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Sara is quite literally saved by the bell – or the time aberration alarm, as it were.
As soon as she is done literally putting out a literal fire in Ray’s lab, duty sweeps her crew, including guests Nyssa, Thea, and Roy, back to fourteenth century Tabriz and another swashbuckling adventure.
So now it has been forty-eight hours since she and Nyssa had their paradigm shifting conversation, and Sara is up late in her quarters trying to figure out a way forward.
She really has no idea how to break up with someone. Nyssa would be the first person to vouch for that. Technically speaking, she’d never actually broken up with Nyssa – just disappeared or died.
Ava deserves better than that.
(So had Nyssa.)
She supposes she did kind of break up with Ollie that once, as hastily mid-flight as it had been.
Ava deserves better than that, too.
But Sara has no idea how to start (because ending things with Ava is where she must start, no matter what she does after that).
She really wishes Jax were still here; she doesn’t know if he has any idea how to break up with someone, but at least he would be someone to complain and gripe and vent to. Jax is good for that.
Jax…
Sara suddenly remembers the last time she saw him, his future self wishy-washy regarding Ava, his comment that-
"Gideon!"
"Yes, Captain?"
"When Jax from the future was here for that fight with Mallus.”
“Yes…” Gideon says, somehow tentatively.
“He mentioned something about my future, about my-“
“Captain,” Gideon cuts her off sternly. “You know I cannot confirm or deny anything about your future.”
Sara grumbles but knows not to press Gideon further. It will get her nowhere and might even get her dreams broadcast to the crew, a particularly dangerous prospect right now.
But was Jax referencing Nyssa? In Jax’s future, are she and Nyssa married with a kid? Living the simple life in Central City?
Is that the simple life Nyssa wants? Is Jax’s future proof that Sara can actually give it to her?
Holy shit.
Sara takes a deep breath. She is way ahead of herself. The question of whether Sara’s destiny lay in domestic bliss with the last Ra’s al Ghul is going to have to wait.
Now, there is someone else who needs her attention. Someone to whom she owes an explanation.
An explanation of how everything truly was fine until Nyssa al Ghul walked back into Sara Lance’s life.
How the very thing Ava tried so hard to avoid being jealous about – Sara spending time with Nyssa – has completely changed Sara’s feelings. Even if Sara can’t make it work again with Nyssa, it’s disingenuous to stay with Ava. Sara loves her, she truly does, but it’s not the same as the long-dormant, all-consuming love that she still carries for Nyssa.
Time and life have always been an utter bitch to her and Nyssa. She will not rest until she has given everything she can into making it finally work for them.
Which means she has to end it with Ava, as soon as possible.
In person, Sara decides, because that’s right.
“Gideon, once this night cycle is over, Washington, DC, 2019. Right after we left.”
“Of course, Captain. A return to port.”
“Right.”
“Should I alert Director Sharpe?”
Sara swallows hard. “Yeah. Tell her I’ll meet her at ho-. At her place.”
“Yes, Captain. Sleep well.”
Fat chance.
***
She runs into Nyssa at breakfast and feels strangely guilty about it.
“I have… things, I need to do. Here in Washington,” Sara says weakly.
“Mmm.” Nyssa is giving her nothing.
“We’re in your present timeline. I think mine, too? That’s a little more confusing. But anyway, you’re all welcome to disembark here, but I was hoping…”
What is she hoping? That she and Nyssa will go live happily ever after in Central City? She’ll start smaller than that.
“I was hoping you’d at least still be here, when I get back. So we can talk.”
“I no longer speak for Thea or Roy,” Nyssa says, delicately sipping her coffee. “But I will be here, when you return. I find I’m having trouble determining the where, at least, of my next phase.”
“Yeah.” Sara smiles tentatively. “Maybe that’s one of the things we can talk about, when I get back.”
Nyssa is guarded, still, but she does offer her a soft smile in return.
“I’d like that.”
What exactly is Sara’s next step? Is she going to come back and quit the time travel game? Ride into the sunset? Offer Nyssa a place on the Waverider? Oh yeah, fly around time with Nyssa, reporting back to Ava, that doesn’t sound awkward at all.
Sara breathes deeply.
One step at a time.
She gives Nyssa one last look. Of course she looks beautiful, even in a time ship’s harsh light.
“Okay. I’ll see you this afternoon.”
***
It sucked, of course, but Sara knows she owed Ava that honesty. There were tears on both sides: what they had was beautiful and important, and it deserves to be mourned. Ava taught Sara how to love again, after being battered by death and Lazarus Pit and rootless time travel. How to settle, a little. How to commit again, as long as she could.
But Sara was finally awakened fully, finally both the Taer al-Asfer of before the Lazarus Pit and the White Canary of after, finally one Sara Lance. So now she can’t commit to Ava anymore. Because the one Sara Lance cannot stop being in love with Nyssa al Ghul.
It feels a little strange to return directly to Nyssa afterward, but she also finds she cannot wait to do so. She takes her time, though. Goes on a walk down on the National Mall, does a little people watching.
Misses Laurel. A big sister would be really nice right around now. Specifically, her big sister.
When she makes it back to the Waverider, it’s mid-afternoon. She finds Nyssa in the library, one of Rip’s older texts open on her lap.
“I love you,” Sara announces herself.
The words seem to startle Nyssa, but not Sara’s sudden presence. One cannot sneak up on Nyssa al Ghul.
“I love you, and I can say that safely now. I love you, and I want to try to make this work. I don’t know when or where either, but I know we can figure it out together. In fact, I can’t wait to see what we come up with.”
Nyssa stares at her for a long moment. So long that Sara panics and thinks she might have misremembered that last serious conversation with Nyssa. Does Nyssa not-
Nyssa stands, with all that regal, purposeful bearing, and walks towards Sara. Sara stays still. Nyssa reaches her and takes her face in her hands, tracing her features and finally coming to rest with her thumbs on Sara’s pulse points. Sara can feel her blood pounding against the touch.
“I have mourned you so many times, habibti,” Nyssa says softly, in Arabic of course. “I do not know that I can do so again.”
“You wanted me to be free. To be happy. I want that for you. I want that with you. Until we’re old and wrinkly, if we can manage it. And I’ll do my best to let you go first, so you never have to mourn me again.”
“And you will remind me, from time to time, that this is real?” Nyssa asks.
“Every day,” Sara promises. ”Every damn day.”
Nyssa kisses her then, and it is everything Sara remembers and yet even better. She closes her eyes and melts into her. She still doesn’t know what happens next, but as long as it involves this, it’ll be just fine.
***
fin