"It doesn't have to be this way, Adam."

"I can't see it going any other way."

"You just need to fight it."

"Fight what? I'm finally free and he's given me the family I've always deserved," he said, gesturing around.

She shifted more directly in front of Cat. "That's not true, Adam. I know this isn't what you want."

"How would you know what I want?"

Kara wished for the millionth time that having a secret identity wasn't necessary to keeping her friends and family safe. Kara was Adam's friend not Supergirl. For once she felt like this was a situation where Kara could handle the situation better than Supergirl.

"I know you don't want to hurt these children," Kara tried. "Please let them go."

He tilted his head in consideration. "He told me not to."

"Aren't we talking about what you want?" she asked carefully. She felt Cat's hand snake out to grip her bicep. His eyes fell to the hand.

"I want her to pay."

2 months earlier

It was a gloriously sunny summer day in National City and Kara was more than glad for it on her walk to the office. The sun's rays hit her and filled her with strength she knew she would need for the long day ahead of her. It had been a slow news week for her city. Most of the nation's attention was on Metropolis and her boss' nemesis Lois Lane. It led to a very grumpy Cat Grant and a very long day. She almost envied Clark's super villain problems.

When she arrived on their floor, latte in hand, she was almost hoping for an earthquake or a fire to give Miss Grant something to be excited about. It was too bad she couldn't tell the woman about the alien that she had fought in the desert the night before. It hadn't been flashy so no one had even noticed and the DEO had been quite happy about that.

Winn was already at his desk typing away and she flashed him a quick smile that he didn't return. She frowned before turning her attention toward the mail. She was flipping through the envelopes when she glanced through the glass to Miss Grant's office and spotted a handsome man lounging in Cat's chair.

"Winn!" He looked up sheepishly. "Who is that?"

"Um. Well…" he stalled as he toyed with one of the figurines on his desk. "He says he's Cat's son."

"You do remember these glasses are fake right? That does not look like Carter to me."

"He said his name is Adam Foster. I recognized it from the hacking scandal so…"

Her hearing decided at that moment to pick up the sound of Cat angrily muttering to herself on the elevator.

"Oh, this is not good."

"She here?"

"Yup."

"Still grumpy?"

"What do you think?" she snapped back at him. She was Miss Grant's assistant. She should have had this managed already. Managed in what way she didn't know, but it should have been managed. She thought back to the conversation they had had about her son and couldn't imagine this was expected by Miss Grant in any way. She had gotten the impression that her boss hadn't seen her son since he was a child.

She quickly scooped up the mail and the coffee and with one last look at the intruder made her way over to the elevator. He had dark hair unlike his mother, but when he met her eyes she could see the resemblance. He had the same shrewd eyes of his mother. She gulped as the elevator doors slid open to reveal her boss just removing her sunglasses.

She handed over the now cool latte with a wince. She hadn't had the chance to heat it in her distraction and knew it would be yet another source of displeasure for her boss. Miss Grant had immediately rushed into her agenda for the day and Kara tried to slow her down, but her boss was a force of nature that she hadn't quite figured out how to tame. As the turned to her office, Kara slid in front of her blocking her view.

"Miss Grant, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you have a visitor."

"I have nothing scheduled until 11. Send whoever it is away and tell them to make an appointment next time."

"He says he's your son."

Miss Grant's face froze before she blinked a few times. "Carter is at school."

"Yes."

"Adam." She looked past Kara into her office and noticed the man for the first time. He waved casually. Cat turned her attention back to her assistant. "And you couldn't have told me this before I came into his line of sight?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Grant. What can I do?"

She shoved the latte back into her hand. "Get me a hot one and cancel my morning," she said before straightening her back and marching into her office.

At Miss Grant's behest, Kara had canceled all of her morning mother and son were still talking behind closed glass doors and Kara was struggling with the temptation to listen in. Winn shot her concerned looks every few minutes, but she ignored him and tried to focus on her work.

Cat had been willing to give up her empire to protect this stranger and she couldn't help her curiosity. He was supposed to be in Opal City happily living his life safely out of the media's eyes. Now he was here, presumably to start a relationship with his long lost mother. She hoped that was the case and not that he needed money or something insidious like that.

As time wore on and the conversation continued, she found she actually envied him. She imagined that he was telling Cat all about his life and it was everything she ever wanted with her own mother.

She was absently gazing at the two of them when "Kiera!" was called through the glass. She started and found the two of them gazing at her through the window. She fumbled with the papers in her hand for a moment, before shoving them onto her desk and hurrying to answer the call.

"Kiera. I need you to get me reservation for two at some fancy restaurant for 7pm tonight."

"It doesn't have to be fancy," Adam said with a charming smile.

"I never got the chance to spoil you so suck it up," Cat said back. "Do you have anything to wear?"

"Will I need a suit?"

"Kiera set up something with one of my shoppers at Barney's."

"That's really not necessary," he offered.

"If you want to come out as my son, you need to do it in style. Kiera, I need to write. Cancel the rest of my day."

"But you are meeting with Huma and she's flying back to D.C. tonight."

"Tell her to call me. She'll understand," Cat said standing up from the couch they were sharing. Adam followed suit.

"Got it," she said, awkwardly looking between the two of them.

Cat reached out and touched his cheek. "Go with Kiera. She will get you taken care of. I'll see you tonight."

"Got it," he echoed Kara. Cat smiled fondly, squeezing his arm before dismissing both of them to get to work.

Kara kept sneaking glances at him, looking for more resemblances to his mother as he followed her out of his mother's office.

"So, that's the infamous Cat Grant," he said breathing out like he had been holding his breath in there the whole time. "She not quite what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Kara asked, pushing her glasses up her nose as she searched for the right number to call.

"Someone colder I guess."

"Can't trust everything you read online."

"Even if she was the one that wrote it?" he asked, leaning against her desk. Kara couldn't help the smile as she dialed out for one of Cat's shoppers she knew also specialized in men's wear.

She glanced up with the phone cradled in her ear. "Actually, Miss Grant is extremely honest when she writes."

He looked back to his mother. "So, I should probably read what she's writing tomorrow?"

She held up her hand as she talked to the professional shopper. "Barney's in an hour okay with you?" she asked with a quick glance up at him over her glasses.

"Uh, yeah. That should be fine."

"Okay," Kara said, concluding her call quickly and looking back to him. "Would you like me to call you a car?"

"I should be able to find it myself. I'm going to need to learn this city at some point since I live here now. Might as well start early," he said with a shrug.

"I can get you a map or arrange a tour."

He laughed. "I doubt that is part of your job."

"You did just meet your mother. What do you think?"

"Fair enough," he said with a laugh. "Well, a tour might be nice if it's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You seem nice and know my mother and once the story breaks it won't look too strange for us to be associating with each other." He shrugged. "If it's okay with your boyfriend over there," he said with a nod toward Winn who was staring daggers at them. Her eyes widened and Winn quickly turned his attention back to his desk.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Oh, I just assumed. Sorry." He glanced back at Winn.

"I'll check with Miss Grant and I'll get back to you about the tour."

"You let her dictate your life to that degree?"

"She's going to be writing about you. She'll need to know how to spin it if people see us together and assume we are dating."

"That's fair I suppose. Well, it's was nice to meet you, Kiera."

"It's Kara actually."

"Oh, sorry. I just," he said, gesturing over his shoulder.

She waved him off. "It's fine. I get it a lot."

He smiled and headed for the door.

"Adam," she called after him. "I'd definitely read that article if I were you."

He nodded thoughtfully before continuing out of the office.

Kara was up and moving as the first syllables of "Kiera!" hit her ears. Cat had been shut up tight in her office for over an hour and Kara was desperate for a way to help.

"Give James the information about my dinner with Adam. Make sure he sends Aaron. I want pictures that make it clear he is my son to go along with what I'm writing."

"Do you mind if I ask why he is deciding to go public with all of this?"

"Think he's in it for the fame and glory?"

"No, no of course not."

"Of course you do. That was my first thought, but he seems sincere about wanting to get to know me. I owe it to him to try, but we have to come out with some kind of story or else it'll be assumed that he is my new young boy toy or something disgusting like that."

"But you are going out together tonight. Aren't you worried that tomorrow's stories will say just that?" Cat smirked and it clicked. "And your piece will explain the truth while everyone else will be running stories speculating about the age of your date."

"Well, they will be speculating about his age for a different reason by the afternoon," Cat said with a sigh.

"He asked me to give him a tour of the city."

"That's fine. It's really too bad you aren't actually Supergirl," Cat said. "That would really impress him."

"Are you trying to impress him?" Kara asked, "Because I can have James ask her."

Cat snorted. "Yes. I'lll get right on asking Supergirl to give my son a tour of the city. Next I'll be having her escort me to the next award show." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Supergirl has plenty of more important matters to deal with than my personal issues."

"She seems to like you."

Cat pursed her lips and looked at her papers ignoring Kara's remark. "Start the vetting process. Have someone you trust on it like Wick. Tell him to be thorough, but I need it by tonight. I don't want any surprises."

"He's already on it."

Cat raised her eyebrow. "You don't trust Adam?"

"That doesn't matter. Like you said we don't want any surprises. Winn had already did some looking into him back during the scandal so it just made sense," she said shifting on her feet. "Are you sure you don't want to wait a couple days before you do this?"

"I think I've made Adam wait long enough," Cat said. "Schedule me on the morning show. I want to get ahead of this as much as possible."

"Of course, Miss Grant."