Chapter Text
Ava stood slightly offset from the pick up side of the order counter. The barista had offered a nervous apology while explaining that the espresso machine was down momentarily and they would need at least five minutes before they would be able to even start making her drink. The young man was clearly used to customers with short tempers and low frustration tolerances but Ava had simply smiled and stated that she had no problem waiting. Relieved, he had moved on to take the order of the brunette woman and small child who had been in line behind her.
“Hot chocolate!” the boy yelled before a whispered reprimand had him contritely correcting, “May I have a hot chocolate please?” The boy didn’t even come up to the counter yet, Ava didn’t know much about kids but she guessed he couldn’t be much older than four. He was dressed in a bright blue sweater and neatly ironed khakis with a red scarf and hat to ward against the cold air outside. When asked if he wanted whipped cream a loud, “YES!” was shouted before another whisper from the brunette woman had him muttering, “Sorry Aunt Laurel. May I please have whipped cream?”
Ava smiled despite herself. She wasn’t much of a kid person, she was hardly even an adult person to be honest. Yet the exuberance and joy bubbling out of the boy was adorable.
Her thoughts wandered back to the unfinished work she still had left to accomplish at the bureau. She was one the FBI’s top agents, rumored to be in line for promotion to Director of her branch once Director Bennet finally cashed in on his retirement. From the beginning of her time at the FBI she had stood out as an outstanding agent and had been personally mentored by Bennet’s predecessor, Director Hunter. Work was Ava’s whole life and despite her lack of family or friends, she felt like she was accomplishing her purpose in life.
A small tug on the corner of her coat sleeve brought her attention back to the present, specifically to the small boy now attached to her arm.
“Hi! I’m Lincoln!” the boy exclaimed, bouncing up and down on his toes as he spoke.
“Lincoln! What have I told you about bothering strangers?” the brunette woman was now at his side, carefully disentangling his hand from her coat.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Ava said, taking Lincoln in more closely. Now that they were facing each other she could see the sparkly triceratops on the front of his sweater that were complimented by the triceratops patterned on his sneakers. Ava knelt down until she was closer to his level before extending her hand.
“Hello Lincoln, my name is Ava. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She might not be a kid person, but seeing Lincoln’s brilliant smile and striking blue eyes, she couldn’t help but be utterly charmed. Then, Lincoln’s smile fell from his face as his gaze shifted outside of the window. Ava turned to see what had taken his brilliant smile away and caught the sight of a blonde woman and man with short, brown hair who appeared to be in a heated argument just outside of the shop.
“My mom says I have to go with him today,” he said glumly, pointing to the man outside.
“Lincoln, sweetheart, you know your dad just wants to get to know you better,” the woman (Aunt Laurel was it?) said in an appeasing tone.
“I don’t want to know him! I never had a dad before, how come I need one now?” Laurel seemed to be struggling to find an answer when her eyes went almost comically wide. Outside the shop, the man and woman were now full on shouting in each other’s faces and the woman looked like she was close to losing control completely.
“Oh God, I’ve got to stop her before he files an assault charge against her.” Her eyes shifted back and forth quickly between the developing scene outside and the child at her feet.
“I can look after him for a minute. It’s no trouble.” Ava was almost as surprised to hear the words come out of her mouth as Laurel looked to be hearing them.
“Really? Are you sure?” Laurel had every reason to be skeptical of trusting her nephew to a total stranger in a coffee shop but as the blonde woman took a step back into a striking stance Laurel was out the door with a hurried, “thank you!” inserting herself between the pair.
The boy watched the three grownups outside in silence for a minute before turning to Ava again.
“Do you have a dad?” he asked with such earnestness that Ava couldn’t bring herself to lie.
“No, actually, I don’t have a mom or a dad.” She answered it plainly, like she was answering a question about the weather. But Lincoln’s eyes widened and he pressed on.
“No mom or dad? Were a grandma and grandpa your parents? My friend Molly just has a grandma and grandpa at her house.”
“No, no grandma or grandpa or brothers or sisters. I used to live in a place with lots of other kids like me who didn’t have any family.”
Ava rarely thought about the group home she lived in for twelve years, or the couple straight out of Stepford Wives that had fostered her until she graduated high school. While they were never cruel to her, Ava always felt like they were actors in a suburban drama who thought that the addition of a child would boost their ratings. When Ava came out as gay, her so called family quickly ceased contact as she clearly failed to meet the vision they had. Other than gifting her with their last name and nearly compulsive need to keep her living space immaculate, the Sharpes had nothing to offer her. They were like strangers to her and she’d only spoken to them twice since she graduated from high school.
Lincoln was looking at her so intently, as if he was using all of his brain power to process what she had told him. Then he broke into an infectious smile and shouted, “I have an idea, how ‘bout I be your dad?”
Ava couldn’t contain the joyful laugh that escaped her lips. Ava still wasn’t sure if she was ready to call herself a “kid person” but she was unequivocally a “Lincoln person.”
“You know what Lincoln, why not, you can be my dad.”
Lincoln was positively beaming now when the door opened and Laurel beckoned him to join her.
“Bye Ms. Ava!” Lincoln said, wrapping her leg in a tight embrace. Ava had never understood the metaphor of “melting” but in that moment it was the only word she could think of to describe the feeling that flowed through her.
Delicately placing her hand on his back, as if afraid too much pressure might shatter the moment, she quietly murmured, “Goodbye Lincoln.”
He pulled back with a lopsided smile and corrected, “You mean bye, Dad!”
Ava chuckled and Laurel looked utterly perplexed by the exchange as Lincoln ran to her and took her hand, turning to wave vigorously as he left.
Ava heard her name called from behind the counter and she turned to thank the barista and retrieve her latte. She took a small sip as she collected her jumbled thoughts and feelings before following out of the door herself. Half a block away, Lincoln was being pulled along by the brown haired man she assumed was his newly returned father and across the street Laurel was walking with a comforting arm around the blonde woman who Ava could only assume was Lincoln’s mother. As the two women made their way down the sidewalk, the blonde would occasionally pause to look anxiously over her shoulder. Ava hit the pedestrian crossing button and tried to reign in her own confusing feelings at the scene when, with a sudden shout, Lincoln pulled his hand free and bolted into the street with a shrill, “Mommy, come back!”
Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Ava could see how the blonde woman turned and sprinted towards Lincoln. She heard the shouting coming from the man still standing on the corner at the other end of the sidewalk. She felt her coffee cup dropping out of her fingers. But the only thing she was focused on was the car barreling down the street toward Lincoln.
She didn’t have a single conscious thought but somehow she felt her legs running faster than she had ever run in her life towards Lincoln and the oncoming car.
Ava was not a reckless person. She didn’t act without thinking, she would always look before she lept. But she wasn’t thinking about anything now, wasn’t analyzing her options. The only thing she knew was that she had to get to Lincoln. She felt her hand connect with his back and she shoved him as hard as she could before she heard the crash and felt herself rolling over the top of the car. Then everything was black.