Chapter Text
“See you tomorrow, Lo!” Arthur called as he and his parents exited the Sharpe-Lance house.
“See yah!” Laurel called after him. “Bye Uncle Ray, bye Aunt Nora!”
She smiled to herself, scheming about the seventeenth birthday party she would have with her friends from school the following day. Today, her actual birthday, she had spent with family—her whole family, both of the biological and Legends variety.
Her smiled faded slightly. She bit her lip, feeling her heart clench in her chest.
Not her whole family.
“You okay, baby?” Sara asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You looked like you were having a good time.”
“Oh, I am,” Laurel rushed to assure her mama. “It’s just… Aunt Laurel should be here.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Sara murmured, pulling Laurel around into a hug. “Yes, she should. I wish she were here too.”
The house was empty now, save for Sara, Laurel, and Ava, along with Quentin, who had lingered after the rest had left. Sara and Laurel rejoined Quentin and Ava in the kitchen, the remains of her large birthday cake strewn on brightly colored plates across the table. She collapsed into one of the chairs, sighing contentedly.
“There’s the birthday girl,” Quentin said, “Thought you and Palmer had left to go celebrate with your friends.”
“No, that’s tomorrow, Grandpa,” Laurel clarified. “Today is just for family.”
“Uh, good,” Quentin said, his voice suddenly gruffer than usual. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to give you. Wanted to wait for the right moment. Didn’t seem quite right with everyone here.”
Lo glanced at Sara, who shrugged.
“Anyway, I just remembered this a few days ago.” He handed her a small box, clumsily wrapped in silver paper.
“You already got me something, Grandpa!” she exclaimed.
“Nah, this isn’t from me. Just open it.”
She peeled back the paper and opened the box. Inside, there was a very old piece of paper—or was it a napkin?—and a thin gold chain. She lifted the necklace out of the box and a lump began to grow in her throat.
Hanging from the chain was a delicate pendant of the scales of justice. Each scale was engraved with a miniscule letter L.
She looked at the napkin, unfolded it, and read,
My sweet niece,
My dad gave me this necklace when I decided I wanted to be a lawyer.
If this is the end for me, I wanted you to have it. I hope I’ll be able to give it to you myself, but somehow I don’t think that will be the case. I feel so lucky I got to meet you and your mom, and to have been able to see my sister with you two. You’re so special, and I know whatever path you take in life, you will make the world a better place, just by being you.
Give your mama a hug for me. I love you both so much.
All my love, always and forever,
Laurel
“Laurel—your aunt Laurel, I mean—gave that napkin to me when she was, well, near the end. She made me swear not to read it, but she told me that if she didn’t make it, I should find the lawyer necklace I had gotten her and give it to Sara’s daughter on her seventeenth birthday.”
Laurel looked up, tears streaming down her face.
“It was an odd thing to say, especially because Sara didn’t have any daughter that I was aware of at the time,” he chuckled ruefully. “But I set it aside anyway. Completely forgot about it till I realized which birthday you had coming up. But anyway, there you go.”
“Do you want me to put it on you, Lo?” Ava asked, stroking her daughter’s hair gently. Laurel nodded.
After the necklace was hanging around her neck, Laurel pulled Sara into a tight hug.
“From Aunt Laurel,” she whispered. “She made sure she’d be here after all.”