Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Ava Sharpe is five years old when she first learns about soulmates. She is sitting on the floor in her bedroom, colouring in her favourite book when her knee suddenly starts to burn. Tears well up in her eyes when the pain only gets worse and she runs downstairs to find her mother and father. She runs into the kitchen sobbing uncontrollably and startles both of her parents from where they are starting to put together their dinner. Her father picks her up and calms her down enough to find out what has upset his daughter so much. When she finally stutters out the cause for her tears her parents share a warm smile that confuses Ava. Why are they smiling when she is hurting? Her mother wipes away her tears and they take her into the lounge room to sit on the couch. They tell her that what she is feeling is actually coming from a special little boy that is her soulmate. He must have fallen over and scraped his knee and her Dad smiles at this, because this boy must be adventurous. They tell her that she will feel whenever this boy hurts himself and she hopes that he is more careful in the future because she doesn’t like the dull ache in her knee caused by his clumsiness. They also tell her that if she gets hurt the boy will feel it too and she promises herself that she will be extra careful so he doesn’t feel bad because of something that she did. The thing that surprises her most about having a soulmate is the knowledge that when she finds this boy and they accept their connection they will be linked. They will still feel each other’s pain but they will share emotions as well and Ava thinks that has to be the most special thing in the world.

Ava rubs the remaining tears from her cheeks. “When will I meet this boy?” she asks her parents seriously.

“No-one knows sweet-pea.” Her father pulls her in close and ruffles her hair. “But I promise he will be worth waiting for.”

It has been ten years since Ava first felt the connection to her soulmate. She is starting to doubt whether her soulmate will actually be a boy, but that thought is far too scary to deal with at this point in time. What she does know without a doubt is that her soulmate is a clumsy idiot that has plagued her existence with constant bumps and sore spots. Clearly this person doesn’t have the same diligence for safety that Ava strives for. Recently though Ava has started to worry about her soulmate because the pain she is feeling through their bond is different to what it was before. She has grown to expect the sore knees and elbows because it is somewhat obvious that her soulmate is a bit rough and tumble, but recently she has felt the sting of a split lip and worryingly what feels like hands hitting far too hard in softer places.

She confides in her father and he listens diligently to her concerns. They both know that there is nothing that they have to power fix and Ava can tell that her father is truly concerned about her soulmate getting bullied. A few months pass and soon she starts to feel a deep throbbing in her knuckles that tells her that her soulmate has started to fight back. She is simultaneously proud and scared for them. At least she knows that her soulmate has learned to protect themselves because most of the pain she feels now is focussed into her hands, so she knows that they aren’t getting hurt like before.

She tells her father and he shares her concern and relief about this development.

“He’s your soulmate Sweet-pea, of course he’s a tough one.” Her father pulls her close and shrouds her in a comforting hug. Ava hopes he’s right.

Ava is in her second year of college when she becomes confident that her soulmate will be a woman. Thinking of her soulmate as a boy has always felt slightly off and her few flings with women on campus has confirmed what she has long suspected. She has recently turned twenty and she is driving home for break to see her family. She practices what she is going to say to her parents for the entire seven hour drive and by the time she gets back to her childhood home she is a nervous wreck. Her parents immediately know that something is wrong but they know that she will tell them in her own time.

She makes it ten steps past the front door before she whirls around and blurts out “I’m gay.”

Her parents only falter for a heartbeat before they envelop her in a crushing hug and she cries in relief. Ava is ecstatic that her news has been received so well and she spends the next three days on an absolute high. She was pretty confident that they would have been fine but there is always that niggling doubt that doesn’t go away until it’s all out in the open. They are all sitting down for dinner and Ava is reaching for the salad bowl when suddenly all of the air is ripped from her lungs. She is gasping for breath and everything is suddenly tilted on its axis. She collapses onto the floor and she can vaguely register the voices of her parents yelling in concern. Her vision is starting to fade and her heart is beating a mile a minute. Her soulmate is drowning. Her soulmate is in trouble and Ava is paralysed in fear. She can’t draw a breath and she is perilously close to losing consciousness. Tears are streaming down her face when suddenly she draws in a sharp breath. Then another. And another. Until her breathing starts to even out and the burning in her chest starts to fade. Her soulmate didn’t die. She came close but somehow she made it and Ava is so relieved she starts to laugh. Her parents are kneeling by her side gripping her hand like a lifeline and they can only watch in concern as their daughter seems to cycle through a multitude of emotions in only a few minutes.

“Is everything okay Sweet-pea?” her father asks as he brushes a few stray hairs off her face.

“Yeah she’s okay Dad.” She sits up and accepts their help back into her chair at the table.

“What happened?” her mother asks fearfully.

“I think she nearly drowned. She doesn’t seem to be badly hurt, but I don’t know.” Ava rubs at her chest like that will somehow rid herself of the dull ache that has settled there. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

It has been nearly two years since the night that Ava’s soulmate nearly drowned and she has been concerned for the woman ever since. There are so many aches and pains that Ava just can’t rationalise as being anything other than trouble. She will wake up through the night with sharp hunger pains cramping up her stomach and her wrists are sore like she is being too harshly restrained and Ava is frustrated beyond belief that she has no way to help. She began lashing out at her parents and eventually took up martial arts as a way to burn excess energy and feel less helpless. She is rapidly improving her skills in hand-to-hand combat and she is proud of how quickly she picked up stick fighting. It is also the first time in her life that she has been coming home with bruises and on one hand she feels guilty that she is adding to the pain her soulmate must be feeling, but on the other hand she is glad that her soulmate must know that she exists. That there is someone out there in the world looking for her. Wherever she is.

Ava is showering at her dojo after a particularly intense sparring match with her friend Natalie. She pushed herself harder than usual and the tall brunette definitely noticed. She rests her head against the shower wall and takes a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Something is different with her soulmate because in the last few weeks she has noticed a change in what had become a depressing pattern and she is hoping that somehow the other woman is going to save herself. She hops out of the shower and dries herself off. She is standing in her underwear talking to Natalie in the next stall when she feels it. Her soulmate is hit multiple times and it staggers Ava. She chokes when she feels her windpipe closing shut and it definitely feels like large hands painfully gripping her throat. She falls to her knees and claws at her throat like it will somehow miraculously allow her to breathe again. She vaguely registers Natalie rushing over and calling her name but she is on the edge of losing consciousness. As quickly as it begins it stops and she can breathe once again. She gulps down air and rubs at the scratches stinging the side of her neck. Natalie is rubbing a comforting hand along her shoulders and Ava flushes in embarrassment when she realises that the brunette is stark naked.

Natalie finds her modesty hilarious but she gets up to get dressed anyway because clearly Ava needs a minute to collect herself. She pulls up her dark, curly hair into a loose bun and dresses into a loose singlet and some sweat pants. Ava drags herself off the floor and continues getting dressed and she gladly accepts Natalie’s offer to drive her home. They don’t talk about what happened beyond acknowledging that Ava’s soulmate survived the ordeal. Natalie offers to stay with Ava when they get back to the blonde’s apartment and Ava doesn’t have the strength to say no. She is so scared for this woman that she has never met and she so desperately wants to share the load of her worries with someone else. Even if it is just for a night. So Ava settles down into her bed facing away from the leggy brunette on her other side and spills all of her secrets to this woman that makes her feel safer than anyone has in a long time.

At some point in the early morning she is dragged from her sleep by a crushing weight in her chest and for just a moment she thinks she is having a nightmare. She chokes and lets out a terrified scream when she realises her soulmate is drowning. Again. Her lungs are burning and tears are streaming down her face, but in a matter of moments her soulmate has once again evaded a watery grave. Natalie wraps her up in a warm hug and Ava cries in earnest for all of these feelings that she can’t even begin to name.

Ava clenches her teeth and takes a deep breath as she waits for the pain in her lower leg to become a dull ache rather than the burning throb that she is currently experiencing. For the last five years her soulmate has suffered and by extension Ava has as well. She still has absolutely no idea what could be happening to the woman but that hasn’t stopped her from rising through the ranks at the Time Bureau. She was recruited straight out of college and she has never looked back. Ava is still wary about going out into the field because of how often she finds herself bent over in agony because of her soulmate. She is concerned that it could make her a liability if she randomly freezes up. Yesterday she nearly fell down a flight of stairs because she felt like she had suddenly stepped on a land-mine and she has been limping ever since. Rip has been sympathetic about how often Ava has opted to stay behind her desk because of the pain and she is thankful that she isn’t being looked over because of something out of her control.

Ava has been using Bureau resources in her off-time to search for her soulmate, with Rip’s permission of course. So far she hasn’t found even a whisper of anything that could help her. It doesn’t help that she also has no idea where to start. Ava has been meticulously keeping a journal of the pain she feels, dates and times, as well as her theories on what could be causing it. She tries not to think too much about how many entries in the last few years felt like blades and whips. There was even a day she felt like she was stabbed by a spear but who the hell would be running around with a spear? The only benefit from the constant beatings she feels through the bond is that her pain threshold has become shockingly high and she is starting to earn herself a reputation among the new recruits. She barely notices hits that would stagger other agents and her years of martial arts training has made her deadly fast.

A few months previously she was training some new recruits when a ripping pain tore through her left shoulder and she fell to her knees on the mats. Her soulmate was definitely shot and when she told the recruits that that was why she collapsed they all expected her to take the rest of the week off. Instead she got up and guided them through one of the toughest sessions they had ever experienced and now they fear for their lives when she enters the training room as their instructor.

Ava is currently stuck in her office meticulously working through the last of her paperwork. It is well past the time that most agents have gone home but she is determined to finish this report before she clocks out for the day. She doesn’t particularly feel like going home to her small apartment filled with unpacked boxes. It still hurts her to think of why she had to move and actually unpacking will make it real that this is her life now. She was in a relationship with Natalie for nearly five years and they were living together for four. She had even considered what it would have been like to marry her, soulmate be damned. One day though, she came home and Natalie had her bags packed and told Ava that she had found her soulmate and that even though she loved her she could never forgive herself if she didn’t see what could come of their connection. She left Ava with a kiss on the cheek and the promise that one day they could try to be friends. Fuck that. She left a hole somewhere in Ava’s chest that aches every day and she’s not sure it will ever go away. She hopes that she never has to see Natalie ever again.

Ava is finally packing up for the day when a knock sounds on her office door. Director Rip Hunter is on the other side and he offers her a smile and a promotion that she would be stupid to turn down.

Over the next two years Ava rapidly begins making a name for herself at the Bureau and she works directly under Director Hunter. Her soulmate’s circumstances seem to have changed over this time as well because instances of debilitating pain become few and far between. Ava becomes much more confident and takes advantage of the reprieve to become a stellar field agent. She can count on one hand the amount of times that her soulmate has forced her to be benched in the last two years and Ava feels like it has to be some kind of record. One of the instances had to be a poisoning and the other her soulmate had the absolute hell beaten out of her and it’s a long time since someone so thoroughly managed to get the upper hand against her that Ava was genuinely concerned.

She still keeps her soulmate journal close by just in case and she is quite certain that she has managed to keep most of her extensive pains to herself so the other agents don’t try to coddle her. Rip has her leading her own missions now and she is proud of how far she has come.

She is awake one night absentmindedly flicking through a book on the couch before bed when it happens. Her soulmate gets shot. Three times in her torso and the pain is so abrupt and intense that Ava cries out. Her entire body jolts as her soulmate hits the ground and suddenly every nerve ending in her entire body lights up. Ava has never in her life felt pain like this and just as she is convinced that she couldn’t possibly survive another second it’s gone. It’s gone and she is left feeling hollowed out and she knows without a doubt that her soulmate just died. The woman that was supposed to be her equal, her other half has just died and Ava never got to meet her. She never even knew her name.

She fumbles her phone out of her pocket and dials the only person she can think to call. It’s late and the phone rings for a long time before the call connects. She hears a mumbled hello and the familiarity of her father’s voice is her breaking point. She chokes out a harsh, ugly sob and her father is instantly alert.

“Aves, what happened? Are you hurt?” his voice echoes into the silence of her apartment.

“She’s gone Dad.” Tears are streaming down her cheeks and her chest is shaking from the force of her crying.

“Who’s gone?” he asks and she can hear sheets rustling in the background.

“My soulmate…” she chokes out between harsh sobs, “…She just died.”

“Shit. Okay fuck. Aves I’m on my way.” She can hear her mother now, asking what is going on. “Sweet-pea I’m on my way. I love you so, so much and I’m on my way. I have to hang up now, but I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay?” his voice is as soothing as possible and she can hear doors slamming through the phone.

“Okay.” She chokes out.

“I love you sweet-pea.” He sounds sad as he hangs up the phone and Ava drops hers and begins crying in earnest. At some point she passes out and she welcomes the darkness as it comes.

She wakes up in the morning in her own bed and she is temporarily confused as to how she got here, but then she remembers what happened and her stomach turns. She stumbles out of bed, into the bathroom and empties her stomach into the toilet. Her mother is suddenly behind her holding her hair back and Ava is so thankful her parents are so wonderful.

Her mother wipes the tears off her cheeks and pulls her into a warm hug right there on the bathroom floor. Her father comes in and sits on her other side. He rubs a hand along her back and drops a kiss in her hair.

“I called work for you. Told them there was a family emergency and some guy named Rip said you could have the next couple of weeks off.” Her father holds her hand tightly as she nods.

“Thanks Dad.” She whispers.

She can feel the hole where the connection to her soulmate used to be and she is terrified of this feeling of being completely adrift and alone. She can’t remember a time when she couldn’t feel the connection and she would never admit it out loud but she is terrified.

The death of her soulmate changed Ava. She knows that she is different but she can’t bring herself to really care. Rip is the only person aside from her parents that know about her soulmate dying. She came back to work a week after that night, stone faced and numb. She marched into Rip’s office and told him that she would be able to work in the field indefinitely now that she won’t have to worry about her soulmate connection and he had looked at her with sad eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

She doesn’t really feel much anymore. Food is tasteless and colours just don’t seem as bright as they used to be. She has stopped going out for drinks after work and she knows that her colleagues call her a robot behind her back. She doesn’t really care about that either. Gary is the only person that seems determined to break through her no-nonsense exterior and she truly has no idea why he even bothers.

She considered looking up the death notices for the day her soulmate died but in the end she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She is already mourning for someone she never knew and she thinks that it would be so much harder moving on from a real person. Someone with a history and a family and friends. The thought makes her feel sick so she just pushes it down and throws herself further into her work.

Nearly eleven months after her soulmate died Rip comes into her office and settles into a seat across from her desk. She knows he has a flair for the dramatic so she just waits until he is satisfied with the long silence between them. Eventually he clears his throat and passes her the binder from his lap. It lands in front of her with a dull thud.

“What’s this?” she flicks through the first few pages without actually reading anything.

Rip leans back in his chair with a smirk. “Do you know why the Time Bureau had to be created?”

“Yes, you captained a bunch of morons into breaking time and now we all have to fix it.” Ava rolls her eyes and glares at Rip while he laughs.

“Not quite. I wasn’t actually the captain when time nearly folded in on itself. That honour goes to Sara Lance.” Rip is staring somewhere over her shoulder with a fond smile on his face.

“So what does that merry band of idiots have to do with why you are currently here wasting my time?” Ava taps a finger against the desk impatiently.

“How much research did you do on the Legends when you started at the Bureau?” Rip watches her intently.

“Honestly? The bare minimum. I know enough about them to know what not to do.” She smirks and Rip laughs again.

“That’s what I thought.” He leans forward and taps the binder. “I want you completely up to speed on all of their missions and it wouldn’t hurt to look at their personal files as well.”

“Is this really necessary?” Ava sighs and eyes the mountain of paperwork she still has left.

“I wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t. Besides the Legends will be coming into play sooner rather than later and I want you completely up to speed.” Rip stands and adjusts his tie.

“Yes, sir.” Ava plasters on a smile until the door closes behind him. Once the door latches she lets out a loud groan and drops her head onto the large binder that he left behind.

Ava spends nearly a month reading as much as possible regarding the Legends, at Rip’s insistence. She has gone over every mission that the Legends ever did, that they have on file anyway, and as soon as she finished that Rip was back demanding that she start on their personal files. Ava truly doesn’t understand how he ever put up with the Legends. They seem to be incapable of doing anything without a disaster occurring and their captain and her choices makes Ava frustrated beyond belief. She wonders sometimes if it wouldn’t be better for everyone if they stepped in and stopped Rip before he created the team in the first place. She mentioned it to him once and she barely escaped the ‘you know that would cause time to collapse in on itself!’ lecture with her sanity intact.

The first files that Ava reads through are the smallest of the group. Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall were a part of the original team but Carter’s untimely death seems to have prompted an early exit from the woman. The next file she starts is labelled Captain Cold. She couldn’t help but be impressed with Leonard Snart’s heroism in the end because the beginning of his extensive criminal file wouldn’t have led her to believe that he could have been that kind of person. She is not often surprised and she will grudgingly admit that Rip made a good choice in picking him.

After reading Snart’s file she had high hopes for his partner in crime. Heat Wave ultimately left her feeling disappointed though. His rap sheet is incredibly long and even as a member of the Legends he seems to be quite erratic. She absentmindedly hopes that Mick Rory is not a person that she ever has to deal with directly because she feels like it would be tough to not punch him in the face.

She is genuinely interested in the science behind Firestorm so she takes her time reading through the files on Doctor Martin Stein and Jefferson Jackson. She spends a lot of time wondering how a man as brilliant as Doctor Stein ended up stuck on a time ship with the likes of Captain Cold and Heat Wave. Clearly there is an element that she is still missing.

Following the theme of science and technology she decides to read the Atom’s file next. She promptly decides that Ray Palmer is a genius with exactly zero common sense. She almost starts on Captain Lance’s file next but she can barely bring herself to even look at the picture pinned to the front of the folder. There’s just something about the woman’s smirk that makes Ava feel off balance. She decides to leave that one until last and just hopes that by the time she gets to it she won’t feel as strange.

After learning about all of the other Legends Nate Heywood, or Steel, seems wholly underwhelming. He was an average white guy, with an average job and an average life until one day he was whisked away on an adventure. At some point along the way he was injected with something he probably shouldn’t have been and now he can change his molecular structure to become solid steel.

One year to the day of her soulmate’s death Ava stays at home and cries. She hates herself for still feeling sad so the next day she goes to the gym and works herself until she can barely walk. It’s not like she has a soulmate left to worry about how she treats herself anyway. Her parents come down on the weekend to stay with her in her tiny apartment and for just a little while she doesn’t feel so adrift in her own life.

The next few weeks are spent in the field chasing down various anachronisms and filing the corresponding paperwork for Director Bennet and she doesn’t even think of the two files she has left in her desk drawer. Eventually Rip corners her and insists that she finish the job so she reluctantly goes back to her office and grabs Vixen’s file to take home and read over the weekend.

Ava has mixed feelings about Amaya Jiwe. She is more than frustrated that the Legends have deemed it acceptable to have pulled her from her own timeline, but the woman herself is quite remarkable. Ava grudgingly admits to herself that she has a lot of respect for the totem wearer. After growing up in a small village in Zambesi she joined the Justice Society of America in the early 1940’s and eventually found herself travelling through time. Amaya is the only member of the Legends that Ava actually finds herself interested in meeting.

Ava returns Amaya’s file early on Monday morning and she realises with a start that the only Legend she hasn’t read up on is Captain Sara Lance. She doesn’t get the chance to go back to her office to get it though, because just before lunch she is being rushed into the hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound to the upper torso. As her lung collapses she vaguely wonders if her soulmate was this scared before she died. Ava hopes she wasn’t.

It takes weeks for Ava to be released from the hospital. As far as getting shot goes it was apparently the best case scenario and she knows how incredibly lucky she is. Her parents pretty much move in with her while she is recovering and not for the first time she counts her lucky starts that these people are her family. She is drifting in and out of sleep on her couch when she starts to feel an itch somewhere deep in her chest. The itch quickly becomes prickling pain and she calls out for her mother in a panic. The older woman rushes in just in time to witness Ava being gripped by a violent seizure. She calls an ambulance and does her best to protect Ava’s head and neck as she thrashes on the couch.

Ava wakes up to a steady beeping and a dry, cottony mouth. She vaguely registers that she is back in the hospital and she wonders if her lung collapsed again. Her parents quickly appear over her bed and they both look monumentally relieved.

“Hey.” Ava croaks.

“Hey Sweet-pea. You had us worried for a while there.” Her father gently takes her hand and places a kiss on her knuckles.

“What happened?” Ava slurs and her mother places a straw in her mouth and the water is an instant relief to her scratchy throat.

“You had a seizure. The doctors still don’t know what caused it.” Her mother brushes a few stray hairs off her forehead.

“Oh you have a friend here to see you! He’s in the waiting room.” Her father smiles at her.

Ava is confused, she didn’t know she had any friends left. “Who is it?”

“He said his name is Rip Hunter. Would you like me to get him?” he waves his hand in the general direction of the door.

She nods and her father immediately leaves to go and find Rip. In no time at all the two men enter Ava’s room and she wonders when it was that Rip managed to worm his way into her circle of trust.

Rip spends a fair bit of time regaling her parents with some of the less classified tales of Ava’s time at the Bureau while she slips in and out of a light sleep. She’s not sure what it is but something feels different than it did before.

It takes months before Ava is cleared for field duty again and even then she has to start off easy. She hadn’t realised just how much she had missed throwing herself into work. Rip has been hovering around her a lot and she can’t work out what exactly he seems to be waiting for. Thankfully she doesn’t have to wait long for him to grow impatient and confront her with it. He catches up to her on her way back from lunch.

“Did you ever get around to reading all of the files on the Legends?” he says it nonchalantly so Ava immediately knows this is about more than just the files.

“All of them, except for Captain Lance.” Ava is confused when her response makes a vein bulge in Rip’s forehead and she wonders what makes the White Canary so damn special to him.

He takes a deep breath to gather his thoughts before responding. “Just please make sure you do it soon, please.”

He walks away before Ava can respond and his insistence on pushing her towards this topic makes her want to throw all they have on the Legends into an incinerator. As it is she actively avoids Captain Lance’s file for as long as possible.

She is walking to lunch with Gary one boring Thursday when she feels this warmth spread through her entire body. It starts in her chest and vibrates right out into her fingers and toes. She gasps in amazement when she realises that the hole her soulmate had left was no longer there. It takes her a moment to realise that Gary is trying to get her attention to see if she is feeling okay.

“Gary I have to go! I just remembered that I have to talk to Rip!” she takes off at a run and doesn’t stop until she is panting in front of Director Hunter’s office. He opens the door and looks her up and down while she attempts to catch her breath.

“Come with me.” His voice leaves no room for argument and she has no choice but to follow him as he marches down the hallway.

Eventually they come to a stop at Ava’s office and Rip ushers her inside without saying a word. He pulls out her chair and waits until she sits down. He pushes the chair in so that she is flush with the desk and opens up her bottom drawer. He pulls out a thick, battered folder and drops it in front of her. She realises that it is the folder on the White Canary and she opens her mouth to protest.

He holds up a hand to forestall any potential arguments. “You are going to sit here and read this damn file. You are not to leave this office until it’s done. That’s an order.” He softens a little bit at her look of indignation. “If you want to talk about anything when you’re done, you know where to find me. I promise I’ll listen to everything you have to say then.”

He walks out and the door shuts firmly behind him. Well it seems that she has put this off as long as possible and with an irritated sigh she opens the folder to read the first page.

Sara Lance, daughter of Quentin and Dinah, younger sister to Laurel. She was born on the 25^th of December 1987. Ava frowns in confusion. The next line says that she also died on the 8^th of October 2014. A cold feeling of dread creeps down Ava’s spine and she pulls out the second drawer on her desk so hard she nearly breaks it. With shaking fingers she lifts out her soulmate journal. She hasn’t touched it since her soulmate died. She flicks the pages until she finds her last entry and there it is, written in her own handwriting. October 8, 2014 she died.

Tears pool in Ava’s eyes and she has to take several deep breaths to calm down, because surely the universe wouldn’t be cruel enough to pair her with a woman as incompetent as Sara Lance. The woman that Ava has actively despised for months, but beneath her rage there is also a tiny sliver of hope that maybe if it is Sara then she hasn’t missed her chance.

She shakes herself off and opens her journal up to the first page. She begins reading Sara’s file in earnest, constantly comparing it to her journal. Everything lines up. She was bullied in her teens. In 2007 the Queen’s Gambit went down and she nearly drowned on the day that Ava collapsed in her parent’s dining room.

Sara spent the next two years fighting for her life on the Amazo and Lian Yu. Near the end of her time there she was nearly strangled to death and she was eventually separated from Oliver Queen when she was swept away and presumed dead. That was the second time she nearly drowned.

After that she was found by Nyssa Al-Ghul, heir to the Demon, and recruited into the League of Assassins. She spent five years in Nanda Parbat as Ta-er al-Asfer and in that time she was injured with many blades and there are side notes that say she also caught shrapnel in the leg from a grenade, a 38 calibre bullet in the left shoulder and she was stabbed with a spear.

She eventually came home to Starling City and became the vigilante known as the Black Canary. Ava notes that this was the period of time that her soulmate suffered the least. The poisoning that Ava felt is confirmed to be snake venom of all things and the beating Sara received resulted in her being thrown out a window. There is a hazy period of time where she returns to the League of Assassins to be with Nyssa and Ava actually growls at that.

Ava notes with growing dread that the dates in the file are edging perilously close to that particular day and she feels a little bit sick at finally finding out the details of what happened. There is not a single shred of doubt in Ava’s mind that Sara isn’t her soulmate and she isn’t sure if she is more excited or terrified. She steels herself and turns the page. Sara had returned to Starling and resumed her mantle of the Black Canary, when Thea Queen of all people, shot three arrows into her and left her to fall off a building. Ava swallows back tears when she reads that it was her sister Laurel that found her body and eventually took up her cause as the new Black Canary. Ava has to pause at that to wipe away the tears streaming down her face because she was heartbroken at her death and she never even knew Sara. She can’t even begin to understand how Laurel felt after losing her sister.

There are no entries until a little over a year after she died. Laurel somehow managed to get Sara’s body into Nanda Parbat, past a veritable legion of Assassins and resurrect her in the Lazarus Pit. Ava makes a mental note that she wants to meet Laurel Lance because this woman must be an absolute force of nature. Resurrection isn’t easy work though and it takes Laurel months and a warlock named John Constantine to properly restore her soul and she realises with wonder that the date for that is today. What she felt today was Sara getting her soul back.

Sara goes missing for a while and the next bullet point is marked in early 2016 as the date that Rip recruited her to be a Legend, the date that Laurel named her the White Canary.

There is more to the file but Ava feels somehow guilty about knowing things that are yet to happen in her soulmate’s future, things that are only in this file because it already happened in Rip Hunter’s past. Rip Hunter, the man that started all of this in the first place. She slams the file shut and gently places it in her bottom drawer with her journal. She knows as an Agent with the Time Bureau not to mess around with time travel so she is happy to leave the rest of that file untouched, at least for now.

She reaches Rip’s office and she can see him sitting at the desk with his head down reading something. She is suddenly so unsure about what she wants to ask him but she pushes open the door and before he can say a word she stares him down. “How long have you known?”

“That Sara Lance is your soulmate.” He states it with such confidence that Ava half collapses into a chair. “I suspected when you told me your soulmate died, but of course I couldn’t be sure. Not until you ended up having a seizure on the same day that she was resurrected. The day I came to see you in the hospital was the day I knew for sure. I could see that you had a light in you again.” He tells her gently like she is a wild animal that might spook at any sudden movement.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she yells, angry about how long he kept this to himself.

“You had to work it out for yourself.” She scoffs in disbelief and he raises an eyebrow at her. “If I had come to you and said ‘Oh hey, by the way, your soulmate is Sara Lance but you can’t do anything with this information because you could upset the timeline and Sara’s very existence’ you would have straight up told me to fuck off.”

She laughs in surprise because she cannot recall a time that she has ever heard Rip curse. She really thinks about what he says though and she sighs in defeat. “I suppose you’re right.”

Ava ends up taking a week off work and driving to her parent’s house the same day that she knows Sara is beginning her adventures with the Legends. They are happy to have her home but they know something is on Ava’s mind. She feels like she is crawling out of her skin because she has known who her soulmate is for weeks and she can’t do a single thing about it. She has to wait for time to play itself out and she can’t meet Sara until the other woman has blown the timeline to utter shit. Meeting Sara before then could collapse the timeline and end the world so she just has to wait. Rip said that she cannot meet Sara until at least late 2017 because the assassin has a set future that has to play out exactly as it did the first time.

Sara Lance is completely off limits for 19 more months. She convinces herself that 19 months will go quickly, besides she has been connected to her for around 24 years. What’s another year and a half?  

Ava excuses herself early from a meeting and makes her way down the street into a coffee shop to try and warm up. She knows her current predicament is Sara’s fault because it is a balmy Friday in late Spring but Ava feels like her fingers and toes are about to freeze off. Sara has been gallivanting through time with the Legends for 7 months now and Ava’s heart skips when she thinks about meeting her soulmate this time next year. She receives her coffee and makes her way to a table in the corner bathed in sunlight. She vainly hopes that it will help warm her up but it seems that Sara is verging into the territory of hypothermia. Ava is focussing on trying to stop her hands from shaking when a throat clearing startles her. She looks up at the stranger and nearly falls off her chair.

Laurel Lance is standing there looking at Ava with a mug clutched in one hand and a laptop under her other arm. Ava vaguely registers that she’s staring but she can’t seem to stop looking at her, drinking in every detail of the woman that saved her soulmate’s life.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” Laurel is gesturing to the seat across from Ava, her smile becoming more nervous the longer she sits there gaping. “It’s just that there aren’t any other free seats and I really need to finish this report for my boss.”

“Of course! Please, I’m so sorry! My head just hasn’t caught up to me today.” Ava laughs nervously and either Laurel hasn’t noticed that she is acting insane or she is polite enough to ignore it.

“Thank you! The only other free seat was next to a guy that was a really heavy breather and I don’t want to have to deal with that today.” Laurel laughs and sets her laptop down gently before dropping into her seat. She holds out a hand to Ava. “My name is Laurel.”

Ava takes her hand with the utmost care and vaguely registers the feel of calluses on an otherwise perfect palm. “Ava.”

“Nice to meet you, Ava.” Laurel smiles and Ava is transfixed by the light shining golden in her hair. If she is this hopeless around her soulmate’s sister she is actually scared about the possibility of just keeling over when she eventually does meet Sara.

They sit in companionable silence as they enjoy the warmth and atmosphere of the coffee shop. Ava keeps subtly glancing at Laurel as she works and tries to pick out features that match what she has seen in the few photos she has of Sara. Laurel keeps tapping away at her laptop and Ava watches as her lips quirk up into a smirk.

“You know I’m flattered that you can’t seem to take your eyes off me but I’m sorry to say that you’re not really my type.” Laurel outright grins as she watches Ava sputter into her cup and a dark flush blooms across her cheekbones.

“I’m not! What?! Just…I…I’m sorry…” Ava flounders as Laurel just sits there smirking while she makes a fool of herself. “Okay I should go, yeah I’ll go.”

Laurel gently grabs her by the wrist before she can escape and Ava stills in her chair. “You don’t have to leave. I’m not upset.”

“Really?” Ava feels mortified but she can’t actually make herself walk away when this is the closest she has ever been to her soulmate.

“Yeah. Despite the staring you seem pretty cool.” Laurel smiles warmly and goes back to tapping away at her laptop. After a few moments she senses Ava relaxing her posture and she waits until she is raising her mug to her lips. “Besides you are definitely more my sister’s type.”

Ava chokes. She honest to goodness chokes on her coffee like some ridiculous sit-com character. Her eyes are watering but she can still see the mirth swimming in Laurel’s eyes and she wonders for just a second if she somehow knows about her connection to Sara. She scoffs even as she thinks it though because that would be impossible. She wipes her mouth with a napkin and levels a glare at Laurel that would send new recruits running for their lives.

“You did that on purpose.” She folds her arms across her chest in annoyance when Laurel just laughs.

“Yeah but it was worth it. You should have seen your face.” Laurel grins and rests her chin on her hand as she studies the Agent sitting across from her. “You don’t really get to joke around with people much, do you?”

Ava bites back a defensive retort and actually takes a second to think about it. She doesn’t joke around at all. She realises with some level of sadness that she hasn’t for a long time. What kind of person has she become that she can’t even recognise when people are joking and not just making fun of her. She has so thoroughly closed herself off that no-one would even feel brave enough to attempt it with her. All of these thoughts flash through her mind in only a few brief moments but it must show on her face because the grin on Laurel’s face morphs into something that looks disgustingly like pity.

Ava rubs her hand uncomfortably across her neck as she decides that she should probably be honest with her soulmate’s sister. “I don’t really have people to joke around with.”

“What do you mean?” Laurel stares intently at Ava as she fidgets with her fingers.

“I don’t really have any…” Ava lets out a long shaky breath and takes some strength from the genuine warmth in Laurel’s eyes. “…Friends.”

Laurel glances at her watch and Ava has no idea what to feel as she watches some steely sort of determination cross the other woman’s features. “What are you doing right now?”

“With my life or my afternoon?” Ava doesn’t know what kind of answer Laurel expects from her.

“Your afternoon, obviously.” The smile is back on Laurel’s face and she is quickly tapping out a message on her phone while simultaneously focussing all of her attention on Ava.

“Nothing I suppose. The office won’t need me back until Monday.” Ava shrugs uncomfortably as the reality of her self-imposed isolation comes crashing down on her.

“Come and hang out with me this afternoon.” Laurel scribbles down her number and an address on a napkin before shoving it at Ava with a smile that makes her glow.

Ava sighs as she considers the offer. She literally has nothing left to do until she has to go back to work, so what could it hurt. “I suppose it wouldn’t be the worst way to spend a Friday night.”

“That’s the spirit. I’ll see you at six.” Laurel begins packing up her things and Ava laughs as she wonders just what she signed up for. She watches as Laurel strides out of the coffee shop into the bright afternoon and as the door swings shut she suddenly feels warmth bloom inside her. Sara has managed to avoid freezing to death and Ava can finally feel her hands again.

Ava shows up at the address Laurel gave her at ten minutes to six, because she can’t help being overly punctual, and wonders if she is actually at the right place. She is wearing dark skinny jeans, a green button down shirt and black boots with her hair falling loose in gentle waves. She is standing in front of what looks like an abandoned office building and she feels a pang of hurt that maybe Laurel is playing some sort of joke on her. She flips her phone over and over in her hand as she contemplates just leaving and pretending this never happened. Laurel’s name and number is freshly saved into her phone and she is mentally scripting a message to send, that doesn’t sound pathetic, about how she never actually showed up when the woman calls out to Ava from across the street.

The Agent startles slightly enough that it isn’t obvious but her heart is racing. Laurel crosses the street and pulls her into an unexpected hug. She awkwardly returns the hug and Laurel pulls away and waves at someone behind her. Ava turns around and notices two women waving back at Laurel and she curses herself for feeling so out of place. Laurel’s invitation seemed genuine but Ava can’t help the small stab of fear that somehow they are going to make a fool of her.

The two women take turns hugging Laurel and Ava recoils slightly when she realises the shorter one is Thea Queen, the woman that murdered Sara. She doesn’t have a chance to start spiralling though because Laurel starts the introductions.

“Ava these are my friends Thea and Felicity. Guys this is my new friend Ava.” Laurel points at each woman in turn. Ava’s heart clenches at the word friend because she really wants it to be true.

“I’m so glad you could make it Ava! It’s so much better when you have four people for these things and Laurel said that you’re smart so that definitely helps.” Felicity rambles excitedly.

Ava’s mind is whirring at an impossible speed and it takes her a moment to register that she is blindly following these women into the creepy building. Also why is Laurel calling the woman that murdered her sister a friend? Ava pinches herself to make sure she isn’t actually hallucinating. Nope, that hurt so this must be real. She decides it is for the best if she withholds her judgement until she knows more about what is happening. They reach a reception desk where a scrawny boy is dressed in a vest and tie that don’t fit quite right and Ava wonders again what the hell is happening.

The boy hands Laurel a key and points them towards the elevator. They all pile on and the door slides shut. Ava looks around and the other women all seem too excited for what they are currently doing.

“What the hell is happening?” Ava blurts out and Felicity looks at her in wonder.

“Did Laurel not tell you what we’re doing?” the blonde questions with a chuckle.

“No she did not.” Ava levels a threatening look at Laurel and she is frustrated that it doesn’t even affect her.

“We’re doing an escape room.” Thea supplies excitedly.

“A what…” Ava deadpans.

“An escape room. You know? Working together to solve puzzles, build friendships and get out of the staged room.” Felicity looks absolutely delighted.

“I’ve never done one before.” Ava says it quietly like she is hoping that they won’t hear her.

“Well you’ve got us so we’ll breeze through it then go and get some drinks.” Felicity laces her arm around the crook of Ava’s elbow and for the first time the Agent feels like these people genuinely want her to be their friend.

The elevator dings open and they file out into a dingy hallway. There is a woman standing nearby and she walks them into a bland room with a single desk, four chairs and two steel doors, one of which they just came through. They all take a seat and she quickly runs them through the rules before wishing them luck and locking them inside. Ava files away all of the information about the challenge and is surprised to find she is actually excited to be doing this.

“So why are we doing this?” Ava asks while she flips her chair to look for a key to the steel door.

“Because it’s girl’s night.” Thea shrugs and does the same with her chair.

“Yeah! Every few weeks we try to get together and do something fun and leave the guys to brood at home.” Felicity supplies as she pulls out a drawer on the desk.

Ava chuckles at that and moves over to start running her hands along the wall when it becomes obvious that the furniture is yielding no results.

Laurel follows her lead and joins her at the wall. “My sister Sara used to come with us and she helped balance out the numbers, but she had to move away for work.”

Ava stills at the casual mention of Sara but thankfully no-one seems to notice. She glances over and finds Laurel watching her intently. “Thank you for inviting me, even if it was just to even out the numbers.”

They all laugh and Ava feels warm at the prospect of these women becoming her friends.

“We’ve been wanting to do this escape for weeks! Apparently it’s the hardest one in the city and instead of one room to escape there’s five, all with different themes.” Felicity supplies as Thea helps her to actually flip the desk.

“Okay there is no key in this ridiculous room.” Thea glances around like maybe there is something that she missed.

Ava listens as Felicity and Thea throw ideas around and then she slides her fingers over a spot in the wall and realises that it feels different to the rest. She runs her hand back and forth over the spot that is just wider than the width of her shoulders. She starts tapping across it and it draws the attention of the other women in the room. They all watch as she picks up the chair nearest to her.

“Did you find something?” Laurel asks.

“Maybe.” She grunts as she swings the chair full force at the wall. Plaster explodes as the chair goes clean through the wall and exposes the next room. She kicks away the excess plaster and turns to see the others positively beaming at her. She smiles awkwardly as she realises that there is plaster stuck to her clothes and she is thankful that she didn’t dress up too much for this.

There is a beat of silence and then, “that was freaking awesome!” Felicity shouts before marching forward and pulling Ava into a crushing hug. Ava laughs and decides that she likes how affectionate this group seems to be. She stands back and allows Felicity and Thea through the hole. Laurel places a hand on her shoulder before she follows them and smiles warmly. “I knew you’d fit right in.”

Ava has to blink back tears before she follows Laurel because it feels like she actually does.

Ava walks out of the escape building on an absolute high. The challenges were tough and even Felicity’s giant brain struggled through some points but they all mesh and complement each other so well that they finished with the fastest run time on record. They are covered in various debris from the run and there are feathers in Thea’s hair but they are all sporting wide grins and Ava feels so content that she would happily relive this night over and over again.

“Let’s go get some drinks!” Thea attempts to throw an arm across Ava’s shoulders but their height difference makes it feel so unnatural that they immediately burst into laughter. Thea pouts and loops her arm around Ava’s instead. “Not a single height joke, I swear.” Thea glares and Ava laughs again.

“I won’t make fun of your height…” Ava pauses and grins devilishly “…I wouldn’t stoop that low.”

Felicity snorts and Thea pulls away and grabs Laurel’s hand. “Laurel the giraffe is teasing me!” Thea pretends to pout at Ava but they both burst into laughter which Felicity and Laurel quickly join in on.

Ava is clutching her stomach in laughter as Felicity regales the group with a story from her goth teenage years. She is definitely veering into the territory of being completely drunk but she feels so accepted into this group that she doesn’t even care. They are crammed into a booth in the back of some dive bar, still filthy from the escape rooms and sharing stories without a care in the world.

She finds herself watching Thea a lot throughout the night. Rationally she always knew that Thea was being mind-controlled when she killed Sara but she never believed it until now. There is no way that this pure little ray of sunshine could ever kill one of her friends in cold blood.

Laurel goes to the bar to get them some more drinks while Thea tells Ava about some of the wilder nights running her nightclub. She makes a mental note that Laurel only seems to be drinking water but she assumes that they take turns being the sober friend. Ava has to admit that she’s impressed with how business savvy the younger Queen is for someone so young. Laurel returns and passes around their new drinks before sliding back into the booth next to Ava. They all thank her and before they can pick up their glasses Felicity recoils violently and throws her head back against the padded cushion behind her. Ava and Laurel both jump in their seats, surprised at the sudden movement and the string of curse words that follow.

“Is Ollie okay?” Thea leans towards her and takes her hand in concern.

Before Felicity can respond her phone dings on the table and Ava can see the word sorry followed by a bunch of exclamation marks. Another message quickly follows and the blonde picks up her phone to respond. She sighs and puts her phone back on the table.

“He’s fine. Apparently he was training with John and he dropped his guard and caught a fist to the face. He promised that he’s putting ice on it immediately.” Felicity gives Thea this look, which Ava knows from experience, is the look of someone that has had to deal with this kind of shit for a long time.

“I’m sorry my brother is an idiot.” Thea pats Felicity’s hand consolingly and Laurel snorts out a laugh.

Ava though is fascinated to actually witness someone else experience the soulmate connection to the degree that she has had to deal with. Most people only have to worry about paper cuts or kicking their toes, but of all the people Ava can think of Felicity would be one of the rare few to have felt what Ava has if her soulmate is Oliver Queen.

“You’ve found your soulmate?” Ava says it with a kind of envious reverence. She blames the amount of alcohol she has consumed that she said it all.

“We all have actually.” Felicity says it sadly and takes both Laurel and Thea’s hands. “Mine is Oliver, Thea’s brother and he is possibly the most accident prone person on the planet.”

Ava would laugh at that description but she is having trouble processing why Laurel and Thea are so sad if they have found their partners already. She won’t ask them about it though. Even drunk she knows its poor form to ask people about their soulmates. Laurel must sense her curiosity though.

“I met my soulmate when we were young. I didn’t know it at the time and I was actually dating Oliver when we first met, but when we finally worked it out it was the greatest feeling in the world.” Laurel says it quietly but her words ring loudly in Ava’s ears.

When it doesn’t seem like she will continue Ava can’t help but whisper, “Can I ask what happened?”

Laurel smiles sadly and Felicity squeezes her hand. Ava feels a rising tide of dread wash over her. “His name was Tommy Merlyn and he died during the Undertaking.” Laurel takes a shaky breath. “He died saving my life.”

“I’m so sorry.” Ava feels sick but she is also in awe of Laurel. She knows exactly what it feels like to lose a soulmate and she knows exactly how it ruined her. Even after hers miraculously came back to life she was never the same and yet somehow Laurel manages to be this bright light, with a good heart that was willing to make friends with a sad stranger she met at a coffee shop.

Thea breaks the heavy silence by clearing her throat as Laurel wipes away a stray tear. “My soulmate is Roy Harper. I first met him when he stole my purse.” At Ava’s look of shock Thea laughs before continuing her story. “Yeah I know, but I forgave him and not just because he’s my soulmate. There was a lot that happened that I won’t go into, but he had to go into hiding and I haven’t actually spoken to him for a couple of years now. It’s nice to know he’s still there though, even if it’s over between us.”

Ava is stunned to say the least. She obviously knows about the vigilante careers these women have, but to hear how frank and open they are with something this personal, and in this case painful, she is finding whole new levels of respect for them.

“What about you Ava, have you found your soulmate yet?” Laurel asks it gently, like Ava might spook like a wild animal.

Ava swallows hard “No, not yet.”

Felicity offers her a warm smile. “Do you have a boyfriend or anything? We don’t actually know that much about you.”

Ava huffs out a laugh. “No I’m not really the boyfriend kind.”

She looks over at Laurel and her eyes are sparkling with mirth. “So you were checking me out when we met.”

Ava buries her face in her hands as the table erupts in laughter. She will never live that down apparently, so she decides to just stop fighting it. She is surprised to find that she doesn’t mind going along with the joke though.

“Well can you blame me? Look at you.” Ava waves a hand up and down the length of Laurel’s body and curses the blush she can feel creeping up her neck. She is definitely feeling drunk now.

Thea laughs so hard she is nearly laying in Felicity’s lap. “Oh my God! Laurel, can we keep her please?”

Ava can’t remember a time she laughed this much or this freely and she can’t help but wonder if the soulmate connection knew she needed a sister as much as a partner. She watches Laurel laugh and thinks that she could definitely love this girl like a sister.

Ava has been added to the girl’s group chat and she finds herself grinning at all hours because of the never-ending stream of banter, especially between Laurel and Thea. She meets up with Laurel nearly every other day for coffee because they both work on the same block and their lunch hours mostly line up. Ava hasn’t felt this happy in the longest time and her Dad tells her as much when she calls home. He seems so relieved that she is opening up again and Ava feels so content.

Ava and Laurel grow closer the more time they spend together and Ava absorbs all of Laurel’s stories about her childhood and especially Sara. She can’t get enough of hearing about Sara and Laurel is obviously proud of her little sister so there are a lot of stories. She never says much about the time that Sara was missing but it was obviously very hard on her. She tells Ava about her spiral after losing Tommy and becoming an alcoholic and Ava tells her how wonderful and brave she thinks she is.

Ava begins to open up to Laurel more as well and she wonders if she has started to piece together the similarities between her soulmate stories and her sister. Ava doesn’t care if she does, it would be a relief to talk about it.

They are walking down the street together one day, when suddenly Ava feels the wind get knocked out of her. She stumbles and Laurel quickly grabs her by the hand to steady her. She breathes hard for a moment and Laurel looks on in concern.

“Ava, are you okay?” Laurel is running a hand comfortingly across her back.

“Yeah it’s just my soulmate. Don’t worry it happens all the time.” Ava waves her off with a strained laugh.

“What do you mean?” Laurel looks concerned.

“With the amount of fighting she does I sometimes think she has to be a vigilante or something.” Ava freezes as the words slip from her mouth and Laurel does as well.

They both ignore the sudden awkwardness and Ava pretends that she doesn’t notice the penetrating look Laurel is sending her way, like she is a puzzle to be solved.

Ever since Ava found out about Laurel’s sobriety she has cut right back on how much she drinks when they are out together, because it’s no fun being the only sober person in a bar. Neither of them ever mention it but Laurel’s eyes shine when after two or three drinks she starts ordering water instead. Which is how she finds herself in her current predicament. She has Thea Queen cradled in her arms bridal style because the tiny woman can’t even stand up right now and Laurel is supporting most of Felicity’s weight as she drunkenly stumbles down the hallway.

They reach the door at the end of the hallway and Ava waits patiently as Laurel manoeuvres the key around Felicity to get them inside, Thea babbling about how strong she is all the while. The door swings open and they all follow Laurel inside as she flicks on the lights. She goes through another door with Felicity and Ava follows with Thea. Felicity is face down on the bed and Laurel is removing her shoes with an exasperated grin.

“This is Thea’s room. They can crash in here together tonight.” Laurel states as she rolls Felicity enough to remove her glasses and place them on the bedside table.

Ava gently places Thea on the bed and unzips her heels before pulling them off. Thea sighs in relief and Ava is surprised that she can even feel her feet with how drunk she is. Thea flails wildly for a second before pouting at Ava.

“I need help.” She grabs Ava by the shirt and attempts to pull her closer.

“What is it munchkin?” Ava smiles fondly as Thea’s face scrunches in distaste at the nickname.

“I can’t sleep in this dress, it’s uncomfortable.” Thea whines and Ava laughs as Laurel throws a large sleep shirt in their direction.

Ava helps the smaller woman sit up and unzips the dress down her back. She helps navigate Thea’s head and arms through the right holes of the shirt and when she is covered she helps her shimmy out of the dress from under the shirt. Thea sighs happily when they are done and she snuggles down into her pillow before yawning. “Love you Bean-pole.”

Ava’s heart clenches and she brushes the hair back off Thea’s face. “Love you too, Munchkin.” She whispers.

She realises that Laurel is watching their interaction with an adoring smile and she wonders if she should be embarrassed by how soft she has become. She doesn’t have a chance to think about it though because Laurel is asking for help to get Felicity out of her tight dress so she walks around to the other side of the bed. Felicity is already asleep but they both know she will appreciate not sleeping in her tight dress that is covered in decorative zippers. Ava holds her up while Laurel unzips her dress and gets her shirt on and when she is finally comfortable they leave her on her side and Laurel ducks out of the room to get buckets, water and aspirin to leave at their bedsides because they are definitely in for a killer hangover in the morning.

Ava flicks the light off as she follows Laurel out of Thea’s room and watches as the other woman steps out of her own heels. She fights back a yawn and glances at the clock on the wall to see that it is nearly four in the morning. She is dreading the drive back to her own apartment across town but at least it’s a Sunday so she will get to sleep in.

“Don’t even think about it.” Laurel states as she turns towards the door.

“Think about what?” Ava rubs tiredly at her eyes.

“Leaving. You’re staying here tonight.” Laurel says it with an authority that Ava doesn’t even think about arguing with.

“Fine I’ll sleep on the couch.” Ava eyes the various boxes and things stacked on the couch with exhaustion.

“No you won’t. Even when it’s not covered with Thea’s junk it’s super uncomfortable. You can sleep with me.” Laurel says as she herds Ava towards her room and she is too tired to argue the offer of a comfortable bed.

Laurel lends her some pyjamas and a spare toothbrush and she gets changed in the bathroom before brushing her teeth. She drops the toothbrush in the cup to use again in the morning and drags herself back to Laurel’s room. The other woman is already tucked in and Ava assumes that she is asleep. She crawls in on the side that is free and sinks into the softness of the mattress. Just as she is about to fall asleep Laurel rolls over.

“Ava, can I ask you something?” she whispers into the darkness.

“Mmmhmm.” Ava mumbles as she battles to not fall asleep before she can answer Laurel’s question.

“Have you ever felt your soulmate die?” Laurel breathes it out fearfully as she watches Ava’s face in the darkness.

“Yeah. It was the worst day of my life.” Ava says it so quietly that Laurel has to strain to hear her and her heart speeds up at the admission. She doesn’t get a chance to follow up with more questions though because Ava is asleep and snoring softly. She is sure now though that Ava is her sister’s soulmate and she couldn’t be happier because she really likes Ava and her sister deserves someone like Ava to love her. Laurel is the last to fall asleep that night and she does so with a smile on her face.

A few weeks later Thea Queen shows up on Ava’s doorstep in tears and Ava’s heart shatters when she tells her that Laurel is dead. Dead at the hands of Damien Darhk. Ava cycles through emotions so quickly she can barely process them. Rage, sorrow, disbelief, anguish, fury and this yawning chasm of emptiness opening up inside of her that she isn’t sure can ever be fixed.  

She calls in sick to work and cries for nearly a week and when her tears finally stop she wonders if she will ever feel anything ever again. She and Thea hold hands at her funeral and they are gripping each other so tightly for some kind of relief that they know they’ll never have.

Laurel saved Sara’s life, she saved her soul and Ava can’t help but wonder if Sara even knows her sister is gone. She can’t think about that though because her heart can’t take that train of thought. She does know that in some ways Laurel saved her own soul too. Ava wasn’t even really living her life until she met Laurel. After Natalie left she just stopped and it was Laurel that taught her to be human again. She glances at the tears streaming down Thea’s cheeks and she wonders if Laurel somehow saved her too. Ava pulls the girl in closer as she starts to sob uncontrollably and the tears that Ava thought were finished start welling up in her eyes again as beautiful, radiant Laurel gets lowered into the ground.

Felicity walks over with Oliver behind her and she pulls them both into a crushing, shaky hug. “She’s with Tommy now.”

Yeah her tears were definitely not finished.

Thea practically starts living with Ava because she is struggling to go home to the apartment that she shared with Laurel. She told Ava late one night that when she is there she keeps expecting Laurel to walk out of the next room and she can’t bring herself to go through Laurel’s things. They sit up together watching the trashy shows they used to tease Laurel for liking, crying, laughing and reminiscing and somewhere along the way they start to heal just a little bit.

Ava gets used to coming home to Thea’s things spread through her apartment and she takes comfort in the fact that she isn’t grieving alone. One day at the office she remembers the file she has on Sara Lance stashed in the bottom of her desk. She realises that she never finished reading it and she doesn’t care enough anymore to worry about knowing too much about the future. She flips towards the end and bile rises in her throat when she finds the date of Laurel’s death printed next to a dot point in Sara’s timeline. She takes the file to Rip’s office and slams it in front of him.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” she shouts, beyond caring about her professional reputation.

“You and I both know that we can’t change the past.” Rip states calmly.

Ava sees red. “But it wasn’t the past! It was my fucking future and you still let a good person die!” she screams and clenches her fists.

“You’re clearly not in the right mindset to talk about this right now. I’m giving you two weeks off to really grieve for your friend. I am truly sorry Ava but there is nothing I could have done.” Rip is placating and Ava can’t even look at him anymore.

“Fine.” She leaves the file on his desk and goes back to her office to get her things. She puts on her blazer and carefully opens up the drawer to retrieve her soulmate journal. She doesn’t feel like leaving it here anymore.

Her fury is bubbling under her skin even once she gets home. She drops her briefcase and blazer at the door and pulls her hair out of the harsh bun she wore to work. Thea’s head pops up from the other side of the couch and she peers at Ava owlishly. “You’re home early. Is everything okay?”

“No” Ava’s voice cracks and Thea bounds straight up over the couch to pull her into a hug and she breaks down. She cries hysterically in Thea’s arms until she gets herself so worked up that she runs to the bathroom and throws up her lunch. Thea follows her and supports her until she lies down in her bed. Thea ducks out of the room and comes back with three photo frames.

“She had these in her album and I thought you should have them.” Thea crawls onto the bed and sits behind her.

Ava sits up and takes the frames from Thea. Tears immediately pool in both of their eyes as they look at the first picture. It was taken the night they did the escape room and the four of them are all laughing at the camera. Ava wonders how she could have ever been that happy. She stands the frame on her bedside table before looking at the next one. It’s of just Laurel and Ava, their faces squished together and smiling for the camera. Laurel insisted on taking the picture once when they had lunch together at the park. She had told Ava that it was too beautiful a day to pass up on the opportunity and Ava couldn’t say no. She clutches the frame to her chest as she looks at the last picture. This one is of Laurel, Ava and Thea all squashed onto the couch in their pyjamas with mussed up hair the morning after they all stayed over. Oliver took the picture when he came to pick up Felicity. Ava and Laurel are sitting on either end of the couch and Thea is spread out on top of them and grinning like a little kid.

“These are beautiful Thea.” Ava reverently places the pictures down and draws the smaller woman into a hug. “Thank you.”

“Well I noticed you didn’t have any pictures of her and I didn’t think that was fair because I know you loved her too.” Thea snuggles into her side and they sit in companionable silence just thinking about the friend and sister that they lost.

Eventually Ava falls asleep and Thea gets up to drape a blanket over her. Ava has always been like a protective big sister to her and it’s nice that she can return the favour. She goes over to the door and picks up the things that Ava dropped there when she got home. Thea hangs up the blazer and carries the rest of the paperwork over to the table so that Ava can work on it there later. A small black book slides off the top of the stack before she can sit them down though. The book has fallen open on the floor and Thea notices that it is full of hand-written entries. She tries not to pry but she notices the headline ‘My Soulmate’s Injuries’ written in Ava’s precise hand and Thea will be one of the first to admit that she can be overly nosy sometimes.

She doesn’t mean to read the entire thing but once she started she couldn’t stop because she knows exactly who Ava’s soulmate is and she has no idea what to do with this information.

Ava is grocery shopping when Thea messages her that she is going out of town for a few days so she doesn’t worry when she doesn’t hear from her. Her stomach nearly bottoms out when she receives a phone call from Felicity a few days later telling Ava that the younger woman is in a coma and they aren’t sure if she will wake up.

Ava races to the hospital to find Oliver and Felicity at Thea’s bedside and once again she curses the fact that she can literally travel through time but she can’t manage to save anyone that she loves from being hurt. Oliver looks at her with the saddest eyes and she wonders how much guilt the Green Arrow carries on his shoulders. Surely it is crushing him as much as it is crushing her. He surprises her by pulling her in for a quick hug.

“I never got to thank you for looking after my little sister.” He whispers sadly as he lets Ava go.

“She looked after me too.” Ava places a gentle hand on the young woman’s shoulder and wonders if she will be strong enough to survive losing two sisters.

Ava keeps in touch with Felicity and they message each other pretty regularly but they don’t do girl’s night anymore. Ava throws herself into work harder than she ever did before but she still takes the time to take flowers to Thea and Laurel every week. It becomes her Sunday tradition. She goes to visit Thea in the morning and takes her bright flowers for her room in case she wakes up. She knows all of the nurses by name and they all know her. Once she finishes updating Thea about everything that has happened that week she takes her other bunch of flowers to the cemetery to visit Laurel. She spills all of her secrets to Laurel and she finds that it doesn’t hurt as much to talk to her anymore. She runs into Quentin a few times and he appreciates that she still visits his little girl.

She is visiting Laurel one day when Sara gets shot in the stomach. Thankfully she was already sitting on the ground but she grits her teeth in pain and hopes that the Legends get Sara patched up quickly. Help doesn’t come though because the next thing Ava knows is that Sara is being strangled. The familiar burning pain lights up inside Ava and tears stream down her cheeks as her soulmate dies again.

She doesn’t know how long she lies on the ground next to Laurel’s grave crying but she doesn’t care. She can’t handle how many people she keeps losing. What is the point of any of it? She is surprised when strange hands grab at her and she wipes the tears away to see Quentin Lance kneeling next to her looking concerned.

“It’s Ava right? Are you hurt?” He asks awkwardly because he knows this woman was Laurel’s friend but he never met her in person until after he had lost his baby girl.

She gasps as Sara’s connection flares back to life and she feels the burning pain in her stomach again. How her soulmate keeps dying and coming back to life she’ll never know but she is so glad that she still has the chance to meet her. She realises that Quentin is still watching her with sad eyes and she nods shakily.

“Yeah, I’m sorry it’s just my soulmate connection.” She can’t really tell Quentin that his only living child just died and came back to life again, even if she doesn’t tell him it’s Sara, so she plays it down. “She just got hurt and it took me by surprise.”

He sits on the ground next to her as she wipes away her remaining tears. “I remember once when my daughter Sara was young, around fifteen or sixteen. For the longest time we didn’t think she had a soulmate because she never felt any pain that wasn’t her own.” He pauses to look at Ava and finds her staring at him with rapt attention. “I got a call from her school because she got up in the middle of an exam swearing bloody murder and disrupting the class. So I drive down to the school to pick her up and she was insistent that it wasn’t her fault but the teachers wouldn’t listen to her.”

“What happened?” Ava is genuinely curious about the direction this story is heading.

Quentin laughs “Her soulmate had kicked their little toe and because Sara had never felt anything through the connection before it surprised her enough to disrupt an entire exam hall.”

Ava laughs out loud at the thought that she could have affected Sara so much and Quentin laughs lost in the memories of his daughter as a rebellious teen.

“She was so excited when she realised what it meant though. She was actually kind of sad when her toe stopped hurting.” He runs a hand across Laurel’s headstone. “She stayed up every night that week harassing Laurel about how to find her soulmate and what it would feel like and how would she know who it was? And Laurel was so patient with her and answered every question she had because I think she was just as excited as Sara was.”

Ava swallows past a lump in her throat. “Thank you for telling me that.”

Quentin pulls a business card out of his wallet and hands it to Ava. “Any time you want to hear any stories about Laurel, or even Thea, you give me a call. It’s nice to talk about the happier times with someone that actually knew my Laurel.”

“I promise I will.” Ava slides the card into one of her pockets.

After that day she starts meeting with Quentin every few weeks, just like she used to with Laurel, to hear his stories and she likes to believe it is helping him heal as much as it is her.

Ava spends so much time focussing on just getting through the next day or the next mission that she doesn’t realise just how much time has been slipping by. She is sitting in her office filling out paperwork from her latest assignment when she receives an alert that the building is under attack. As if her day wasn’t hard enough now she has to go and deal with whatever nonsense is happening downstairs. She makes sure that she has her gun and strides down the stairs.

She walks into the room with her arms behind her back while her team keep their weapons raised at the intruders. She tells them to get on the floor and she doesn’t get a chance to really look at them before the tallest man starts talking back to her. She doesn’t have the patience today to deal with this shit so she grabs him by the arm and twists it until he is face down on the floor. She vaguely registers that he said they were Legends and her heart speeds up just a bit. She is too proud to back down from her aggressive stance though and she twists his arm again for good measure. “Oh we know exactly who you losers are.”

She drops a knee into his back and hopes that he shuts up because she has a reputation to maintain in front of her team. He doesn’t, “Wow this floor is like super clean.” She wrenches his arm a bit harder, “Lady why are you so mean?”

“Maybe it’s that poly-blend pantsuit that’s got her so grumpy.” Sara says it with a smirk, like she doesn’t even care that she is on her knees being held at gunpoint and Ava can’t help but look at her. She was hoping that she wouldn’t have to and she is furious that Sara looks so fucking smug. She pulls her gun to make a point.

“I didn’t know Men’s Warehouse gave group discounts.” Nate joins in on the joke and Ava may not be able to actually pull the trigger on her soulmate but she would happily shoot that guy.

“What’s wrong with you people, do you want to get shot?” She raises her gun and points it at Sara’s chest, before turning to aim it at her team member instead. Her hands are sweating but she keeps them steady.

“Totally rather get shot than look like a Seers model.” He states and yeah, Ava’s going to shoot this one.

“Hold your fire, stand down all of you. Excuse me, thank you. Thank you, thank you.” Rip comes running in and forces everyone to lower their weapons, before turning towards the Legend with the smart mouth. “Hello, so good to see you all. Next time just call ahead.” Rip is smiling and Ava is still so mad at him.

Her attention is drawn for a just a second when Nate smashes Rip against the wall and before Ava even registers her moving, Sara is suddenly pointing her own gun at her. Now that they are standing face to face Ava can’t stop staring at Sara. She is easily one of the most infuriating people Ava has ever met but she is also so, so beautiful. She isn’t even listening to the exchange between Rip and the other guy until Sara speaks.

“Amaya went back to 1942?” Sara asks in confusion. She looks away from Ava and towards Rip and the second they break eye contact Ava starts to breathe again. How can a person’s eyes be so fucking blue?

“It was her idea. She wanted to go back home to Zambesi.” Rip states it like he isn’t going to get his ass kicked.

“What did you say?” Nate looks absolutely furious and Ava is sure that Rip probably messed with his life too, claiming it was for the greater good.

“It was Amaya’s idea to go back to Zambesi.” Ray parrots and Ava almost wants to face-palm herself out of embarrassment for him.

“No I heard him, Ray. I was just being rhetorical.” Nate sadly turns away from the group and Ava is starting to feel really apprehensive about this whole exchange.

Sara breaks the silence after a truly uncomfortable pause. “Alright this is just awkward.” Sara drops the gun away from Ava and she holds out her hand to take it back. Sara presses it into her palm almost reluctantly and starts to walk away like she has no idea who Ava is to her. Ava shakes her head because of course Sara has no idea who she is. She’s just some uptight bitch standing in between her and what she wants right now.

“So what brings the rest of you to the Time Bureau?” Rip asks as he adjusts his tie.

“We found an anachronism.” Ray says it proudly like they are going to pat him on the head and thank him and Ava scoffs.

“I wasn’t aware any of you were searching for anachronisms.” Rip looks genuinely confused.

“We weren’t, Rory was on a bender, when Julius Caesar showed up.” Sara rests her hands against her hips like she is daring Rip to contradict her.

He laughs before turning towards Ava. She may not like him at the moment but she is still his second in command. “Agent Sharpe, have we seen any activity that would match such a massive historical displacement?”

“Absolutely not, sir.” Because Ava is good at her job and she would know if something this detrimental had happened to the time stream.

“Well I guess you must have missed one then.” Sara openly mocks her and, soulmate be damned, Ava does not like this woman. How can someone this abrasive be related to good people like Laurel and Quentin?

“I find that very hard to believe and you know what, I’ve had…” Ava is ready to tear absolute shreds into Sara and she doesn’t even care who sees it. She is furious when Rip starts speaking over her and she has to bite her tongue to keep her job.

“Ready a go team and we will meet you at the op centre.” Rip says it sternly with absolutely no room for argument.

“Yes, sir.” She relents and walks away to do her job.

She follows Mick Rory’s trail and pinpoints his last known location and she can’t help but be disgusted by this man’s habits. Sara doesn’t speak to her but it’s probably for the best because Ava can’t decide if she wants to kiss her or punch her.

The shit-show that follows after they open the portal to Aruba has a massive headache brewing behind her eyes and she can’t wait to go home and process everything that happened today. The idiots truly thought that they could steal the Waverider and fix an anachronism on their own. The stupidity of it all is astounding to Ava and she just cannot fathom how she and Sara are supposed to be a match for each other, because so far the only thing she has felt coming from the other woman is open hostility. Mick Rory also called her hot at one point and it took everything she had to not shove his beer bottle down his throat.

Her day goes from bad to worse when she is actually captured by Julius Caesar and he chains her up to march with his army. She is mortified that she can’t even get herself out of this situation because she has never been the type of person to wait around for a rescue. They walk for hours and Caesar doesn’t shut up the entire time. Ava is in the middle of wondering how hard it would be to deafen herself when the Legends show up and she is once again furious at Rip for doing whatever he wants regardless of policy.

Sara is running towards her as Firestorm is raining fire around them, the assassin kicks down the man holding her captive and she can’t help but ask, “What are you doing?”

Sara breaks her cuffs apart with a triumphant smirk. “Rescuing you!” she shouts.

“I can take care of myself.” But even as she is saying the words Sara is gracefully spinning to block an attack aimed at Ava’s back and she grips the chain in her hands a bit tighter. She would never admit it out loud but she is glad to see Sara again, even if she is infuriating.

They fight back to back so seamlessly that anyone would think they have been doing it for years and Ava recognises Sara’s ruthless ability for the talent that it is. There is a point where she is helping Sara sail through the air and she has to wonder if she can feel their connection too. Ava drops two soldiers with her chain and there is a moment when she turns to Sara and she swears that something in her eyes has changed, like maybe she can see something in Ava looking back at her.

At the end of the fight Sara turns to Ava and smirks at her. “See, problem solved.”

Ava is still far too proud to admit that they worked well together and there is a small part of her that still wants to spite the Legends. “I’ve got to say Miss Lance, now that I have seen your team in action with my own eyes…” she lets Sara believe that this is going to go their way for just a second. “… You are even worse than I imagined.”

“You’re welcome.” Sara frowns at her before storming off with Rory, leaving Ava to follow behind.

Still worth it though.

Ava has been monitoring all of the Legend’s missions and she knows immediately after Gary hangs up on her that something is very wrong, so she takes it to Director Bennet. They determine that the Legends have managed to turn a level 1 anachronism into a level 8 and at some point along the way, they kidnapped Gary. Ava volunteers to go and arrest the lot of them and Director Bennet agrees. She opens a portal to the Waverider to find out exactly what the hell is going on.

She is met almost immediately by Sara and she can’t help but wonder if she has worked it out yet. Nevertheless she has a job to do and her soulmate standing in her way won’t stop her. “Sara Lance, on behalf of the Time Bureau I am placing you and your team under arrest.”

“Took you long enough. I’ve been expecting you for hours.” Ava can’t help the tingle that runs down her spine at the words and the deadly look on Sara’s face.

Ava sighs, of course she won’t make this easy. “Pursuant to Title 16, Section 3053 of the Global Treaty on time travel, I have the authority to bring you and your team in.”

Sara stands defiant of the laws and raises her chin in challenge. “Which arm?”

Ava is surprised that Sara wants to know more about the laws but she acquiesces and tells her. “The Global Treaty was negotiated between Director Hunter and the United Nations.”

“No, I mean if you try to bring me in to the Bureau, I’ll break your arm. It’s up to you, right or left.” The casual way that she threatens violence would frighten Ava if she didn’t know so much about her, but as it stands she is confident that she can take her, even if she is an assassin. Ava hasn’t been sitting idly by all of these years.

“Your threats may work on confederate zombies, Quentin Turnbull’s cronies and Speedsters, but you don’t scare me. I’ve spent the last five years watching your screw-ups, I know everything about you. Now where is the member of my team that you’ve taken hostage?” She does know so much more than Sara could possibly realise but she isn’t about to tell her that, so she tries to draw her attention back to Gary.

“You mean Gary? This ship is probably like a vacation after having to answer to you.” Sara sounds surprised that she even noticed Gary was missing and it kind of hurts that she genuinely seems to dislike her.

Ava’s feelings are becoming involved so she pulls out her baton while she can still keep her face composed. “Last chance. Come quietly and I’ll make sure you get your job back at Sink, Shower and Stuff.” And Ava will happily admit that she found it hilarious that that’s where Sara was holed up for the last few months.

Sara unfolds her batons. “When did a Legend ever go quietly?”

She smirks and Ava can recognise a power move when she sees one and Sara pulls it off flawlessly. They both twirl their batons into a ready stance and approach each other. The first few hits are evenly matched and neither of them manages to land a hit to skin. Ava knew of course that Sara would be a formidable opponent and it shows when she actually hits her the first few times. Ava attempts to pin her against the wall and damn if that didn’t make her insides swoon a bit. The feeling passes though when Sara head-butts her right in the face.

They eventually lose their batons and fight hand to hand and Ava is becoming increasingly worried that this is a fight that she won’t win. Sara lands a solid left hook on her jaw and it staggers her a bit. She can feel her hair escaping her bun and she knows she must look like a mess. She needs to slow this down and catch a breath otherwise Sara is going to do real damage. The fight is going so fast that she can’t tell what hurts are hers and which ones are Sara’s.

“Rip should have recruited you to the Time Bureau.” She mocks as she tries to catch her breath.

“Rip knows I would never leave the team.” Sara looks her straight in the eye and Ava knows that she means it.

“Your mistake.” Ava lunges and Sara once again evades.

They spin and punch and block. Once again evenly matched, they both swing in perfect synchronisation and punch each other right in the face. They hit the floor together and Ava is done with this ridiculous charade. They fight too similarly to ever really one-up the other so they would just keep fighting until one of them passes out.

“You wanna take a break?” she pants and looks over at Sara pinching the bridge of her nose. She feels the tingle of pain in her own nose so she knows it was a solid hit.

“I could use some water.” Sara is so nonchalant and Ava desperately tries to quiet her breathing to match the assassin.

“Yeah.” She hopes that Sara doesn’t notice how relieved she is that they are done fighting.

They get up off the floor and Ava silently follows her to the kitchen. Sara grabs two cups and fills them with water from a jug in the fridge. They sit down at the table and sip quietly. Their silence is interrupted by a shrunken sabre-tooth tiger of all things and Ava is too tired to care or wonder exactly what the story is behind that.

“I hope that thing is potty-trained.” Ava goes for a neutral kind of joke because she wants to stop fighting with Sara and actually talk to her.

“Probably not. Cats are jerks.” Sara says it so matter-of-factly that Ava knows there must be a story behind her conviction. She can’t help but feel offended though because Ava thinks cats are sweet.

“Let me guess you’re a dog person.” She says it like it leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

“I like ‘em dumb and loyal.” Ava scoffs. “Speaking of we should probably check on Gary.” Ava is surprised that Sara even suggested it but she is happy to go along and she hopes this means that Sara is starting to feel like they can work together.

They put their cups down on the table but before they can get up a noise from behind Ava draws their attention. She turns and realises with a dawning horror that the tiny sabre-tooth tiger is returning to its proper size and it is pissed. She jumps up out of her chair and starts slowly backing away.

“Whatever you do, don’t…” Sara is talking but Ava is not sticking around to find out what she is saying. She likes little lap sized cats, not ones that have teeth as long as her forearm.

Ava sprints down a hallway and comes to a locked door. She turns around to see the way is blocked by the sabre-tooth and she wonders if this is how she is going to die. At least she finally got to have a somewhat civil conversation with her soulmate.

Just as the cat leaps she is tackled sideways through a portal and the only thing she can register is that Sara Lance has saved her. Again.

“Where did you get a time courier. That is stolen government property!” Even as she is yelling it she knows she is focussing on the wrong part of what just happened but she can’t help it. Adrenalin is pumping through her body and her brain isn’t exactly firing like it should be.

“You’re just mad because I just saved your life again.” Sara is gloating and yeah Ava will admit to herself that she’s actually right.

Gideon interrupts their argument and they sit in sullen silence in the cell with Gary, until some of the other Legends return to deal with the sabre-tooth. Ava is absolutely fuming with how her day is turning out. Jax and Ray ramble for a bit about how much fun they had at the circus and Ava cannot believe that they ever manage to get anything done at all.

“I mean I don’t believe that the anachronism has been dealt with.” There is no way that these buffoons dealt with a level 9 anachronism while she was trapped in here with Sara and Gary.

“Believe it Agent Sharpe, as I’ve already communicated to Director Bennet, 1870 Wisconsin is anachronism free.” Gideon sounds so smug and Ava can’t believe that even the ship’s AI is working against her.

“Even our AI doesn’t like you.” Sara is grinning in delight and Ava feels her heart constrict at the words. All she ever wanted was to meet her soulmate and find a partner but the woman doesn’t even like her.

Gary is complaining again and Ava is too sad to be mad at him. All she can muster is a gentle “Gary” as a reprimand for his unprofessionalism. Ava moves to untie him because she just wants to go home but Sara turns to her and her voice demands attention.

“I need to speak with you. In private.” Her voice leaves absolutely no room for argument so Ava reluctantly follows her down to the library. Sara shuts the door behind them and Ava chokes up a bit when she notices the photo of Sara, Oliver and Laurel. God she misses Laurel so much, she would probably find this entire situation hilarious.

Sara is looking at her expectantly and Ava just doesn’t have the energy to deal with her anymore today, but she is tired of being the only one that knows what they are to each other. Sara is ranting at her about something and she notices an old letter opener sitting on a shelf. She wanders over and picks it up. Sara stops mid-rant and looks at her in confusion.

Sara tilts her head. “What are you doing?”

Ava spins the blade a few times in her hand. “You didn’t notice at all, did you?”

“Notice what?” Sara demands.

Ava sighs and drives the point of the letter opener into her open palm until she draws blood. It’s blunt so it hurts a lot. She drops the bloodied blade back on the shelf and finally looks back at Sara. The other woman is clutching her hand in shock and all of the colour has drained out of her face.

“Holy shit!” Sara sinks back into her chair and keeps looking between her hand and Ava’s that is now dripping blood onto the floor.

“Yep.” Ava walks out of the library and back towards where Gary is being held. Sara doesn’t follow her but Ava understands. It’s a lot to process and she’s had nearly two years to come to terms with it. She’s going to need some time and Ava just wants to go home and lie down.

It takes three days for Sara to track her down. Ava is sitting on her couch alone flicking through the channels on her television when someone knocks on her door. She is in her pyjamas and she really doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now. She opens the door and her stomach swoops when she finds Sara on the other side and for the first time she isn’t looking at Ava like she wants to punch her. They both stand there awkwardly until Ava clears her throat and invites Sara inside.

She fiddles awkwardly with the hem of her pyjama shirt as Sara wanders into her apartment and drops gracefully onto her couch. She gently closes the door and takes a fortifying breath before joining Sara on the couch. They both openly stare at each other and Ava cannot fathom how a girl as stunningly beautiful as Sara Lance could possibly be her match. The silence between them is stretching and it is making Ava truly uncomfortable.

“How long have you known I was your soulmate?” Sara asks quietly like she’s afraid of breaking the silence that has settled around them.

“Around two years.” Ava can’t lie to her, even if it makes Sara uncomfortable.

“How did you know it was me? We hadn’t even met yet.” Sara studies her intently and Ava fidgets under her intense scrutiny.

“How many other people have died and come back to life after over a year?” Ava grins uncomfortably.

“You felt me die?” Sara looks so vulnerable and Ava doesn’t know how to reassure her at all.

Ava nods her head slowly. “It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced and then I felt nothing at all. You were just gone, until one day you weren’t.”

They both laugh awkwardly and Sara hesitantly reaches out to take Ava’s hand. “Why didn’t you say anything when we met?”

Ava sighs. “I didn’t know how and I couldn’t really bring it up in front of all of those people. Then it was too late because you hated me.”

Ava tries to pull her hand out of Sara’s grip but the assassin won’t let her go. “I never hated you. Not really. You were just very frustrating.”

Ava laughs and leaves her hand in Sara’s. “I suppose that’s fair. I thought you were very frustrating too.”

Ava is trying to filter through all of the thoughts and feelings she has crashing around her head. She has so many things to ask Sara but she has no idea what to start with. The other woman keeps surreptitiously glancing around her apartment before settling her gaze back on Ava, before repeating the cycle. Suddenly Sara gasps and jumps up off the couch. She strides over to the bookshelf and picks up the frame off the top shelf. She clutches it to her chest and turns back towards Ava with tears in her eyes.

“You’re Ava.” Sara whispers reverently.

Ava is very confused. Did Sara not know what her first name was? “Yes?”

“You’re Laurel’s Ava.” Sara holds out the photo of her and Laurel in the park.

“She told you about me?” Ava gently takes the frame out of Sara’s hand and traces the lines of Laurel’s face.

“Of course she did! They all have. Thea and Felicity, even Oliver likes you. They told me all about your girl’s nights that Laurel was insistent that I try to come home for. She wanted me to meet this girl that she claimed would be perfect for me. And Dad…” Tears pool in Sara’s eyes as she drops back onto the couch and takes Ava’s hands in her own. “…You’re the Ava that takes my Dad out to lunch every few weeks to talk about Laurel. You were there for him when I couldn’t be. He said you still take her flowers and visit her on Sundays. It’s you.” Sara has tears streaming down her face and she reverently brushes away the few that have escaped Ava’s eyes as well.

“Can I kiss you?” Ava whispers and Sara nods.

They lean closer and Ava can feel her heart thudding erratically in her chest and she wonders vaguely if she’s too young for a heart attack. Her thoughts are silenced once Sara’s lips meet hers and the rest of the world ceases to exist. She can feel something shift inside of her and a blast of pure warmth blossoms throughout her body.

She pulls back from Sara just slightly, breathing hard. “Wow.”

Sara is rubbing at her chest and grinning. “Did you feel that?”

“I think it was our soulmate connection recognising each other.” Ava says in wonder.

“Should we test it?” Sara smirks leaning back in.

“Definitely.” Ava grins and recaptures her lips.

One week after Ava and Sara accepted their connection Ava is woken early one morning by her phone ringing on her nightstand. Sara stirs next to her and glares in the direction of the loud noise. Ava fumbles for her phone and doesn’t even look at the caller ID before answering.

“Hello?” Her voice is scratchy from sleep and she rubs at her eyes to help them focus a bit.

“Ava, thank goodness you answered. I wasn’t sure if I should call this early or not but I have news.” Felicity’s voice is far too loud and excited for someone that just woke up and Ava can’t really deal with this right now.

“What’s up Felicity?” Ava mumbles into the phone and Sara perks up at the mention of her friend’s name.

“It’s Thea.” Felicity states and Ava sits up, suddenly fully awake and Sara startles at her sudden movement.

“What happened?! Is she okay?” Ava shouts into the phone and now Sara is fully awake and sitting up. Ava puts the phone on speaker so she can hear as well.

“Ava, Oliver and I are at the hospital right now. Thea just woke up.” Felicity sounds delirious with excitement.

“Felicity that’s amazing! Do you think I would be able to visit later today?” Ava is grinning and Sara loops an arm around her waist.

“I’m not sure right now. I’ll track down a doctor and let you know as soon as I find out.” Felicity pulls the phone away from her ear and Ava can hear her talking to someone on the other end. “Listen I’ve got to go right now, but I’ll message you once I know anything.”

“Thank you Felicity.” Ava smiles and disconnects the call.

Sara is grinning at her and Ava feels so content in this moment. She studies the early morning light shining through Sara’s mussed hair and she can’t stop herself from reaching out and running her fingers through it. Sara’s eyes gleam with mischief and before Ava even knows what happened she is on her back with Sara straddling her lap. The assassin leans down to kiss her and Ava knows that today is going to be an amazing day.

It takes weeks for Ava to learn how to adjust to her new connection with Sara. For a woman that presents such a stoic face she feels so deeply and it staggers Ava some days. She has started spending nights on the Waverider and she is somewhat glad that Zari Tomaz has been recruited to the team because she doesn’t feel as out of place around the others as she used to.

She is currently pacing around her apartment needlessly moving things and then putting them back. Sara will be picking her up soon to take her to Felicity’s birthday party. They were both invited independently of the other because of course they are both friends with her and they haven’t actually told anyone that they are together yet. They are planning on telling everyone tonight and Ava is nearly sick with nerves. What if they think she isn’t good enough for Sara? She is in the middle of alphabetising her cook books when there is a loud knock on her door.

“Aves, open up!” Sara’s voice is muffled through the door.

She swings the door open and Sara pulls her in for a tight hug before running her hands down her arms and glancing around the apartment. “Sara is everything okay?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing. You have been freaking out for, like, twenty minutes. I got here as fast as I could. What happened?” Sara’s voice is laced with concern and Ava laughs in embarrassment.

“I’m nervous about tonight.” She admits and Sara looks at her incredulously.

“Why? They literally all know and like you already.” Sara grins and places a gentle kiss on Ava’s lips.

Ava can feel her nerves receding the longer that Sara holds her in her arms and she realises that she was being completely irrational. “I suppose you’re right.”

Sara laughs and kisses her again. They kiss until they are both a little breathless and Ava pulls back with a small measure of regret. “If we don’t go right now, we won’t be going at all.”

“I know.” Sara looks at her with darkened eyes and Ava shoves her out the door before she loses all of her composure. She locks the door behind her and takes Sara by the hand as they walk down to her car together.

Ava and Sara walk into the venue together and Felicity meets them to say hello. The birthday girl is already quite tipsy and Ava is reminded of how carefree the woman used to be on girls night and she feels a pang at the reminder of why they stopped happening. Sara, of course feels it too, and places a comforting hand on the small of her back. Felicity notices and a smile breaks across her face as she squeals in delight.

“Is this happening?” She waves a hand between the two of them as Oliver joins them.

“What’s happening?” He asks as he takes the glass from Felicity’s hand before she spills it.

“Sara and Ava!” Felicity shouts in excitement.

Oliver looks at how close they are standing and the hand that Sara still has on Ava’s back and he grins. He thinks back to the afternoon he spent training with Laurel all of those months ago. She talked at him for hours about how perfect Ava would be for her little sister and somehow they found each other without her. He chokes up a little bit at the thought, so to cover it up he pulls the couple into a hug and tells them how happy is for them.

He breaks the hug just as Thea and Quentin reach them and he laughs as his sister launches herself into Ava’s arms.

“Bean-pole, you made it!” Thea squeals as she squeezes Ava mercilessly.

“I couldn’t miss seeing you Munchkin.” Ava hugs Thea tightly as well. “It’s good to see you out of the hospital. How are you feeling?”

“Like I had a six month nap and missed a bunch of stuff.” Thea laughs before pulling Sara in for a hug once Quentin lets her go.

Ava looks around at the small group that they have assembled and shrugs at Sara. Sara seems to understand what she means and they lace their fingers together. “So we have something to tell you guys.” Sara grins. “Ava is my soulmate.”

There is a beat of silence as everyone absorbs the new information and Ava thinks she is going to have a panic attack. Thea squeals in delight and shouts “I knew it!” before crushing them into a tight hug. Once she finally lets go Ava notices Oliver wipe away a tear, but she chooses not to mention it because he is smiling. Quentin has tears streaming down his face and Ava truly has no idea if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. She looks to Sara to gauge her reaction but she looks just as frightened as Ava feels.

“Daddy?” she worriedly takes her father’s hand and it seems to bring him back to the moment.

Quentin lurches forward and puts his arms around both women and sobs in delight. Oliver ushers the three of them off towards a small office room so that they can regain some composure and leaves them there. They all take a seat close together and wipe away their tears.

Quentin is smiling broadly at the two of them and shaking his head. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.” He turns towards his daughter. “Sara don’t you dare let this one go.”

Sara falls into his arms and he kisses her on the head. “I won’t Daddy, I promise. She’s stuck with me now.”

They all laugh and Quentin turns his attention to Ava. “I’ve always liked you Ava. You’re a good kid with a good head on your shoulders and I know you will look after my little girl because I know how much you cared for Laurel. Still care for Laurel. I’m so proud to welcome you into our family, officially.”

Ava chokes up again and she silently curses herself for how much she has cried already tonight. “Officially?”

“You were a part of this family long before you realised you were Sara’s soulmate.” Quentin hugs her tight and she looks over at Sara to see happy tears streaming down her face.

Thea eventually shows up with make-up wipes and helps make them presentable for the party again. It suddenly hits Ava just how much she missed the small brunette being in her life.

Sara obviously knew that Ava has been good friends with Thea and Felicity for a long time, but seeing it in action is a completely different story. The three of them are currently drunk and doing ridiculous dances with each other on the dance floor. Sara is watching them with a smile from the table she is at with Oliver and John.

Oliver catches her staring and nudges her to get her attention. “I’m glad to see you so happy you know.”

“Yeah, you too.” Sara smiles and returns her attention to the women on the dance floor.

They started having girl’s night again and Sara invited Amaya and Zari into the group. The totem wearers were a bit awkward at the beginning because the concept of girl’s night was not something that they were familiar with, but they settled in eventually. Ava was surprised to find herself bonding so quickly with Zari and she is happy that the cynical woman has come to trust her.

The first time that Zari approached Ava about the concept of hacking history she visibly recoiled at the thought, but eventually she came to see the point that Zari was trying to make. It still doesn’t sit right with her but she lets the woman tell her about her ideas anyway.

Ava meets Felicity at the Arrow-cave for lunch one slow Tuesday to catch up with the woman. It became a lot easier once Sara admitted how much they actually all knew about each other. Felicity had run a full check on Ava when they first met and they all knew about her job at the Bureau and Ava knew all about Team Arrow because of Sara’s file. They are gossiping about a trashy show that they are both watching when Felicity gets an alert on her computer. She wheels over to the console and taps on a few keys.

“What’s happening?” Ava enquires around a bite of chicken.

“Holy crap.” Felicity rapidly taps away again before turning back towards Ava. “Do you remember me telling you about the Laurel from another Earth?”

Ava chokes down her piece of chicken. “Yeah, why?”

“I think she was just killed in a shoot-out with the police and we have to stop them from identifying the body.” Felicity is frantically trying to contact the team but they have gone dark for their mission and she can’t reach any of them.

Ava places a reassuring hand on Felicity’s shoulder. “Let me help. I understand the consequences of Evil Laurel ruining Good Laurel’s reputation. You know I have the means to do it. Just don’t expect me to be getting involved in all of this vigilante business after this.”

“Okay, fantastic. I’ve just sent all of the information to your phone.” Felicity wrings her hands together anxiously.

“See you on the weekend.” Ava smiles as she opens a portal with her courier and notices Felicity gaping at the opening.

“You have got to let me look at that!” Felicity shouts as she walks through it.

“Not a chance, Smoak.” She yells back as she shuts off the portal.

Ava peeks around the corner to take in the scene. There are three police cars blocking the way at the end of the alley and none of the officers are looking this way. It is a dead end alley so they were safe to assume that no-one could get behind them. No-one without future tech anyway. There are several bodies strewn about the alley and Ava assumes that they are waiting for the detectives and crime scene techs to show up. Ava spies the woman in the leather jacket amongst all of the men and swallows down her nerves. She doesn’t really have a plan from here. She makes a snap decision and calls the Waverider as she waits for an opening.

“Hello, Agent Sharpe.” Gideon’s greeting is neutral as always.

“Hey Gideon, is Sara around?” Ava says quietly.

“Currently the Captain is off board in 1632 France, with most of the team.” Gideon states.

“Can you tell me who is still on board?” Ava fidgets impatiently. She is wasting time.

“Miss Tomaz is the only person on board at the moment.” Gideon replies.

Ava quickly runs through her options and decides that Zari is probably the best person to help her with this anyway. She doesn’t want to force Sara into helping her hide the body of a woman that is identical to the sister that she has already lost and the rest of the idiots would probably tell her anyway.

“Could you put her on please Gideon?” Ava asks.

“Certainly Agent Sharpe.” Gideon transfers the call and Ava’s heart slightly increases in speed.

“Hey Ava what’s up?” Zari asks around a mouthful of popcorn.

“I need your help and I need you to not ask questions until we are done.” Ava knows she sounds stressed so she is relieved when Zari doesn’t fight her.

“What do you need?” Zari asks without hesitation.

“I’m opening a portal. You have to be quiet.” Ava activates the courier on her wrist and Zari is by her side the next moment. Ava quickly explains the situation and Zari’s eyes are wide and scared by the time she is done.

“Great so all we have to do is grab the body of Sara’s dead sister’s doppelganger without anyone seeing us and somehow hide the body.” Zari sounds incredulous but determined and Ava will take what she can get.

They stay low and creep along the wall until they reach Evil Laurel. Ava takes a shuddering breath and steels herself for the job they have to do. She picks up the body from under the arms and Zari takes her legs. They make it back around the corner, miraculously without anyone seeing them and Ava opens a portal back to the Waverider.

They enter the Med Bay and Ava immediately panics. “We have to get her out of here before Sara comes back. This will break her. Where the hell can we hide a body?”

Zari is staring at the ground contemplatively. “I have an idea.” She holds up a hand towards Ava. “I need you to listen to me before you get mad though.”

Ava immediately hates whatever the totem-wearer is about to say.

“What if we trade her with the real Laurel. History needs for there to be a body and we have one. We just need them to switch places. This Laurel becomes the Laurel that originally died and the real Laurel takes the place of the one from the different Earth. No-one even knows that this one has died yet.” Zari speaks rapidly so she can get all of the words out before Ava stops her.

Ava collapses onto a chair. It is easily the most insane thing that she has ever heard in her life but logically it could work. They would have only moments and so much could go wrong but maybe, just maybe it could work. Ava knows that she would hate herself if she didn’t at least try. She couldn’t save her friend the first time around, but maybe she can this time.

They swear Gideon to secrecy and even the AI knows how much emotional damage Sara could suffer if somehow they fail and she finds out about it. They fabricate the outfit that the Black Canary was wearing when she died and they miserably change the clothes of the woman on the floor. Zari runs the outfit they take off down to the incinerator while Ava double checks Laurel’s file.

They meet back in the Med Bay and put Gideon on high alert. If they can pull this off they will only have seconds to save Laurel’s life. The file states that she died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and that is where they will have to make the switch.

Ava double-checks that she has the memory wipe device for the paramedic they are about to scare the hell out of and she takes a deep, fortifying breath. Even though she came up with the plan Zari looks terrified and Ava puts both of her hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eyes.

“We are not going to fuck this up. We have a plan and we are strong and capable women. We’ve got this.” Ava isn’t sure if she’s saying the words to help Zari or herself but either way they have to go now.

Gideon wishes them luck and Ava opens the portal into the back of the ambulance. There isn’t much room and it is absolute chaos. Zari crashes down into the paramedic’s lap and she slaps a hand over his mouth so he can’t alert the driver. Ava quickly disconnects Laurel and carries her back through the portal into the Med Bay and connects her to Gideon. She drags Evil Laurel’s body back through the portal and onto the gurney. Zari has the paramedic in a choke-hold and he is struggling to break free. Thankfully the driver hasn’t noticed anything yet. She hooks up Evil Laurel to the machines and passes Zari the memory wipe device. They both look away from the flash and Ava flicks the heart rate monitor back on as they jump back through the portal. Ava can hear the machine flat lining as it closes and she shudders.

They are thrown into silence once the portal closes and they can no longer hear the sirens and the machines. Ava realises that she is absolutely covered in blood from the switch and Zari isn’t much better. She walks fearfully over to Laurel and tears prick her eyes when she sees how pale she is.

“Is she alive, Gideon?” Ava whispers, afraid of what the answer could be.

She feels Zari slip her hand into her own and they both ignore the slide of blood between their fingers as they hold their breaths.

“Yes. I have repaired the worst of the damage and I believe she will make a full recovery in time.” Gideon states happily.

Ava’s knees buckle and Zari has to hold her up. She cries and when she attempts to wipe the tears away she smears blood across her face and she doesn’t even care because they did it. They saved Laurel.

“Gideon have we affected the timeline at all.” Zari asks into the relieved silence. Ava tenses next to her waiting for the news.

“Not even a blip. Congratulations to the both of you.” Gideon replies after a tense moment.

“I could honestly kiss you right now.” Ava laughs in delight.

“Yeah, please don’t do that.” Zari wrinkles her nose and laughs when Ava laughs.

They stand by Laurel’s bedside for hours, too afraid to leave in case she somehow disappears. The blood covering their skin has long since dried but they can’t even leave her bedside to clean it off. Gideon keeps updating them on her condition and it has improved every time. Ava is feeling light-headed at the implications of what they have done and Zari is starting to get concerned about Ava’s well-being. She never knew Laurel personally but she knows enough about her to know how important she is.

Their silent lookout is eventually interrupted by Gideon announcing that the team is back on the ship. They decide it will be best to tell Sara before she finds them in the Med Bay so they head out to find her. They step onto the bridge and the entire team goes silent when they see them.

Sara goes pale at the sight of them because it is just so much blood. “What happened?”

Zari realises that Ava can’t speak right now and she sighs. “You’re gonna need to sit down for this.”

“Is anyone hurt?” Sara asks fearfully.

“The opposite actually.” Ava’s voice breaks and they tell the team everything.

Sara is in tears by the end of the story and she runs towards the Med Bay in a cold sweat. She knows that Ava and Zari would never lie to her, especially about this, but she just can’t believe it. Ava is right behind her when she pushes open the door and she gasps at the sight of Laurel stirring on the bed.

“Where the hell am I?” Laurel groans pitifully.

Sara cradles her sister gently and tears rain down her cheeks. “Exactly where you need to be.”

That night, after Ava and Laurel have passed out curled up in her bunk, Sara portals herself to Ava’s parent’s house. She spends the entire night telling them exactly why she needs to marry their daughter as soon as possible. She tells them absolutely everything and they are both pretty shell-shocked at the end of the story. As the sun comes up Sara is gifted with Ava’s grandmother’s ring and crushing hugs from her soon-to-be in-laws.

Sara portals back into her bunk just as Ava is waking up and she proposes immediately.

Ava says yes and they both cry. Then Laurel wakes up and she cries too.

After everyone gets over their shock about Laurel being alive again they all join forces to throw Ava and Sara the biggest wedding Star City has ever seen. They pull out all of the stops and it is easily the most stunning wedding Ava has ever seen in her life. It is somehow both opulent and intimate at the same time.

Laurel presides over the wedding and tells everyone about the night she realised that Ava was Sara’s soulmate and everyone is choked up by the end of it.

Ava has Zari and Thea as her bridesmaids. Sara has Felicity and Amaya.

Quentin spends most of the day in tears because he is just so damn happy.

Ava’s parents are much the same.

Oliver resolutely denies it, but Felicity recorded him crying through the ceremony. John did too.

After their first dance Ava slow dances with her father, then Sara, then Quentin, then Thea, Sara again and randomly enough Zari.

Laurel pulls them both aside with Quentin and Ava’s parents after dinner and she explains the struggles that she has had being registered as a citizen after being declared legally dead for well over a year. She can’t use her old name anymore but Felicity helped her set up a new identity. Since Ava is now going to be Ava Lance they decided that she is going to be Laurel Sharpe after her new sister.

Ava cries at that and crushes her in a hug. “You’re the best sister I could have asked for.”

At the end of the night, after they have made sure their family are all where they are supposed to be, they retire to their room. They are flying out to a private beach in the morning for their honeymoon. Ava’s feet hurt from her heels but she doesn’t even notice when Sara is smiling at her like that.

They fall into bed and hours later they lay tangled together, their hearts beating in tandem and Ava can’t quite believe how full her life is. The soulmate connection didn’t just bring her the love of her life. It gifted her with two sisters in Laurel and Thea and best friends in Zari and Felicity. Through Sara she has gained a huge messy family and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sara shuffles and places a gentle kiss on her lips. “I love you, Ava.”

“I love you too, Sara.” She snuggles into her wife’s side and drifts off into a peaceful sleep.