a baking soda and hydrogen peroxide paste to clean the tile grout while Kara and Lena get Pine-Sol and mops. At least Siobhan will be there on Monday for the regular cleaning in Eve’s place, they just need to get the obvious mess cleaned up. 

With the body removed and the mess cleaned, they stuff the cleaning evidence into a trash bag. On her way to take the luggage Kara brought down to the van, Alex says, “Keep whatever cash you found and give it to Lena. It won’t look strange for her to have that much cash since she’s traveling. We’ll burn the luggage with the body so there is no risk of it being found. Why don’t you stay here and go through the house to make sure we didn’t miss anything, Kara? Let us take care of the rest of this.”

“I-I don’t know, Alex.” Kara stammers, her eyes combing over the place where James’ body was laying. “I’m not sure how I feel about being here alone. What if whoever did this comes back?”

Alex and Lena share a look before the redhead responds. “I don’t think you need to worry about that, Kara. Just lock the doors, set the alarm, and don’t open the door. I have my key so you won’t have to worry about us knocking. We will come in through the back so the doorbell camera won’t catch us. Don’t forget we’re leaving our phones here. Do not open any of the doors. Focus on combing through the house to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

“Step outside and strip off the protective gear so we can burn it.” Lena waits on Kara to shed the PPE and crams it into the trash bag. She looks over at Alex and says, “We should probably leave ours on until we’re done at the crematorium. Then, we can put everything into the furnace with the body. Let’s grab a change of clothes, we’ll burn these, too.” Lena matter-of-factly states as they drop everything into the back with the gurney and close the back door. She and Kara walk upstairs in silence, each grabbing a change of clothes before returning to Alex.

Kara watches as they climb into the van, her body still shivering from everything that’s happened. As soon as the gate closes, she steps inside and closes the doors. The house feels different. She can’t quite put her finger on how or why, but it does and she’s not sure what she feels about it. Shaking those thoughts away, she gets to work looking through the house for anything they might have missed. 

On the way to the mortuary, Alex has a death grip on the steering wheel. Her jaw is clenched and her mind is racing. There are so many things she wants to say, but can’t find the words. Instead, she focuses on getting to their destination without doing anything to bring attention to them. They’re about halfway there when Lena finally speaks.

“We’ve known each other for over half our lives. Never in a million years did I think we would be covering up a murder.” She stares out the window, mulling over what they are doing. “I’d do anything for Kara, Alex. Anything.”

The silence around them feels thicker, almost uncomfortable, but also filled with understanding. With a nod, Alex reaches across the center console and gently squeezes Lena’s shoulder. “I know you would, Lena. There’s never been a doubt in my mind. You’re not alone, I’m in the same boat. We’re living the ‘anything’ right now.”

The rest of the drive is silent, each of them lost in their thoughts about what they are doing and what lies ahead. They still have to figure out how to explain James’ absence and when to report him missing. Getting the story straight needs to happen, but trying to do that on zero sleep isn’t going to work. 

It’s already been a long day and they’re not even done yet. The slowing of the van finally pulls Lena out of her thoughts. She looks up to see the back entry of a brick building and a sign that says Graves Mortuary & Cremation Service Entry. Looks like they have truly reached the point of no return. 

The two of them get out and start unloading. Grimme gave Alex the code to get through the service doors, they’re able to wheel the gurney along with the rest of the evidence inside with relative ease and without seeing another human. Once inside, they proceed to the chamber Grimme uses for his less than savory business matters. As much as Alex doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact, it’s definitely in their favor.

The further into the building the two of them go, the more uneasy Lena begins to feel. She’s been inside some creepy places over the years, but this one is cloaked in darkness and heavy energy. Doing her best not to think about any of that, she quietly pushes the gurney alongside Alex. Now that they are here, she just wants to get it done and get the hell out of there. 

“How long does this usually take?” Lena questions, something she is realizing she should have asked before. “I know it isn’t instantaneous, but how long are we going to be stuck here?”

An exasperated sigh precedes Alex’s response. “At least two hours for the incineration, give or take. The pulverizing will add more time, but Grimme said he will do that tomorrow. All we care about tonight is burning all of the physical evidence.” She stops in front of another door to enter a code and they walk into what appears to be a furnace room. 

With very little conversation, they get to work transferring the body bag and luggage onto the furnace platform. It goes more smoothly this time with the equipment available to lift the weight. Before they place the trash bag on top, they strip off the remaining PPE gear and the clothes underneath to stuff them inside. Changing into the clothes they brought, they follow the instructions Grimme gave Alex to start the process. Once the door to the furnace is closed with everything inside, they step into the lounge across the hall. Alex checks the time, makes herself comfortable at the table next to Lena, and they wait. 

Three hours later, they’re back in Alex’s car and heading back to Kara’s place. It’s after 5:00 a.m. now and they’re both exhausted. The sun will rise in about an hour and they’re still nowhere near finished with this saga. The twenty minute drive back to the house feels like it takes days. The two of them are in desperate need of a shower and sleep. Regretfully, sleep is likely not in their near future.

Arriving at the back gate just before sunrise, Alex drives through and pulls up next to the patio. It’s the very place they loaded a dead body up mere hours before. The two of them sit in silence for a solid minute before she shuts the car off. It’s clear that the worst part of all of this is finally over. Unfortunately, the hardest part is just beginning. 

Speeding up and using a moderate amount of her superspeed so she doesn’t accidentally rip her working yarn or the stitches, she speeds her way through it, finishing the front and back in no time and starting on the sleeves right away, already dreading the end where she has to stitch them all together. That’s always her least favourite part. Cat is worth it though.

If there’s one thing Cat loves talking about when they’re having a relaxing day at home, it’s the new pieces she’s managed to snag online or from fashion shows. She’s always hearing the descriptor ‘one-of-a-kind’ thrown around, so Kara figures that if she makes a sweater for Cat, it’ll definitely be a one-of-a-kind piece. She should love it.

Laying out all the pieces in front of her, she looks them over with a careful eye, searching for imperfections so she can fix them before she puts them all together. Upon deciding that it’s good enough for her girlfriend, who hates being called that because it “doesn’t sound like something you should be calling a woman of my age. I’m your partner”, Kara starts the process of finally stitching it together, hating every moment of it but enjoying the feeling of making something for Cat.

Finally, she holds it in her arms, finished and carefully looked over one last time for imperfections. There are none. She’s going to love it. She thinks about wrapping it too. Cat has always loved a gift, but her phone rings, breaking her out of her train of thought.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Hey, will you be free tomorrow for a movie night?”

“Yeah, why? Is something wrong?”

Alex snorts down the line. “Nothing has to be wrong to make me want to spend time with you, you know that.”

“Yeah, but usually you plan a week in advance, not the night before.”

“Ok, I might have eaten all the chips in my apartment and would rather raid yours than go and buy my own.”

Kara flops back on the couch, one way too expensive for flopping onto, and cradles the sweater to her chest. “So the truth comes out, huh? You don’t actually want to see me. You just want to use me for snacks.”

“Hey, I prefer you over the store. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

“Yeah, that you’re an ass.”

Alex cackles down the line, and Kara rolls her eyes, grateful that Alex can’t see her smile. “I’m making you watch a musical with me.”

“Anything but that.”

“Two musicals.”

Alex chuckles. “Whatever you want. Now, what are you doing? I’m bored and Sam doesn’t get home for another two hours. She and Lena are caught up at L-Corp.”

Kara hums. “Yeah, Lena texted me earlier to say that she’s got to cancel brunch on Saturday because of work. It sucks that things are so hectic over there. I’m just waiting for Cat to get home. I made her a sweater because she’s so obsessed with owning one-of-a-kind pieces. I think she’ll like it.”

“You knitted it?”

“Uh-huh. Just like Eliza showed me.”

“Oof.”

Kara frowns, her lips turning down in time with her furrowing brows, crinkle on full display. “What’s wrong?”

“You haven’t heard of the curse?”

That doesn’t help her confusion at all. “What in the actual hell are you talking about? Have you been drinking?”

“No, it’s a real thing a lot of knitters believe in. It’s why Mom never knit anything for Dad other than scarves. Apparently, if you hand-knit a sweater for your partner, it dooms your relationship.”

“Alex!” Kara sits up straight, her eyes wide and her fingers clawing at the material. “Why did you have to tell me that? I can’t give it to her now!”

For a moment, she thinks she can actually hear Alex’s eyes rolling back into her skull. “Don’t be a dummy. It’s just a superstition; she’ll probably love it.”

“Alex.” Kara whines. “I don’t think I can.”

“Don’t be a baby. If your relationship is strong, then a damn sweater won’t get in the way.”

“I hate you for telling me that.”

Alex snorts. “Love you too. I’ll text you tomorrow when I know what time I’ll be coming over.”

“You’re just going to leave me now?”

“Sure am. Later Kid.”

Kara goes to shout at her sister again, but upon looking at the phone, she sees that the call has ended. Alex can be a real ass sometimes.

Standing up, Kara holds the sweater between her hands forlornly. She stomps to the kitchen, her pink, bunny-shaped slippers slapping angrily into the tile. Her foot slams down onto the pedal of the trashcan just as the door opens, revealing Cat wandering in from the hallway outside the penthouse.

“Please tell me we have wine hidden somewhere. We can’t have finished the last one yesterday.”

“No, we have another bottle,” Kara says, quickly hiding the sweater behind her back and taking her foot off the pedal, wincing as the lid slams down with a crash.

Cat eyes her curiously, dropping her purse onto the nearest barstool beside the island before pulling out her phone. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Kara answers quickly. Too quickly.

Cat stalks over to her, and despite being significantly shorter, Kara backs away from her, ending up in the living room. “What are you hiding?”

“Nothing.” Kara tries to double down.

“What were you doing with the trash?”

“Just…tossing some paper I didn’t need anymore.”

Cat folds her arms over her chest, her lips pressing into a thin line as a single eyebrow raises in challenge. “Do you think I’m a fool?”

“No?”

Cat’s glare intensifies.

“No. Definitely not.” Kara tries to sound more confident.

“What’s behind your back?”

Kara curses inwardly. Of course, it’s easy to see when someone is hiding something behind their back when both hands are holding it there.

“Show me.”

Kara shakes her head.

Cat sighs, unamused. “Kara, I’m not mad. Just show me what it is. If it’s a puppy, I’m going to be madder that you were about to hide it in a trash can than I am about you adopting it.”

Kara perks up at that. “I can get a puppy?”

Cat shakes her head quickly. “That’s not what I said at all.”

“I’m going to go to the shelter tomorrow.”

Running a hand over her brow tiredly, Cat sighs. “Just don’t bring back anything with fleas.”

“Yes!” Kara throws her hands in the air in triumph, noting her mistake immediately as the sweater dangles above her head. “Oh, snap.”

Now, Cat just looks befuddled. “Is that mine or yours?”

“Uh…”

“Why were you throwing it out?”

“Uh…”

“Kara.” Cat deadpans, striding over to her and taking it from her hands. “It looks brand new.”

Kara goes to take it back, but Cat just steps away from her and bats her hands away. “Where’s the tag?”

“There isn’t one.” Kara offers up nervously, her hands falling to her waist, wringing nervously. “I made it.”

“What?” Cat looks a little impressed, warming Kara’s heart, but she can’t let her have it.

“I was just tossing it out.”

Cat holds it to her chest, protecting it. “Why?”

“I was making it for you but I didn’t know about the curse. You can’t have it now.”

Cat’s shoulders sag, and she heads for the kitchen. “I need wine for this, I can already tell. Explain it to me.”

“Alex told me that there’s a curse that means that you can’t knit a sweater for your partner or else your relationship is doomed, so you can’t have it. I didn’t know when I made it.”

Cat throws the sweater over her shoulder. “Well, I’m not throwing it out. That’s a dumb curse and I’d like to see the statistics of relationship breakdown over mittens rather than sweaters.”

Kara looks nervous, sitting down on a stool, her knees bouncing rapidly. “What if it comes true?”

“Then we can tell everyone that our perfectly stable and loving relationship has ended over a sweater, not you adopting a puppy behind my back.”

“It won’t be behind your back now.” Kara points out.

“So we won’t break up. Now be a dear and find me that wine.” Cat pulls her glasses off her face and drops them onto the counter. “I just want to have dinner, a couple of glasses of wine and a bubble bath with my partner before trying on this very comfortable-looking sweater. Can we do that and agree that it’s just a terrible superstition?

Kara doesn’t look convinced. “I don’t know.”

“Kara, we always dump my shopping bags on the counter, and you’re not meant to put new shoes on the counter. Nothing bad has ever happened from that. What makes you think that we’ll be affected by this one?”

Kara’s eyes widen. “That’s a real thing?”

Cat ignores the question. “Kara, darling. You’re an alien. What makes you think Earth superstitions would even have an effect on you anyway.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Kara makes her mind up. “Can you try it on?”

Cat smiles. “You sure?”

Kara nods. “I want to see if I got the size right.”

Slipping off her jacket, Cat pulls the sweater over her head before casually strolling across the room to the nearest mirror.

“I love it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Cat smiles softly, genuinely surprised that it’s not a lie. “It’s one-of-a-kind and definitely next year’s fashion.”

Kara’s grin is so wide and dopey that Cat can’t help but turn around, grab her by the collar and pull her down into a kiss.

“Thank you.”