Work Text
The day was going so well. Better than expected actually. Alex and Lucy were training new recruits who actual showed some promise. Kara was working on a new article about Lena’s latest invention. And by working on a new article she really meant taking her girlfriend to lunch at that new place that just opened. It serves not just kale, but also real cake much to Kara’s endless excitement.
Winn and Imra were making good progress on harnessing her physic powers to make non-lethal weapons. Carter had just got done with a good day at school and was making his way to Cat’s office. Cat had been reinstated after the end of her sabbatical, and both Lena and James were thrilled. The former back to what he loved doing most, photography. He was still going out as Guardian, but was now under the supervision and guidance of J’onn.
It was around 4 PM when the day started to domino into chaos. On the surface level everyone showing up in the same area at the same moment seemed like a coincidence. Winn and Imra ran into a snag with their invention and went to Catco to talk to Lena, who was standing talking to Kara. Kara was waiting for Carter to come out of his mom’s office so they could hang out. James came up from his office to talk to Cat about a layout, and J’onn was with him waiting to get out and train. Alex and Lucy showed up when they pinged a threat against the building.
Everyone showed up at 4:07 PM. At 4:08 PM everyone looked around curiously, like it was all planned. At 4:09 PM a big flash appeared in the center of the group, practically blinding them all. Out of the flash a figure appeared, a smug look on his face.
“Mxy?!” Kara stuttered in shock. A smile crept across his face and before anyone can make a move he snaps his fingers.
“This will be fun.”
***
Alex lands on a large log with an oof and rolls off of it. She does a mental scan and is pretty sure that nothing is broken. Meanwhile, Kara falls from the sky and lands right on top of Alex. Her eyes are still closed as she groans and mutters, attempting to dislodge Kara. Everything feels out of sorts, and her shoving is pretty ineffective.
“Kara you are too heavy, get off me.” Kara rolls off with a groan of her own.
“Sorry Alex. It’s not like I had any control over where I landed.” She feels fuzzy, mentally speaking of course. The last thing she remembers was the flash of light that followed Mxy’s finger snap.
“Mxy!” Kara’s eyes snap open and she sees a giant pine tree smack in front of her. She does a quick look around her but doesn’t see him, or anyone else for that matter. She frowns and wonders if anyone else was taken and whether they landed okay. She’s mentally cursing Mxy as she looks over to where Alex should be.
She lets out a loud gasp and an, “oh rao.” Instead of her tall, red headed, human sister, she is now face to face with a dog. A German Shepherd to be exact, with a beautiful red and black coat.
Alex still hasn’t open her eyes, and Kara is stuck in her shock unable to move. When Alex does finally open her eyes, Kara can see that they haven’t changed; light chocolate brown. It’s almost unnerving to see, but it is also somewhat comforting.
Alex looks completely confused and calls out to Kara, wondering where she went. She could have sworn she was sitting right here, and where the hell did this dog come from?
“I’m right here Alex.” Alex’s eyes widen when her sister’s voice comes out of the dog sitting in front of her. The realization hits her like a train that her blonde, perky, alien sister is now a dog. A Golden Retriever with a shiny gold coat to be more precise. Alex looks closely and sees the most caring blue eyes she’s ever known, which confirms that this dog is indeed her little sister.
“Alex I don’t know how to tell you this, or if you even understand me, but....” Alex just shakes her head and is too shocked to let Kara continue.
“You’re a dog!” Kara does her signature puppy dog head tilt and Alex almost loses her shit. It isn’t until Kara feels her ears flapping against her head that she chances a look down to her hands and feet. Well, they aren’t there. Instead she sees golden paws, and starts to choke on air.
“Oh my god we’re both dogs!”
“What?!” Alex looks down quickly to see that yes indeed her hands and feet are also now paws. A quick look behind her and yep there’s a tail.
“What the hell!? How the hell did this happen?!” It only takes Alex two breaths to be able to answer her own question, “Mxy! When I get my hands on him!”
Alex doesn’t get to finish her threat before they hear a high pitched shout, or rather squeal, about 20 feet away. Running as quickly as they can on their new paws, they make their way over to where everyone else had apparently landed. A quick scan sees that no one is hurt, and that everyone is okay. Well, okay is relative, because everyone who landed in this part of the woods has also been turned into dogs.
Kara and Alex have no idea who anyone is besides each other, but there is one Great Dane, one black Husky, two Chihuahuas, a Corgi, a West Highland Terrier, one Staffordshire Terrier, and a Pomsky. All ten dogs jaws seemed to have dropped at the same time as they just stare at each other.
“Is someone going to explain what’s going on, or are we going to stare at each other in hopes it all goes away?” The larger of the two Chihuahua’s says with a trademark sass. Kara narrows her eyes attempting to figure out who it is.
“Ms. Grant?!” She gasps in realization.
“Obviously Kiera.” The eye roll easily confirms that it’s Cat, which means the smaller Chihuahua must be Carter. She seems to have reverted to calling people by their wrong names. Which is something Kara sees as an attempt at control in an uncontrollable situation. Carter seems to be scared but trying his hardest to put on a brave face, while curled into Cat’s side. Kara gives him what she hopes is a reassuring smile, but she’s unsure what it looks like in this body.
“Wait,” she looks back to Cat, “how did you know it was me?”
“Well only you and Agent Scully over there would run towards a scream, even as girlish as it was” Cat looks over at the Westie with a mocking eyebrow raise. Alex scowls at the nickname and Kara has to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous a scowling German Shepherd looks.
“Besides only sunny and eternally happy Kara Danvers would be turned into a Golden Retriever, the loveable all American dog.”
Kara’s face lights up at that and she practically squees in excitement, “I’m a Golden Retriever!?”
“Yes.” Alex says sharply, “Great now… wait what am I?” Alex asks attempting to look down at her body.
“You’re a German Shepherd, red and black.”
“Yep that fits.” She nods once.
“Great two down, now who’s who for the rest of you?” Cat says taking charge of the situation, while Carter continues to curl into her side.
“Hello, my name is Lucy Lane and I’m a dog.” This causes Alex to snort and start to laugh a full bodied laugh.
“This isn’t AA Lucy, but in case you are wondering you’re a Corgi.”
“Queen’s Corgi? Or sweater Corgi?”
“Ah the important questions,” Cat drawls.
“Queen’s Corgi.” Kara answers. Lucy nods her head in what appears to be pride.
“Small and Sassy, yep that seems right.”
“Okay, next?” It’s Alex this time, and Cat just gives the bigger dog an eyebrow raise. The Great Dane just walks up calmly and sits.
“Well that’s obviously J’onn.” Kara says lifting her paw in a dramatic wave, “Even in dog form he’s strong and silent.” J’onn’s mouth quirks up in a small amused smile.
“I’m Imra.” Imra just lifts a small paw in the air like it’s a roll call.
“Really?” Alex asks somewhat surprised that Imra would be a Pomsky. She would have put good money on her being the Husky.
“Small but fierce.” Imra shrugs her shoulders and gives Lucy a high paw when offered. Alex shakes her head. The entire situation starting to feel surreal, and everyone seems to be much calmer than she had felt 10 minutes ago. Although the serious way everyone is taking their assigned dog breeds makes her roll her eyes.
“Next?” Kara says when it's clear Alex is stuck in her own head and Cat is comforting Carter.
A West Highland Terrier steps forward next.
“I’m Winn?” He says like he isn’t quite sure.
“Either you are or are not the IT hobbit, which one is it?” Cat snarks.
“Winn.” He says in a small voice and scooting back nearly tripping over his back feet. Imra nudges him comfortingly, and he shoots her a small smile.
“Ok that just leaves Lena and James.” Alex says looking over at the two remaining large dogs.
“Lena is the Husky.” Kara says, “She’s elegant and strong. Plus I’d know those green eyes anywhere.” She looks over dreamily at the other dog, who has a smug look on her midnight black face.
“Which makes that James.” Alex motions with her paw over to the large black Staffordshire Terrier.
“Yep.”
“Great,” Cat says sarcastically, “now that everyone’s tails have been accounted for, would anyone like to clue me in as to why we are all dogs?” Everyone is silent for a few moments, just looking around at each other.
“Well…” Kara decides to start speaking after a pointed look from Alex, “It was Mxy.”
“Who?” Is said practically in unison.
“Remember when I got thrown into a musical?” Some nod, while others just look more confused by the second. “Well this is the same guy. He’s a fifth dimensional being that wanted me to marry him at one point.” Lena scoffs, “ As well as trapping me and Barry in a musical. I have no idea why he did this, but it’s not that bad!” Kara attempts to stay positive, while Alex just gapes at her.
“Not that bad! Kara, I have a fur coat and a tail!” Alex practically yells even though her sister is right next to her. The sheer volume makes Kara flinch.
“I know, but at least we are all together, even if we are dogs. I’m sure we can figure it out.” Kara looks down sadly, and Lena walks over nuzzling into her. Kara looks up to see green eyes looking softly at her.
“Kara is right Alex. We will be fine. But first things first, where the hell are we?”
“A forest.”
“Thank you for that Lucy.” Alex says sarcastically.
“You’re welcome Danvers. Always here to help.” Lucy gives her a cheeky smile. Small and Sassy is right.
“So we narrowed it down to… a forest.” Lena continues with some humor in her tone, “But what forest?”
“Well,” James buts in for the first time, “I think we should attempt to make camp for the night before it gets too dark. J’onn, Winn, and I can keep watch while you guys gather stuff up for the camp.” His attempt to take charge of the situation is met with nine pairs of eyes looking anywhere from exasperated to humored to just throwing him daggers.
“As I was saying,” Lena continues like he hadn’t even said anything. “I think we need to figure out where we are before we figure out our next plan of action. No reason for us to stay in a forest if we are but a few miles away from National City.” She says pointedly looking at James who looks a bit sheepish at being taken down a peg. “There seems to be a trail we can follow over here.”
Lena leads them through the trail with Kara right next to her. Cat and Carter are right behind them, with Winn and Lucy not far behind. James is moping next to J’onn in the middle, and Imra and Alex bring up the rear. They walk for about 15 minutes until they seem to reach a clearing made for campers or picnics. There’s a large sign with a map of the whole forest and it’s trails. At the top in large letters the words:
Willamette National Forest.
“Oh Rao.” Kara says and looks over to Alex who has just walked up.
“Does that say what I think it says?”
“Yep.” Kara pops the P.
“You guys know where we are?” Surprisingly it’s Imra who asks first.
“Yep.” Alex intones.
“So?” Cat asks impatiently, while Lena just frowns at Kara.
“So,” Kara sighs, “we better start that camp, because we are in the middle of Oregon.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I’m sorry what did you just say?” Cat steps forward into Kara’s space, who starts to back up and runs into Lena. Kara doesn’t look back to apologize, too afraid to look away from Cat.
“I said we are in Oregon.” For a big dog she says it with a very small voice. Cat closes her eyes sucking in a deep breath, willing the headache she can feel forming away.
“So we are in the middle of nowhere, transformed into dogs, with no way to get home.” Cat says with thinly veiled anger and snark, and nods along with her list. “Fantastic.”
“Wait,” Lena looks over at Kara curiously, “do you still have your powers?”
“Whaa-aat?!” Kara squeaks looking between an unamused Cat, a frightened Carter, and back to Lena who looks like she’s one eyebrow raise away from unamused herself.
“What powers? I don’t psssh.” Kara laughs awkwardly, and Alex just shakes her head with an eye roll.
“Let it go Kara.” Alex says, “You told Lena you flew to her office on a bus, told Carter you loved learning about this new planet, and Cat isn’t exactly a moron.”
Cat looks over at Alex with a smirk hearing the sort of compliment. Alex’s eyes meet hers and flit to Carter in concern. The small puppy hasn’t hardly left his mother’s side, and Cat pulls him even closer with her paw. Alex can hear Kara grumbling, but ignores her. She meets Carter’s eyes and gives him a reassuring smile and nod. Once she receives one in return, her eyes flit back to Cat; an unreadable expression on her face.
“Fine.” Kara sighs in defeat, “I haven’t tested it yet.”
“Well no time like the present superdog.” Lucy mocks, and Imra can’t contain the chuckle that comes out. Kara just huffs, and moves over to a tall rock. She takes a running leap off of it, and for a second almost floats.
“Nope.” Kara squeaks out seconds before she comes crashing down; again on top of Alex. Alex uses her momentum to roll her sister off of her again.
“You couldn’t have given me a warning Kara!” Alex is checking herself over as best as she can to make sure nothing is broken this time.
“I’m sorry… I thought it was going to work.” Lena has come over to check over Kara for injuries, Imra doing the same for Alex. Lena finds her to be in perfect shape, besides a wounded pride. She nuzzles her face in Kara’s neck making the other dog smile a small smile at her.
“Well it didn’t…” Alex grumbles, and Imra hasn’t found any injuries that are concerning. She looks over to see Lena snuggled up to Kara, and smiles at the two of them. “That must mean that Imra and J’onn don’t have their powers either.” She looks at Imra next to her and gets a nod in confirmation, as well as one from J’onn.
“I actually realized that we were powerless about 20 minutes ago.” J’onn says evenly, but Alex and Kara squawk at him.
“Why did you let her jump then!” Alex asks annoyed, “She landed on top of me again!” J’onn shrugs, and his lips twitch in amusement.
“I thought it would be funny.”
“And it was.” Lucy says laughing, ignoring the glare sent to her from Alex.The rest join in laughing, making Alex glare and Kara pout. Alex’s glare softens when she sees Carter smile. Eventually the laughter tapers off, and they are stuck looking around at each other sort of lost.
“So…” Kara looks around, “what do we do now?” Everyone is looking around at each other unsure, until Cat rolls her eyes and starts walking down the path with Carter in tow.
“It will be dark soon, so we need to make camp. In the morning we can make a game plan.” Cat hasn’t even looked back to see if anyone is following her, “come along puppies, chop chop.”
Alex, Lena, and James grumble at being called puppies, but they all follow after the little chihuahua leading their odd pack. They decide its best to put the smaller dogs in the middle. Cat leads them followed by Carter directly behind her.
Alex and Kara flank Carter a few steps behind Cat. Imra, Winn, and Lucy are in the middle flanked by J’onn and James, and Lena pulls up the rear.
They walk for about a mile before they pull off to an empty campsite. It is far enough off the beaten path that no human should stumble upon them, but not too far into the woods to be dangerous.
“Okay,” Cat says turning back to the group like she’s leading a meeting at Catco. “We need to divide into groups to get everything done before night time.”
“Who made her in charge?” James mumbles quietly to Winn next to him, who just shrugs. Unfortunately for James he didn’t say it quiet enough for Cat not to hear.
“Well Mr. Olsen. I took charge because all of you were standing around with your tail between your legs.” Cat marches right up to the big dog, hops onto a stump to make herself eye level, and stares into his dark eyes.
“Anyone have a problem with that?” Cat looks around, and everyone seems to be avoiding eye contact except J’onn. Cat raises an eyebrow at the man, but the large dog just gives her a nod of approval.
“Great so let’s split up then.” Cat turns and sits on the stump like a thrown.
“Lucy and Imra, do you two think you can handle finding food?” Both nod, and high paw.
“Witt,” Winn’s head pops up, “you stay here and occupy Carter. Lena, you and J’onn go out and survey the surroundings.” Lena nods and goes over to stand next to J’onn.
“Kara, you and James stay here to start setting up camp, and offer protection if needed.”
“Don’t you think I should go with the girls for protection?” James asks Cat and finds himself once again on the receiving end of matching glares. J’onn just shakes his head in exasperation.
“This isn’t a woman thing!” He attempts to defend, “I just meant they are small dogs, I would have suggest the same for Winn.”
“Thanks man.” Winn grumbles from his position next to Carter, who is no longer curled into a ball.
“Fine,” Cat says and the women look at her with surprise, but she just smiles at James. James for his part sits a bit taller, prideful even, and prepares to join Lucy and Imra.
“Agent Scully,” Cat smirks, “go with them.” Alex holds back the eye roll at the name due to the look of irritation on James face. Behind her Lucy and Lena snicker.
“Great everyone has their assignments, so let’s get a move on people… or I guess dogs.” Cat scrunches her face, but shakes it off. All the dogs go off their own way, and Cat goes to check on Carter.
***
Lena and J’onn
“So Miss Luthor.” J’onn says in a deep voice that somehow fits both his alien and dog persona perfectly.
“Please call me Lena.” They have started walking, attempting to make a large circle around the camp, in the hopes of finding any future threats to their superfriend’s pack.
“Lena then. You and Kara have been together for what? Three months now?” J’onn asks surveying his surroundings, but never taking his eye off the other dog.
“Yes, three months next thursday.” Lena says wondering where this conversation seems to be heading. J’onn stops and turns to look at Lena, who mirrors his pose.
“What are your intentions with my… Kara?” Lena struggles to keep the surprise off of her face, unable to completely create a neutral mask in this new form.
“My… intentions?”
“Yes.” J’onn says with no room for wrong answers. If he could cross his arms without losing balance he would.
“I love her.” Lena says proudly, “She is sunshine in a world I thought was only filled with darkness. Her smile and laughter is the best part of my day, and I would do anything to make sure it never goes away.”
J’onn stares into her eyes for what feels like forever to Lena, but is probably only a couple of minutes. The intensity with which he stares makes Lena think he may have lied about his lack of powers. She feels like her entire soul is being offered to this man and she hopes it’s enough.
“Good.” Lena releases the breath she didn’t realize she was holding, “Her and Alex are like daughters to me, and nothing is more important to me than their happiness.” Lena nods in understanding, and they continue on. They reach about half a mile away from camp fairly quickly and start their circle.
The area seems to be fairly empty, but they figure it must be off season for camping. It isn’t until the second half of the circle that they even see a person. A young girl, most likely around 20 years old is walking with her dog. A mix breed, possibly golden retriever mixed with something smaller.
The two of them stop in the shadows on the edges of the forest and watch the pair walk by. Lena looks over to J’onn with an eyebrow raise, and tilts her head toward the two strangers. J’onn nods his head for Lena to go ahead with her idea. While they had been walking Lena had made two interesting points that she was dying to test out. One, can humans understand them? Two, if humans can’t understand them, can other dogs?
Lena runs through the forest attempting to get ahead of the pair walking. She runs around a bend, and steps out into the light waiting for them to walk into her. Lena can hear the growl before she sees the other dog come around.
“Hey Rocky, calm down.” The young woman says to her dog, who quickly stops growling. “Hey are you lost?”
“Yes.” Lena says with hope that is quickly dashed when the woman looks at her curiously. Lena figures if the woman had actually understood her, she would be freaking out over a talking dog, not looking at her with concern.
“I bet you are lost.” The woman kneels down, and Lena narrows her eyes. It doesn’t seem like the woman can understand her, but she is a scientist, she must verify it.
“Ross and Rachel were on a break.” The woman’s expression hasn’t changed, but the dog by her feet tilts his head curiously. Lena shifts her gaze to him to test theory number two, since theory one is dead in the water. She narrows her eyes at the other dog, seeing if he will say something back.
“They were not on a break.” The dog smirks at her.
“You can understand me.” Lena says to the dog, but keeps her eye on the other woman who seems to be pulling water out of her bag.
“Of course. Are you lost?” Lena nods.
“My friends and I are lost… This is going to sound crazy, but… we aren’t dogs.” The dog across from her gives her a hesitant and confused look. He shoots a look to his owner and back to Lena unsure of her intentions.
“What?”
“We aren’t dogs, or we aren’t supposed to be. It’s hard to explain, but…” The other dog has started to growl again, and Lena slowly backs up. His owner is trying to pull him back, but he is inching forward as much as he can. Lena figures she should just cut her loses and runs off into the forest. She can hear his owner scolding him as she runs back to J’onn.
“So how did it go?” J’onn asks, and Lena could swear she hears slight amusement in his tone.
“Well, humans can’t understand us. Dogs can understand us but don’t take kindly to us telling them we aren’t dogs. Pretty sure he thought I was crazy or rabid maybe.” J’onn nods his head and continues walking.
“We need to keep going if we are going to get back before dark.”
***
Lucy, Imra, and Alex
“Did you see James face when Cat stared him down.” Lucy laughs hysterically. “I honestly thought he was going to put his tail between his legs.” Alex joins Lucy in laughing while Imra just smiles at the two of them.
“Okay, so which way are we going to look for food?” Lucy asks when they come to a fork in the road.
“Well,” Alex uses her paw to point to the right, “If we go that way we will be going by the river and picnic areas.” Alex points the other way, “This would lead deeper into the wood, and have campsites.”
“This time of year is too cold at night for camping, so I would guess most people would be down by the picnic areas.” Lucy says and starts walking towards the picnic areas.
“Wait, wait.” Alex runs in front of the corgi, “we are going towards the people? Is that smart?”
“Well Danvers what are we going to do?” Lucy asks sarcastically. “Hope we find a picnic basket lying around in the woods, or should we go hunting without any knowledge of how to do that in our current state?” She pushes past the bigger dog.
“Plus I don’t think Cat would appreciate us bringing back raw meat, do you?” Lucy calls over her shoulder. She is already a few feet ahead before Alex huffs and follows along. She catches up easily with her long legs and Imra isn’t far behind.
They follow the path down towards the picnic areas with relative ease. They find higher ground close by to get a better feel of the area. It’s the off season, so there aren’t a lot of people there. It seem only four families are in the area, but quite spread out.
“I’ve got an idea.” Lucy says turning to the other two, and
Alex just groans. “Come now Danvers you haven’t even heard my idea yet.”
“Yes but you uttering the words, ‘I have an idea’ is scary enough.” Alex mocks.
“Come on Alex,” Imra tries to intervene, “hear her out.” Alex huffs, but lifts a paw in surrender.
“Okay… have you seen the movie Bolt?”
Alex face palms.
Alex refused to participate in this, so Lucy and Imra both gave her their best begging face. In the end Alex decided that Imra had the cutest begging face between them. Lucy had risen an eyebrow when Alex stammered through her reasoning for that decision. Something about her being overly fluffy and adorable looking.
The three of them made their way down, Lucy and Alex standing off to the side. Imra went up to the first family and sat down behind them. She looks back over at Alex and Lucy with slight apprehension on her face. They just give her encouraging nods and tilt their heads in demonstration. Imra starts making a whine noise as she comes around to the family. The little kids sees her first, and she gives them her best head tilt, sad puppy face.
“Awww mommy look!” The small child points over to Imra. He runs over and throws his arms around her before his mother can stop him. Imra just nuzzles into the boy, tickling him. His giggle makes his mother lose some of her apprehension.
“Tommy come back over here.” The boy gives Imra a kiss before leaving to go back to his mother. The mother throws her a hamburger, which Imra quickly snatches up. She runs back to where Alex and Lucy are.
“I’m just realizing that we will need a way to hold all of our food.” Alex says, and Lucy nudges her motioning towards an abandoned sand pail. Alex runs over quickly and scoops it up. When she gets back, Imra drops the hamburger into the pail.
“Nice job back there. Charming the children is even better than the adults. Plus when that kid giggled I thought Danvers’ heart was going to explode.” Lucy teases, “Or maybe her ovaries.”
Alex just pushes Lucy over, and Lucy struggles to turn herself back around. After the 3rd roll attempt she finally makes it back to all four paws. Alex is barely containing her laughter, and Lucy huffs.
“I wish so badly that I had that on video.” Alex says in between laughter. Lucy attempts to flip her off, but can’t get the paw to cooperate, making Alex laugh harder. Alex turns to talk to Imra only to discover the other woman is already walking towards the next family. The two of them quickly run to catch up; Alex making it in 4 strides, Lucy making it in 9.
It doesn’t take them long to get through the next few families, and Lucy even joins Imra at one point to help beg. While the two dogs have been distracting the families, Alex has been sneaking into their stuff to pick up a few more food items and bottled water. All too soon their pail is completely filled, and they make their way back to camp.
***
Cat, Carter, Winn, Kara, and James
“You could help you know.” James huffs at Cat who is sitting on her stump throne watching James push rocks around. She sends him a quick glare and he lowers his eyes.
“For your information, I am doing something… I’m supervising.” Cat smirks. “Kara will you come here?”
“Miss Grant?”
“Kara, we are dogs, stranded in the middle of nowhere, I think you can call me Cat.” She looks over at Winn, “You can call me Miss Grant.”
“Okay... Cat... well we’ve got most of the rocks and sticks cleared out. All we need to do now is dig a hole and attempt a fire.”
“Have you ever made a fire without using your eyes?” Cat asks curiously. Kara just shifts awkwardly, and her smile is a bit sheepish.
“Well… no, but I’m sure Alex will know how, or Lena. Lena will know some fun sciency way to do it, I’m sure of it. She’s so amazing.” Kara has started staring off in the distance with a dopey smile on her face.
“Earth to Kara.” Cat waves her paw in front of her face, and Kara quickly snaps out of it. “That all sounds fine, I’m sure one of those two can make a fire. The reason I called you over was I saw some fruit trees off in the distance, but I’ll need a boost to get to them. Can you help?” Cat gestures to Kara’s back.
“Oh! Of course Miss- err Cat. Hop on!” Kara turns her body perpendicular to Cat, and the chihuahua wastes no time hopping on. She looks completely calm and in her element, like this is an everyday occurance; her as a chihuahua, riding on the back of her old assistant who is now a golden retriever. Yep everyday occurrence.
“Carter stay here with Winn and James.” The little chihuahua nods his head and continues gushing about supergirl with Winn. It makes Kara blush, but she turns back to the trail when Cat bats her head. “He better be in one piece when I get back puppies, or there will be hell to pay.” Cat yells over her shoulder.
Kara walks over to where Cat has indicated, and looks up at the low hanging fruit.
“Ooooh, apples!” Kara says in an excited squeel while hopping up and down. She nearly bucks Cat right off of her. Cat reaches up and knocks off the fruit while Kara catches it with her teeth. After they collect all the apples they can reach, they start back towards the camp. They hear a rustling coming from the trees and Kara stops frozen. A low growl sound comes out of the golden retriever. Cat ducks down behind the woman’s head, but peeks out at the forest in time to see Lena and J’onn come out.
“Lena!” This time Kara does buck Cat off in her excitement. Kara envelopes the husky in a hug, which is quickly reciprocated.
“Cat I never thought I’d see you riding my girlfriend… and in broad daylight too.” Lena teases Cat, who is brushing dirt off of herself. Kara squeaks, and Lena is sure if she was back to her normal self she would be blushing.
“Congratulations, you have the wit of a youtube comment.” Cat snarks, walking back towards camp. J’onn and Lena tell them about what they found, and show them the few blankets they managed to find on their way back. Alex, Lucy, and Imra are waiting for them when they get back to camp. They show them the pail of food and water they have retrieved, and J’onn gives them a blanket to spread the food out on.
“Okay,” Alex says taking charge of the food situation, “We have four hotdogs. Five hamburgers. A cob of corn, no make that two cobs of corn. And a steak bone with some steak on it. As well as, 4 bottles of water.”
“Alex did you steal this food?” Kara asks in concern.
“Hey, we were given this food!” Alex defends.
“You were given bottles of water.” Lena says with sarcasm.
“Well...:”
“And what is this ‘we’ you speak of Danvers? You refused to participate.” Lucy says with amusement. Alex huffs, but Winn can’t help ask curiously.
“Participate in what?” Lucy and Imra look over at each other and look back at the group with the saddest puppy faces they can muster.
“Awwww,” The group says in unison.
“Yes, yes, they are adorable. I didn’t participate because I didn’t think anyone would have given me food. In this group I’m the cat.” Kara looks confused, and turns to Lena to ask but she’s just as confused. Alex is looking down and scuffing her paw on the dirt.
“For the record she’s the cat,” Lucy sasses at Cat, who rolls her eyes. Alex just glares at Lucy, but looks back down at her paws.
“Come on Alex,” Imra says sweetly, “give us your best puppy face.” Alex looks up to snap at her, but the genuine expression on her face makes Alex soften. She decides to give it a try and scrunches her face in concentration. She puts both ears down, tilts her head, and looks up with her big hazel eyes.
“Awww see.” Imra says, “you look so cute.” Everyone nods their heads and Lena swears she can see pink on the german shepherd’s cheeks. Must be a Danvers family trait.
“Great, now that we’ve discovered that everyone is cute and I’m the only Cat in this groupu, let’s divide the food shall we?” Cat says breaking up the moment.
“Well we don’t know how long we are going to be out here,” Alex says stepping forward, “or if we will be able to easily get food again. I think we should try and eat as little as possible tonight, and save it for tomorrow.”
“I agree with Alex,” J’onn says. “We need to make this last as long as we can.”
“Fine,” Cat huffs irritated and hangry, “what I wouldn’t kill for a cheeseburger salad.”
They decide to split all of the hamburgers in half and eat those. Kara grabs one for her and Lena, and they both wonder away for some alone time. James shares his with Winn. Lucy and Imra share one. Cat grabs one to share with Carter. Which leaves Alex sharing with J’onn.
J’onn splits it in half, and Alex immediately grabs hers and walks off wanting to be alone. J’onn doesn’t follow, understanding her wanting to be alone with her thoughts. She sits off from the others, and just lays down. She’s not particularly hungry at the moment. Worry is filling her up, making a knot form in the pit of her stomach; there isn’t room for much else. She sees Cat nudge Carter’s half of the burger towards the small puppy. He quickly swallows as much as he can; bite after bite, until it’s all gone. Alex stands up and grabs her half of the burger, walking over to Cat and Carter.
“Here,” She drops the burger by the young boy. “I’m not hungry.” She nudges the food towards him when he doesn’t automatically take it. He looks up with such innocent hope, and Alex feels her heart swell. He shoots her a big smile, and gladly takes the burger. Alex walks away, but stops when Cat calls out.
“Alex,” The larger dog turns around, “Thank you.” She just nods and walks away, choosing not to comment on the use of her actual name.
Before long it’s dark out, and it is starting to get colder. They decide the best plan for tonight would be to just huddle all together, since it’s too late to make a fire. They put the smaller dogs in the middle to keep them warm, and J’onn drapes a few blankets across all of them. Lena and Kara are curled around Winn and Imra on one side. J’onn is behind both Kara and Alex, protecting them. James is curled around Lucy and Lena.
And Alex finds herself protectively curled around Imra, Cat, and Carter. Tomorrow is a new day with new hurdles, but for tonight they are safe as they can be. They all slip into restless sleep.