A lot of things had changed for Catra, but one constant was this: she didn’t warm up to new people easily. She could be civil. She had charisma. She knew manners, and wasn’t always all snarly teeth and hisses - but she could be skittish, taking one step forward right before taking several steps back when someone tried to get too close too quickly. Then she’d build fortress walls that were all snark and sass to deflect, and she’d try to read people and suss out intentions. Distrust was deeply rooted in her, although Vallo had a habit of poking holes into her expectations. Most of the people she met here were harmless.
They were good, even. It had gotten easier to accept with time.
Still, she was selective of who she gave her warmth to, and she didn’t expect herself to feel that… comfortable around Kara. Catra blamed that on Alex. She talked about her so much and so fondly, and in a weird way she already felt like she knew her. Not well, obviously, but enough; enough to know that the Captain Save-A-Ho vibe was genuine, that she was sunshine incarnate and full of hope. Kara reminded her a lot of Adora.
Maybe less jaded, though.
“So the house where Mermista is at isn’t far from here,” Catra explained, exiting the coffee shop – the door’s bell jingled, stupid holiday shit – with one eight-ounce cup of caffeine in her hand, sweetened to hell. The smell didn’t make her want to hurl anymore, finally. The weather was nippy and the sidewalk was chilled enough to warrant boots on her feet. “A couple blocks down, we can walk there?”
This whole situation was a little jarring, Kara would be quick to admit that. While she was used to multiversal travel after so many years, she’d thought when her Earth and Barry and Oliver’s Earth merged that she’d be done, at least for a long time to come. All the heroes she knew – her friends – were in the same place as she was now, and unless something else major happened, she was content to stay there and protect what they had.
Vallo, apparently, had its own ideas on that matter.
She actually did like it here. She’d settled in at Morningside Manor, caught up with Sara and her very sweet girlfriend, Evie, and signed up for the DOA’s Defense Department. She had been told she was likely in it for the long haul, that they’d been researching for years and found no way to go back by choice, and she’d decided to accept it for now. Alex and Lena, two of the most impressive Earth scientists she knew, had been here without making progress and been taken away at Vallo’s whim, not due to some sort of breakthrough. She doubted she was a special case.
And she was okay with that. Vallo was a new experience, and as much as she missed Alex, and Lena, and everyone she loved back home, she was up for the adventure. Everyone here had been so kind, and it helped ease the worries that lingered in the back of her mind. These circumstances may not be her ideal, but they weren’t overwhelmingly bad. She had faced much tougher than this in her life.
She hadn’t been here a full week quite yet, but she’d been looking forward to coffee with Catra since she arrived. Sara was a pleasant surprise from home that helped ground her, but Catra was different. She was someone that had been Alex’s. That sounded odd, but even the small conversations they’d had since Kara’s arrival showed her that Catra had been involved in Alex’s life. She knew her in a way that Sara, despite that intimate one-off with Alex years ago, couldn’t match. Kara was very aware of what it looked like to share a bond with Alex Danvers, and it was painted all over this girl.
So, coffee it was, on Kara, despite the strange comments that had surrounded it. Kara had her suspicions, and she could easily have taken a peek to confirm them. Instead, she simply paid for Catra’s coffee and her own drink (a peppermint mocha with extra syrup; she had jolted quickly from spring to winter with this universe hop, but there was no way she would refuse a holiday-themed drink) and allowed her to lead their way toward the foster home where Alex and Lena’s cat, Mermista, had been staying since their disappearance.
“Sounds good!” Kara fastened the highest button on her coat. She didn’t really need it – temperature meant nothing to her, but she’d learned to dress as if it did. “Can you tell me this ‘witch warping reality’ and ‘alternate universe life’ story while we walk? I’ve been curious for days.”
“Oh, fuck, that’s right,” Catra snorted out this tiny laugh, having kind of forgotten mentioning that too but since it tied in to that damn cat - well, yeah, time to fess up. “It was like… what people on Earth know as Hallmark movies, I guess? It was weird. Like people, recorded it when it was broadcasted, fanfiction was written. So we get sucked up in it, right, and in this whole new mini-world I was Alex’s adopted little sister?”
The memories itself weren’t too clear anymore but she remembered the feeling. Alex was too much of a goddamn good person and made sure to keep giving Catra that feeling afterwards, too - that feeling of family. “Alex had this backstory of some crabby innkeeper and Lena was some spoiled priss that was sent to live there like a poor person, and since I worked at an animal shelter the inn Alex ran had a lot of our rescue cats.” She fiddled with the top of her lid and pulled the flap up. “One of them was Mermista, and when things became normal again some of us got to keep something from that reality and that’s how they ended up with a cat.”
Catra had ended up with all those letters Adora had written and tried to send, and she had those preserved in a scrapbook - the one she planned to give her wife as another holiday gift. It was becoming tradition. “You should watch it if you want. A lot of it’s pretty funny.”
Kara grinned, but there was a touch of bittersweet there that she quickly covered by taking a drink from her to-go cup. She was still getting used to the idea of Lena and Alex together. Coming from when she had, she knew there was no chance of it back home. Even if she wasn’t a factor, Alex was very happily married with a newly adopted daughter who they all absolutely adored. It made sense the two of them could end up together, when she gave it some thought, but it stung a little bit, too.
“That’s cute,” she said after a moment. “I can totally see Alex as a grumpy innkeeper in a Hallmark movie.” She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to dig up any recordings, though. Feelings aside, it would just make her miss the two people she loved most in the world, and right now, she was doing her best not to dwell on that, knowing they’d been here and gone before she even arrived. “Surprised she turned into a cat lady, though! She always wanted a dog even more than I did.”
“I mean–you’ve seen me, cats probably grew on her,” Catra smirked. Waking up from that whole thing was weird and Alex had really amped up the whole you’re like my kid sister now vibe after that. Hell, she had been actively calling her kid and that was a tough nickname for her to swallow. She wasn’t a child. No one had even treated her like one even when she was one. She was an adult; an ex-army commander, responsible for a lot of horrid actions.
And now, shit, how she missed hearing Alex call her that.
She sipped her coffee, and felt it warm her insides instantly. Most of the time she preferred it frozen but since the air had a bite to it, hot was better. “Oh–and I can’t ride anymore but Alex? She was the reason why I wanted a motorcycle. Somehow she trusted me enough to drive hers to learn and helped me build one, too. I hear most normal kids go through some milestone where a relative teaches you how to ride and bike and I thiiiiink that’s my most comparable moment to that, she was a really good teacher.”
Catra was just–spilling out the details, wasn’t she? She hadn’t talked about Alex in a while. Vallo had taken Bow, Dan and Richie so close to one another - and then the cherry on top had been Alex. Or maybe less of a cherry and more of a final nail in the coffin of her stupid feelings, the kind that drudged up the old voice that said everyone always leaves you.
Kara was the one to let out an amused little snort this time. She wasn’t sure catgirl friend necessarily equated to taking in domestic cats, but it was funny, and her grin was much lighter when she looked over at Catra. She could tell, just watching her and listening to her, that she really had bonded with Alex. She felt a little bit sorry she wasn’t her, but she’d do everything in her power to make Catra feel as much a part of the Danvers Sisters as Alex had.
“She is a really good teacher,” she agreed. “When I first came to Earth, Alex’s mom and dad made it her responsibility to teach me everything I needed to know. And she did. It wasn’t perfect, sometimes her patience ran out, but she was honestly the best big sister a displaced alien girl could ask for. She’s the best person to have in your corner in any situation, really. I’d have been lost without her, all those years.”
A tiny part of her would always feel that. Alex was such a big part of her life that being away from her would always feel odd. But Kara was more than capable of handling herself, of adapting to a weird situation and making the best of it. She had her sister’s footsteps to walk in here, and that was such a big help, too.
“I’m sorry she’s gone,” she added, her smile softer and a little apologetic. “It sounds like she loved you a lot, and I’m sure she wouldn’t have left you if she had any say in it.”
They turned a corner, venturing off into a more residential area lined with houses - the architecture was unique, and the homes had plenty of color and artsy outdoor decor. “Shit happens,” Catra answered breezily, as if it didn’t bother her (when it really did). “She was happy here but I know she’s happy back home, right? And she’s with you, technically. I think that’s what she wanted the most.”
Kara was lucky, and with the way she spoke about her sister, she must know it too.
“This,” she began, stopping in front of a yellow house with urban cottage vibes, “is the place. Give me a sec, okay?”
Catra hopped up the stone steps and knocked. It didn’t take long for someone to answer the door, and the local in question was this tiny thing of an elderly man - squinty eyes, glasses, somewhat hunched back. They exchanged pleasantries and once he held the door open wider for her to come in, she gestured to Kara to follow her. “Come in. This is Nettles - he and his husband have been taking care of Merms.”
It was very cute on the inside, smelling like books and coffee with a lived-in look. The furniture looked a little antique, lots of ornate corners and cherrywood. A cat came to sniff at them but it wasn’t the one they were looking for.
Kara acquiesced, leaving some space between the two of them while Catra went up to the door to speak to the owners of the adorable little yellow cottage. She had a very knowing, commanding air about her – in general, but especially here and now. It was clear she’d truly been visiting as often as she said. Kara had idly wondered why she hadn’t taken the cat in herself, but she’d kept from asking.
Once she was waved in, she stepped in to trail behind Catra into the house. Unsurprisingly, the interior was just as cute inside as it was outside, very cozy in a way that made it feel slightly claustrophobic, but Kara pushed that thought to the side. She greeted Nettles with a smile, introducing herself with a handshake, then leaned down to extend her hand to the sniffing cat, waiting a moment before they gave her hand an approving nuzzle. That seemed like a good sign.
“What’s she like?” Kara questioned curiously, letting Catra keep leading the way. “Is she more of a hider or an attention seeker?”
Nettles had been expecting them. Catra was always pretty on top of keeping that line of communication open and by now they had a comfortable familiarity with one another. He trusted her to venture through the house with respect to his space - she wasn’t someone that always needed entertainment, though she sometimes stuck around (often with Adora) to keep him and his husband company too.
(Sometimes her wife volunteered to move furniture around for them, or to fix a hole in their fence - it was very hot.)
“Not the least bit shy,” Catra scoffed, stepping over a sleeping beagle – another Outlander foster, come to find out – and making her way towards a sunroom in the back of the house. “Classic bitch cat that lays there, belly exposed and lets you pet her for two whole seconds before she goes apeshit on your hand.”
They reached a sliding glass door and it was a little jammed when Catra reached for it. It took a little wriggling and shove to pry it to the side, and once it opened they stepped into a screened in room with lots of sunlight and two gigantic cat scratch posts.
Right in the center, lying in the path of a sunbeam, was the cat in question. Fluffy. Black. Looking annoyed, tail twitching against the carpet.
“Her highness - Princess Mermista.”
Kara let out another laugh, but her expectations were set with that explanation. That actually sounded like exactly the kind of moody cat that both her best friend and her sister would enjoy more than they’d ever expected to. Odd that she had come from some Hallmark movie-based alternate universe, but from what she’d gathered, that was on the tamer end of strange Vallo things.
The cat that greeted her, sprawled out and taking up the majority of a winter sunbeam, was somehow exactly what she’d expected and not at all what she’d expected at the same time. ‘Her highness’ seemed all too appropriate for the regal fluffball who gave Kara only a passing glance before lifting a paw to her mouth to lick and raise to clean behind a very fluffy ear.
“Am I required to curtsy in the presence of this royalty?” Kara joked, making her way toward Mermista and sitting carefully in an open spot between cats. She held her hand out for the princess’s approval, only to be completely ignored. “Maybe the curtsy would have helped my case.”
“Feeding her treats is the only thing that’ll help your case,” Catra countered with a chuckle, mimicking Kara by settling down onto the floor too. Criss-crossing her legs, she set her coffee on the floor and watched Mermista in amusement. The cat took a long, almost menacing look at her.
Before, finally, getting up and bumping her head into her hand. “She knows me. From here and from that fake reality, I think.” Mermista was always more partial to Alex and Lena, but she and Adora were close seconds when they visited. Catra opened her hand, and Mermista put her face in it with a demand for affection.
They purred at one another, softly.
“Alex wrote a letter for me in the scenario she disappeared,” she mentioned after a minute, exhaling a deep sigh. “She wanted me to take Merms in for her.”
Kara was completely content to watch Mermista fawn over Catra, even if it meant she was ignored. It was nice to see the shared sweetness, to hear the echo of purrs reverberating through the room. There was obviously a bond and shared fondness between the two of them.
She hummed as she took another long drink of sugary sweetness, lowering it to tuck between her legs while Catra spoke. “That sounds like Alex,” she acknowledged. She reached up to adjust her glasses and studied Catra for a moment. “She wouldn’t hold it against you that you brought her here, you know. She would be happy Mermista was somewhere she was taken care of.”
Adora would have been fine with it, if they had taken her in – but it had been Catra’s knee-jerk reaction to reject, and she rejected everything that had to do with Alex. She had gone to pick up the letter at Al’s and never stepped a foot back in (even if she had liked taking Glimmer there in the past). She avoided the block that had L-Corp even if you could see the building miles away. She rejected Mermista, and had even told herself she wouldn’t check up on her once she found her a home but–
That was cruel. She had been known to be cruel, and she had done awful, rotten things–but her cruelty didn’t mean she lacked a conscience, and all she had done was bury herself alive in guilt she couldn’t claw out of.
“I hold it against myself sometimes.” Catra shrugged. “Vallo took a lot of people from us before it took Alex. I guess I thought I would be used to people leaving by now, you know?” What she didn’t say was that she should be used to people leaving her, as if what happened had been a personal slight from Vallo itself. It wasn’t. That gnarled feeling of abandonment was a demon she hadn’t been able to rid herself from just yet. “Joke’s on me. I didn’t always make it easy for your sister to care about me. I regret that.”
Catra wasn’t fishing for pity. She wished she did a few things differently with Alex; wished that she told her that she loved her like family or whatever. She couldn’t now, but she could make sure to be–around? For Kara? If Kara needed her.
Mermista sat between them, tail wrapped around her fluffy little legs, and stared at Kara with very intense eyes.
“She wants you to pet her, by the way.”
Kara didn’t offer Catra pity, but she did smile sympathetically, reaching out to lightly squeeze her shoulder – just for a moment – before returning it to wrap around her cup. “My sister’s stubborn,” she offered. “Once you’re hers, there’s no way she’s turning around, no matter how much of a fight you might put up. She doesn’t give up easily, I’m sure you know that.”
She’d leave it there, though. She was speaking like the authority on all things Alex Danvers (which she considered herself to be), and she hoped her reassurances helped, but she wouldn’t presume to heal all of Catra’s confusing feelings when it came to Alex. She’d be here to help, though, as long as Vallo would allow her to stay. This wasn’t a connection she intended to let falter.
She turned her gaze to Mermista with surprise, smiling at the intense stare she was receiving. “This…may be a stupid question,” she began, lifting her hand again to offer it to Mermista. This time, after a long sniff, her palm was headbutted and she began gently stroking down the cat’s neck and back. “But do you…speak to cats?”
Catra tossed her head back and laughed, all scratchy and squeaky. Not a question she was expecting from Kara, but one she’s definitely heard before.
“Fuck no,” she answered once the giggling died down, and she leaned back against her hands with a toothy grin. “I’m good at guessing what they want, though. Similar instincts. My wife knows what my mood is just by watching my tail, you know? It’s not that different from their signals.”
Mermista’s purr became louder. Eventually, she decided Kara’s lap was a worthy resting place and began climbing on her.
“If you like trying out restaurants, there’s a place in the forest literally run by cats - you should come with me,” Catra added. “They give me discounts. I think they’re still under the impression I’m some kind of overlord to them, I don’t know. The food’s great. They’ve been making wings for me lately and they’re so fucking good.”
That was a much more sensible explanation, but Kara stood by the question! There were millions of different species out there in the multiverse, and while she didn’t know any feline humanoids like Catra back home, she was sure they existed. And maybe they talked to domestic cats! Maybe they didn’t! She accepted that Catra did not.
She shifted her cup (now empty) off to the side so her lap was unobstructed as Mermista began making herself comfortable. Her purr was near thunderous, and Kara couldn’t help chuckling as she continued petting her, making sure to put both hands to work. She was fluffy enough to warrant a two-handed approach to petting.
“Ooooh, wings! That sounds amazing.” She let out a little hum at the thought. “Yes, let’s go to the cat restaurant. Bring your wife! I’d love to meet her. Adora, right?”
Catra didn’t need convincing for wings. Her appetite was starting to kick up a notch, and while some things still made her nauseous and stuck her head in a toilet bowl it was better than it used to be. Thank you, second trimester. “Yep, my significant pain in the ass,” she quipped affectionately, fishing for her phone to shoot out a text that was literally ‘let’s go get spicy fried dead bird with alex’s sister!!!’ to her dearly beloved.
Maybe some heart emojis. Shush.
“Mermista likes you,” Catra tacked on, observing how the cat just flopped on Kara and did the slow eye blink at her. “Nettles knows the situation and I can give you his number in case you feel like visiting her? But Adora and I always do anyway, don’t feel pressured.”
“Yes, please. I’d like to visit her,” Kara agreed, smiling down at the cat. “She’s a sweetie.” She shifted one hand to stroke under Mermista’s chin, and that was met with an especially loud buzz of purrs. She was doing something right, that was good.
There was a part of her heart that just wanted to take her – let Nettles know that she was here now and she could take over – but she was hesitant for now. She had been here less than a week. It wasn’t impossible that she’d still be returned home, from what she knew of this place’s chaotic machinations. She’d wait until there was a sense of permanence, then come back.
Catra’s phone pinged again, and when she checked it, she’d find a reply from her significant pain in the ass: ‘Way to make it sound REALLY appetizing.’
“Cool.” Catra was smiling, and it was easy and soft. Visiting Mermista had always yielded some weird feelings–it made her miss Alex, refueled this guilt about not handling her disappearance in a better way. Today’s visit was better, and Kara weirdly filled some of the void her sister (maybe their sister, if she were to be honest with herself) had left behind.
After taking a peek at her phone (did she have heart eyes? Oh god, she had heart eyes) and replying with an emoji kissy face to Adora, Catra picked up her coffee that needed finishing. “Let me knock this out and then we’ll go? I don’t wanna disturb Mermista right this second–she might sink her claws in to keep you.”
As if on cue, Mermista did exactly that. She kneaded, and then kept her claws snagged on Kara’s pants. There was no getting up just yet, Supergirl.