Stronger Together chapter 103 (Patreon)

Once everyone had scattered to the winds I had the unfortunate  realization that I had neglected to give myself a task. But despite  wracking my brains I couldn't think of a single thing to do. I'd covered  all my bases. I let out a grunt of frustration. I contented myself  working on the dishes. Harry had cooked so I didn't mind washing them,  and it was recent so the filling for the blintzes came off easy. I had  to scrub the pan a bit to get the bits of crepe off but it wasn't too  bad either and the whole thing was very relaxing.

That  was how Inari and Kara found me when they came out for breakfast.  Weirdly soaked especially around the lower part of my shirt and upper  pants because spoons in the sink are basically super soakers. I rolled  my eyes at their snickers and handed them their plates from the  microwave "Laugh it up, see if I do your dishes ever again. Harry came  over and made breakfast the blintzes are on him." I frowned and looked  down at them. "Damn, I'm sorry Inari I don't think we told him you were  vegan. There's cheese in these." I cursed myself for the oversight, I  kept forgetting her dietary preferences.

Inari  just laughed it off waving her hand in a gesture of dismissal "Don't  worry about it Cameron. I have some vegan cream cheese and bagels. You  were gone for a month forgetting something like that is totally  understandable. Besides we both know Kara will eat both of them." She  gesture to the Kryptonian, who froze with the last bite of one of the  blintzes halfway to her mouth. She had started with Inari's plate, which  was the smaller of the two since Harry had seen her eat. She just  shrugged and went back to eating much to her girlfriends amusement.

I  chuckled and sat down across from the girls. Sam had gone with Cinder  and Raven to get magic supplies and Morgan had decided to tag along with  Barb in case she needed back up. I think it was honestly only half  concern for us mere mortals and half boredom at not being able to do  anything she considered fun for a while. I raised an eyebrow at Kara "So  I take it you heard the meeting. I don't have much to do while we prep,  you have anything going on today? I've got some time to kill." She  looked up with a thoughtful expression but before she could start  talking Inari cleared her throat and the blonde rolled her eyes.

She  very deliberately finished chewing and made a show of swallowing before  sticking her tongue out at her girlfriend who giggled at her antics.  "Yeah actually. I was gonna go see Michael and Charity. Inari has been  wanting to meet them and I told her when I got back from Colorado I'd  introduce her. I though it might be easier if you came with, since they  thought you were my boyfriend to start with. I'm not worried about them  reacting to her being a girl, but Michael has been around Harry enough  to have heard the name Raith. Even if he hasn't I want to be honest with  them, and a character reference from you would go a long way."

I  smiled at her obvious nerves. "I don't think they would weigh a  character reference from anyone higher than they would from you, but I'm  there if you think it'll help. I doubt they'll care though. They think  of you as one of their kids, they couldn't be more proud of you if they  tried, I know they'll see how happy you are and be just as thrilled for  you as I am." Kara shot me a beaming smile and wrapped me up in a hug. I  was surprised to feel Inari join in as well and the two of them just  squeezed me tight, clearly trying to convey their gratitude for being  there for them. I felt my heart warm as i held the two of them.

Kara  finished up her food and went to go get changed out of her pajamas. I  did the same with my wet dish washing clothes, promising myself I'd get  an apron for the dishes. I was excited to see the Carpenter's, they were  like surrogate parents to Kara specifically but honestly it was easy to  feel at home there. They treated all of us like family, partly I think  because we were young and they considered looking out for us the right  thing to do, and partly because the girls were pretty much all heroes.  Mostly though I think they were just kind people and the world felt a  bit warmer when we were over there.

They  both came back out. Inari had decided to change when we both did. Kara  was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, with Inari dressed the same. I'd  noticed the blonde tended to dress more conservatively around Charity  and Michael, though I don't think she even noticed she was doing it. I  thought it was really cute. Inari looked incredibly nervous but Kara  grabbed her hand, entwining their fingers and giving a gentle squeeze to  comfort her girlfriend. We headed out and made the short walk to the  Carpenter's place. When we arrived Kara took a deep breath and knocked.

Charity  opened the door in a dirty flannel button up with her long blonde hair  in a braid. She had a smear of paint on her face and a smile on her lips  which widened even further on seeing us. She threw her arms around Kara  "Kara! You're back! I'm so glad you're safe how was your trip? I  stopped over a few times to bring food and talked to Raven, she said  things were going well?" Kara had mostly been coming back down here at  night so she hadn't seen them the entire time she'd been gone. I saw her  close her eyes in bliss as Charity held her and smiled. It was nice to  see her so content.

The  older blonde pulled back with a smile and took me in "And Cameron, good  to see you as well. I'm glad you're home safe." She looked over at the  third member of our party "Hello there, I think we met briefly when I  was over at the house, I'm Charity Carpenter, any friend of Kara and  Cameron is welcome here. " She gave a bright smile to both of us and  waved us all in. "Sorry about the mess the kids are at school, but I got  some paint and little Harry and I are making pictures for the family.  He's quite the little artist." She was positively glowing with pride as  she brought us into the kitchen where her youngest was painting.

Little  Harry was about three or four I think and he was pretty adorable. He  was the Carpenter shade of blonde and had blue grey eyes and that  cherubic baby face little kids have where their cheeks are somehow  always red even when they don't have a reason to be. He was coated in  green paint and babbling away happily, which didn't stop Kara from  squealing and swooping over to scoop him up for hugs, babbling right  back to him and making raspberry noises on his belly. The kid laughed  with delight waving his hands and getting paint everywhere but Charity  didn't seem to mind.

To  be fair the room was mostly already coated, but it was tile and I  assumed probably easy to wash off paint. Inari was staring happily at  her girlfriend making a fool of herself with her youngest surrogate  sibling. I'd never seen Kara with little Harry, and I had to admit it  was really sweet. Charity was beaming at them both. She turned to smile  warmly at us " So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Not that  I'm not thrilled to see you of course, but it's a bit early for  teenagers to be out and about. You miss us that much after your  vacation?"

I  shot a glance at kara who cleared her throat, putting little Harry on  her hip as she turned to face Charity. "Well. As you know, Cameron and I  are just roommates and friends, we aren't together, but I have been  seeing someone." She nodded to her girlfriend "Inari and I have been  together for over a month now. I was coming to visit while I was gone,  though I could only come down at night so I couldn't come see you.  Inari's family are kind of...weird...like supernatural weird, like  vampires, but she's totally normal, well for now anyway and..." Kara was  babbling at top speed as she spit out more and more of the story,  talking faster and faster.

Charity  stepped forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Stop." She did.  Blue eyes wide as she looked at Charity. I'd never realized how well  Kara's blonde hair and blue eyes fit in the the rest of Charity's kids  but she really did look like them. She looked Kara in the eye. "Are you  happy." The Kryptonian nodded, eyes still wide. Charity smiled back  softly "Then so am I. Now introduce me to your girlfriend properly. I'll  make us all some iced tea and we can sit and talk." And with that she  headed over to the fridge to get out a pitcher. Kara just looked kind of  shell shocked. Charity's mom-fu was certainly strong.

We  all sat down at the table, Kara put little Harry down and he ran over  to climb up on his moms lap, getting even more paint of multiple colors  on her. Charity seemed to not even notice, she was smiling gently at  Kara and Inari. "So, tell me, how did you two meet? Something tells me  that is an interesting story in itself. Knowing Kara I imagine it's a  very heroic story." She smiled warmly at the her surrogate daughter "She  reminds me a lot of Michael that way. It's how the two of us met you  know."

Kara's  face turned red as a tomato but Inari just laughed and reached over to  take her hand. "Yes, she saved my life. My brother and sister too. I  thought I was going to die, and then this glowing angel just comes out  of nowhere and rescues me. It was like something out of a fairy tale."  Her adoration was written plainly on her face and Kara looked back at  her with an expression every bit as sappy. Charity could clearly see the  same thing I did because her eyes were shining with happiness for Kara.  Before they could go further though I heard a beep from my pocket.

I fished out my cell and saw it was a text from Barb Found a lead on a boat, could use a hand with pick up. I raised an eyebrow at my phone, that had been fast. Maybe Barb had  been making inroads with sources before we left, or maybe she got lucky  on craigslist, who knew. I smiled up at Kara and Inari who were telling  Charity a story I didn't know about their first date. "Hey sorry I have  to duck out. Barb needs a hand picking up a boat for our trip. You guys  good if I bail?"

Kara and Inari  both smiled gratefully and waved me off saying they were fine, and  Charity made me a sandwich to take with me.I ducked out to call a cab  with a smile, putting in the address Barb had sent me with a follow up  text and settled in for the ride to where she and Morgan were waiting. I  had to wonder what kind of place I was heading. With Morgan around I  was half expecting to wind up on a literal pirate ship or buying a  riverboat casino. Either way I just hoped this was going to be fun. I  could use some of that old Chicago excitement.