#x-kryptonite

What's Wrong with the Cat?

Lena had walked in on many things when entering her lab throughout the years. She'd found her brother tinkering with her experiments and his flunkies stealing equipment on more than one occasion. She'd come home to find Kara under the yellow sun lamps clinging to life and found the blonde glaring at her hidden kryptonite. The scientist and current owner of LuthorCorp never knew what to expect when arriving in her home, however, she had never quite expected to find her partner's cat hovering to reach a lab mouse on the top shelf. 

“Babe?” 

A start sounded followed by the sound of rushing air when someone moved faster than humanly possible. Lena's brows scrunched together, head turning towards the suspicious sound as her ponytail swayed. 

“You're home early,” the blonde smiled wide, nervousness filling her as she looked between the confusion over Lena's expression. “How was the conference?” 

“Lex and your cousin found a way to ruin it as always,” she answered quickly before sighing, the disaster of her trip having been forgotten in the face of Streaky. “Kara, do you have something you wish to tell me?” Her head tilted to the cat still floating around the fronts of the large habitat for recovering mice.

“Mm?” The Kryptonian hummed, lips pressed together as she held her sides to keep from fidgeting. But at Lena's tilting head her lips popped open with a breath and her eyes widened. 

“No! Bad Streaky! Get down!” She rushed out, moving to him when he yowled instead of listening. “No hunting the lab mice,” she chastised, plucking the cat from the air and holding him. “You know how to behave, come on,” she added, ignoring the strength in his legs and the claws that he tried to dig into her. 

Lena turned to watch her, silent the whole time. Her mind bounced between disbelief, worry about her experiment on curing the mice if they were stressed, and concern for the suddenly airborne cat. “Kara, what happened to the cat?” Her chin dropped as her hands went to her hips, watching the cat and analyzing the force he was using. 

Kara's head snapped up, smiling sheepishly. “Well,” her eyes seemed to roll away from Lena shrugging before walking Streaky away from the mice and putting the orange cat down outside the room but still within the confines of the reinforced lab walls. “I had an idea about the kryptonite cure and I wanted to test it.”

“I thought we were going to take a break, and that we agreed you wouldn't interact with raw green kryptonite without me?”

“I know, I know, but I had the suit. Your suit and I was fine. Perfectly safe,” she reassured me by walking back to her. Her hands found their way to her hips, caressing Lena's sides and gently squeezing them. “I'm fine, I was safe and had help on standby.”

Lena made a soft sound of reluctant acceptance moving closer to Kara and allowing the woman to placate her. 

“And the cat?”  

Kara smiled at Lena's patient anger knowing her partner hadn't decided if she was angry with her yet. “At first there was no change, it still acted like green kryptonite. I got upset and… and threw it with the suit on. I didn't know that Streaky had followed me in, before I could collect it and put it back. He had already rubbed it all over him!”

“There would be traces of kryptonite all over him! I know you love that cat, but you can't touch him,” Lena cried, fear flooding her heart, eyes dashing over Kara's body. She moved back, pulling at her pullover sweater to look at her, her fingers racing to Kara's neck. “Are you okay?” 

“I'm okay,” Kara said with a smile, hands moving to hold Lena's shoulders, rubbing her thumbs into the stress she could feel. “Promise all fine. I put him through a bath and a shower. He does not like me anymore…” She grimaced, hating the experience that had made the cat she had taken in years ago distrust her. “But he is safe for Kryptonians, and seems to, for now at least, have the same powers as one.” 

“When did this happen?” Lena looked at the cat that seemed to be plotting an attack on her mice. “What has he developed?” The scientist in her kicking in. 

“Ah well, flying, obviously,” Kara chuckled, “and after the third bath, he definitely has super strength and speed,” she grumbled glaring at the cat who suddenly looked too adorable to cause any mischief. “Little scamp. I wanted to have him run on the treadmill and run an obstacle course together, but he was not having it,” Kara elaborated. “It's only been twelve hours; cleaning him took three of them.” 

Lena followed Kara's gaze looking at the cat again, suddenly glad Streaky had warmed up to her well before the two had moved in together. Kara's hand slid up and down the curves of her sides, pulling her attention back to the blonde. 

“I'm sorry. I was gonna call, but I thought you'd be enjoying yourself at seminars all day.”

Lena scoffed. “I would have preferred to help you than listen to Lex prattle on,” she sighed realizing that Kara was still worried that she would be angry with her for breaking their agreement. “I'm not angry, Kara. I'm not pleased that you worked on this on your own. We made this a couple project for a reason, Kara. Safety reasons.” 

“I know, I'm sorry, but your suit kept me safe like always,” Kara reminded, knowing how much Lena feared green kryptonite after years of watching Lex use it against Superman. “I promise, next time I'll wait,” the blonde agreed, wrapping her arms more securely around Lena's waist and interlocking her fingers over the small of the brunette's back.  

The brunette nodded, taking a slow calming inhale before releasing it just as slowly. Her fingers gripped Kara's shoulders before sliding around to the nape of her neck and leaning into her. Their lips met in an unrushed tender press, the gentle but firm press a reminder that Kara was unharmed. Kara's fingers gripped tighter to the pleats in Lena's top, keeping her close and kissing away the memories of her ill and weakened after one too many battles. Lena tilted her head, parting her lips at the flick of Kara's tongue across them. She smiled into the kiss, welcoming the comforting tongue as her fingers curved up the back of Kara's head tangling in barely kept-up blonde hair. 

Sharing the lab and starting a couple projects with Kara had been exciting over the last few months. The activity had kept them close and Lena adored working towards saving people and protecting Kara, but Streaky’s flying unfortunately wasn't the first accident that occurred since they had started working together scientifically. She hummed into the kiss, breaking it to press her forehead to Kara's, happy that the alien and the cat she knew Kara would be heartbroken to lose were safe. 

“We'll run some tests and make sure he's alright,” Lena promised, knowing that the blonde had to be worried about her beloved pet. 

“Thanks, Lena-” 

Kara's thanks were cut off by the sound of sparks and the door on the habit reacting to heat vision. Their eyes were wide, both having huddled together and bent down at the sparks that flew off the hinges before the door crashed to the ground. Their eyes rushed to Streaky who stood ready to launch himself through the door that was just big enough for him to pass through. Before the cat could launch Kara was moving, scooping up the cat as Lena raced to secure the habitat again. 

The room was full of motion, only half of which Lena could see. Kara moved too fast in her battle to tame the cat and Streaky's enhanced instincts. When all was said and done, Lena had managed to patch the door meant for hands to interact with the mice and Kara had appeased the orange cat with a feather-covered toy. 

“So, add heat vision then,” Lena grumbled, winded from the rush of adrenaline. Her eyes looked over the mice that had moved away from the front of the large clear cage toward the separate chambers. 

“Yup,” Kara sighed as she moved the bouncing toy out of Streaky's super jumping grasp. “We're gonna need more toys…”

“We're gonna have to remodel the house,” Lena said exasperated, keeping her eyes on Streaky.