As her Security people escorted Dirk Armstrong off the floor, out of the building, and into the waiting arms of the NCPD, Cat Grant called to her assistant.

"Keira."

"Yes, Miss Grant?"

"Cancel everything on my schedule for this afternoon, and fit the appointments in over the rest of this week and early next week."

"Yes, Miss Grant. Is something wrong?"

"No, Keira. I just need some time to process this. Don't put any calls through; I won't see anyone, and, unless the NCPD needs anything more from me about Dirk, don't interrupt me for anything, except I'll need you to bring me my lunch at one."

"What would you like for your lunch?"

"A salad and a cheeseburger."

"Yes, Miss Grant."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For twenty minutes, Cat Grant just sat at her desk and let the moment sink in. An hour ago, she had thought she would have to say goodbye to the dream that propelled the last twenty years of her life. But now, she was still the CEO of the company she had founded, a media conglomerate that was making a difference. An hour ago, she had thought she had failed in her life's mission. But now she was still on track to achieving it. For twenty minutes she enjoyed the moment.

Then she put her victory aside to consider something else.

Her assistant, Kara Danvers, was Supergirl.

She knew it.

In fact, she had known it for a few weeks.

Ever since Lesley Willis had tried to kill her.

When Supergirl had caught Cat's falling elevator, then freed her by lifting her through the emergency hatch in the elevator's roof, her eyes had been less than a foot from Supergirl's face for almost thirty seconds.

She had noticed the small scar that sat beside the Girl of Steel's left eyebrow.

The same scar that came and went on Kiera Danvers' face. While the girl's glasses often distracted you from it when you looked at her straight on, it was clearly visible when you looked down on it.

Just as Cat Grant did, every time she stood by Kiera's desk when her assistant was sitting down.

Which happened at least three times every day.

And really, the girl was the world's worst liar. Telling Cat that she had heard Dirk say something after the board meeting, then trying to tell Cat it was her own remark that prompted her to order Winn and James to investigate Dirk? The attempt to save herself didn't convince Cat for a second. Even if the look on her face as she stumbled through correcting her mistake didn't give her away, the matching looks on the faces of Winn and James told Cat everything she needed to know. No, Supergirl had used her super-hearing to uncover Dirk's plot. And did she really think she could hide that fact from Cat Grant?

Cat suddenly realized that she was angry. She did not like being taken for a fool.

Cat knew Kara Danvers was Supergirl. And she knew how to prove it. And she was ready to prove it, to teach Kara Danvers the essential lesson: that nobody makes Cat Grant look like a fool.

As she sat at her desk, Cat refined her strategy until she could see the whole thing play out in her mind.

She would start by putting Kara at ease by thanking her for saving her position, then mention that she had noticed how Kara had heard Dirk when that unmentionable was not in earshot. Then she'd mention the "coincidence" of Kara getting sick when the earthquake happened while Supergirl was missing and then the next coincidence that Kara had not been on the floor when Supergirl had arrived to foil Livewire's first attack, and the fact that her assistant had taken it personally when Cat had named the newly arrived heroine "Supergirl." Cat could just see it. She would move closer and closer to the girl, like a big cat hunting its prey and, for the climax, she would ask Kara to take off her glasses. And the scar would be revealed.

With that detail, she knew she could force the girl to admit her identity, and she would have the scoop of the century. With one story, she could prove that she took a back seat to nobody – and especially Lois Lane – when it came to superhero coverage.

She could just see it.

It would be a real life repeat of the cult film Bambi Meets Godzillaall over again.

With Cat Grant in the role of Godzilla.

And Kiera, her assistant, the kindest, most caring person Cat had ever met, in the role of Bambi.

She could just see it.

And she felt a little sick at the thought.

Then her professional conscience raised a question. Although Kiera was taking her for a fool, did she have the moral and professional right to publish Supergirl's identity?

Cat knew that the relevant section of the American journalists' code specified that she must: "Realize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than public figures and others who seek power, influence or attention." And that she must also: "Weigh the consequences of publishing or broadcasting personal information."

Although Supergirl was a public figure, it was clear that neither Supergirl nor Kara Danvers was seeking power, influence or attention. In essence, the girl was a philanthropist who wanted to keep her "donations" anonymous – even if they were a bit more spectacular than most.

And was the girl really playing her for a fool? Keira was the world's worst actress, and if she had not been telling the truth in their first meeting when she promised complete devotion as Cat's next assistant, Cat did not know the truth when she heard it. And then Cat remembered that when Supergirl saved flight 237, she hadn't worn her costume: the witnesses said the flying woman had been wearing dark jeans and a dark top. The logical inference was simple: when Keira had interviewed for the CatCo job, she had no plans to come out as Supergirl. For some reason, she had planned to go on keeping her powers hidden just as she had been doing, perhaps, for years.

Suddenly, Cat's memories of her first meeting with Keira played back in her mind. She remembered that before Keira had made that promise to serve her with total commitment with a peculiar earnestness in her voice, she had looked at the video where the newsfeed of some major forest fires was being broadcast. And then that memory was juxtaposed with her first interview with Supergirl at the point when she had asked Supergirl, "So why are we just hearing from you now? Where were you during the forest fires last September that killed eight people?" She had noticed at the time that her question had pushed one of Supergirl's hot buttons.

Now, she had an idea of which button it was. In retrospect, Keira felt guilty about signing as Cat Grant's assistant rather than helping those hurt or killed by the fires.

But, unlike the fires, flight 237 had brought Supergirl out of hiding. Clearly, there was something about that plane that had forced the young Kryptonian's hand. What was it? Cat put that question aside for the moment, to return to the question of whether or not she could publish.

When she did, her CEO's pragmatism added its' two cents worth. Even if she could force herself to publicly out Kiera as Supergirl, she'd not only lose the best assistant she'd ever had; she'd be effectively breaking her word to the same assistant she had just promised a job for life to: less than two hours before.

But more, if she outed Kara, she knew that she could not expect Supergirl to keep her informal deal to be a CatCo exclusive news source. Most likely, she would sign on with the local correspondent for the Daily Planet, and Cat could easily imagine how National City's newspaper readers would respond to their heroine's shift in allegiance – and how CatCo's Board would respond to the loss of Supergirl stories, readers, and reprint and advertising revenues.

To say she would be lucky to keep her job would be an understatement.

And then, she realized that she faced an additional consideration.

It was thanks to Keira that Cat was still the CEO of CatCo. It was thanks to her assistant that Cat had not wasted twenty years of her life. It was thanks to Keira that Cat Grant could continue to drive the bleeding edge of the reinvention of the news business that the internet and social media had wrought.

Cat Grant owed her assistant. Big time.

Which was a major complication.

And then, she remembered that she owed Supergirl her life twice over.

Which was an even bigger complication.

For the next few minutes, Cat considered the debts she owed both Keira and Supergirl.

They were two deeply personal debts.

And she doubted that she could ever repay them.

But that didn't mean that Cat Grant wasn't about to try. But she also needed to do it in a way that let Kara Danvers know that she had not pulled the wool over her eyes, yet without causing the girl to take her Supergirl exclusives elsewhere. How could she do that?

By the time Cat had got that far, Kara had brought in her lunch order.

And Cat's anger had drained away.

Because Cat had figured out what she needed to do.

Now, she could begin to make her plans.