Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Ava Sharpe was certain that she had never been this angry despite everything she had been through over the course of her life. Sara Lance was doing nothing to help this situation with the smirk that the captain was aiming at her from her position leaning against her desk.

With their past how could she…no! Ava had to focus!

She was here to represent the Time Bureau and the Legends had given her plenty of reason to be angry with her in a professional sense without allowing the personal to enrage her further.

She drew her lips into a tight line in an effort to centre herself before she bit out,”I should arrest you!”

Sara laughed, not deigning to leave her relaxed state, as she replied, “I would like to see you try!”

Ava blew out an exasperated sigh and her hands slipped from behind her back where she had been tightly grasping them together so that she could wipe one over her tired face. Out of all of the people in the multiple timelines and universes, why did the captain of the Waverider have to be Sara Lance?!

Trying not to raise to the woman’s apparent enjoyment when it came to antagonising her, Ava attempted to covertly implement some of the breathing techniques she’d read up on when Sara rejoined her life, she asked, “In what world does fixing a level two anachronism create three level sixes?”

Sara shrugged, not bothering to reiterate the feeble point that they put out all of the fires that Mick had set. When the captain failed to respond for a few seconds, Ava huffed no longer able to hold her gaze.

She hated how impossible it was to not care when she saw only amusement or irritation coming back at her.

How could there not even be a drop of recognition?

In an attempt to distract herself from the question she’d asked herself too many times a day as of late, Ava asked, despite feeling like she knew the answer, “Are you aware that there are rules to time travel?”

The captain frustratingly shrugged again and replied, “Rip pretty much just said don’t meet yourself.”

“You did that when you broke time!” Ava snapped, throwing her hands up in a manner that she’d sworn to herself she wouldn’t succumb to in this interaction.

“You wouldn’t have a job if we didn’t do that, Aves,” Sara smirked, appearing exceedingly pleased with herself.

Ava’s stomach flipped at the nickname and her anger intensified simultaneously, this must have showed up on her face as Sara’s smirk fell away and she cautiously raised off the desk with her head tilted.

“Don’t call me that!” Ava exploded, digging her nails into her palm. Sara opened and closed her mouth a few times but didn’t get any words out since Ava ploughed ahead with her rant, “You know, I read how irresponsible you and your team are in your file but nothing can do justice to how childish you actually are!”

She had definitely wasted her time by coming to the Waverider, even if she always hoped things would be different each time she set the coordinates into her Time Courier.

It was always the same and somehow made her want to cry more and more each time she put herself through this. Usually the tears wouldn’t make an appearance until she was off the ship, but this was the first time that Sara had called her ‘Aves’ in years.

Turning on her heels in an effort to hide the effect she’d had on her, Ava began adjusting her courier to get away from this place, and more specifically, the owner of the captain’s office.

“Ava…” Sara began, sounding suspiciously guilty.

Without looking over her shoulder, Ava said, with as much authority as she could muster while the portal opened, “If your team is unable to deal with anachronisms efficiently, we will be forced to assign an agent to supervise every mission,” and then before stepping through into her office, she cleared her throat and added, “And remember Captain Lance, it’s ‘Agent Sharpe’.”

With that, she stepped through, not allowing the love of her life to say another word before the portal closed and separated them again.

S

Sara Lance understood why her team thought of Agent Ava Sharpe as terrifying but she had been unable to see her as anything but adorable since they met.

There was absolutely no reason that she would be attracted to Ava Sharpe, they had done nothing but argue since that day in the Time Bureau when she aimed a gun at the Legends.

After much thought, she decided that it had to just be physical attraction. Ava was definitely beautiful and she would go as far as to describe her as ‘hot’ when she was shouting and angry.

Antagonising her gave her the chance to see the agent more but Sara tried not to look too much into that fact. It wasn’t that weird that she was disappointed whenever a different agent came through a portal, right?

The impossibility that her flippant ‘Aves’ had really upset the agent forced Sara to think more deeply while staring at the place that she had disappeared through.

Why did it twist her heart so painfully to think that she had caused the uptight agent to cry?

Maybe if she’d said something that crossed the line, it would make more sense but as she replayed their brief conversation in her mind, she became certain that it had been on the tamer side compared to their other arguments.

Was it really just the ‘Aves’ that had caused it?

A part of her wanted to chase after her and check that she was okay but she had no reason to believe that she was the person she wanted to see when she was upset. They were the furthest they could be from friends and Ava was more likely to arrest her than talk to her.

She could have just walked away and chalked it up to Ava needing to relax, but instead she looked up at the ceiling and demanded, “What’s her problem?!”

“Could I perhaps suggest that Agent Sharpe is angry with the Legends’ conduct?” Gideon postulated.

“No,” Sara shook her head, “It’s more than that…she said she read my file. It’s only fair that we get to know more about her.”

“What are you suggesting Captain Lance?” Gideon asked, almost cautiously.

Turning to the screens that covered the wall, Sara replied, “Can you pull up all the information that you have on Agent Sharpe please?”

Instantaneously, images started to appear and Gideon explained, “Ava Tamsin Sharpe, born September 12th 1987 to Alexis and Thomas Sharpe. She lived in Starling City before relocating to Central City in 2004, months before she could graduate from Starling High.”

“Starling High?” Sara repeated.

“Yes captain, it would appear that you and Agent Ava Sharpe shared a few classes and were assigned to the same homeroom,” Gideon confirmed, pulling up images of several attendance records with ‘Sara Lance’ and ‘Ava Sharpe’ highlighted on each one.

Swallowing hard, Sara stared uncomprehendingly at the class picture that marked the first time she had seen Ava smile, she asked, hollowly, “Then why don’t I remember her?”

S

Gary was way more outwardly nervous as Ava drove them towards the meal she’d reluctantly invited him to. She could only sigh as she pulled into the driveway and he kept on babbling about how excited he was to meet her aunt.

She had long since given up on pretending that Gary wasn’t her best friend, which unfortunately meant that he was the obvious (and only) choice when Tamsin Sharpe asked that she invite a friend to her birthday meal.

She could have come up with an excuse but she knew that the request had only been made because her aunt was worried for her owing to the sparse details she was able to give regarding what she did for a living.

She couldn’t lie to the woman who had taken her in when she’d felt so alone, so she just told her she worked for the government and couldn’t talk about it, meaning that she was pretty sure that Tamsin was convinced that she worked for the CIA.

As worried as she was sure she was about this, it had been preferable to her knowing what being a Time Bureau agent entailed. It was…uncomfortable to say the least being aware that someone you cared about could erase themselves from history with one wrong move, especially when that person refused to follow the meticulously written protocols that were graciously given to the Legends of Tomorrow.

She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and interrupted by her friend, “You’ve got to calm down, Gary.”

“Your aunt invited me for her birthday, I just want to make a good impression,” he replied with an over exaggerated shrug.

Ava blew a breath and squeezed the wheel one more time and then killed the ignition and said, “You’re right, Gary, I guess I’m just nervous.”

Gary frowned, “Is it because she doesn’t know about the Time Bureau?”

Ava drew her eyebrows together in confusion for a moment but she started nodding. It seemed like as good a reason as any and meant that she wouldn’t have to tell Gary what was bothering her. At least she wouldn’t have to yet, she figured that she would eventually get drunk and spill everything, especially if things kept going as they had.

“I just don’t like to think that she’s worried about me, I guess,” Ava said.

It wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t the only thing that was worrying her about visiting her aunt when there was a certain person that tended to come up once per conversation since she had returned Star City.

More than once if Tamsin Sharpe had her way.

Her aunt held a firm belief that she would end up with said someone despite repeated insistences that it would never happen and she didn’t want Tamsin giving Gary any ideas that he could start spouting while she was trying to get work done. It was for this reason that she had been tempted to tell her aunt that she had yet to make any close friends but that just brought her back to Tamsin worrying about her so she decided that it would be better to just suck it up and resign herself to Gary’s eventual shipping.

“You’ve told her that you can’t talk about work so we’ll just find other stuff to talk about,” Gary said brightly and let himself out of the car.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Ava muttered before grabbing the wrapped gift from the backseat and following Agent Green towards the front door.

S

Thus far, the meal had been a success.

The first portion revolved around Tamsin being overjoyed to meet her niece’s friend so Ava largely did not have to say anything.

Tamsin was not one to pry into topics that had already had boundaries placed around them so she focused on asking about Gary, knowing (rightfully so) that Ava didn’t have much to talk about outside of work.

She would probably visit more often if she had anything resembling a personal life.

Ava took a deep drink of wine just as Gary finished a story about his Aunt Stacey and a lull finally fell in the conversation, that was until Tamsin announced, “Oh, Ava. I forgot to mention that I got a birthday card from Quentin Lance. Such a lovely man. I’m not sure how he’s managed to remember every year since I left Star City.”

It took everything that Ava had not to cringe whilst Gary choked on the fry he had popped into his mouth, his eyes wide as he tried to dislodge it from his throat and process the information at the same time.

“Are you okay, dear?” Tamsin asked, with genuine concern written across her face for the man she’d known for roughly an hour.

Gary spat the fry into a napkin and spared a glance to Ava who was refusing eye contact, before he looked back over to the birthday girl.

“I’m okay,” he said, his voice a little raspy, “Quentin Lance? As in deputy Mayor Lance?”

Tamsin tilted her head at his eagerness as she explained, “Yes, his youngest daughter and Ava were so close before she came to live with me. I wonder what Sara is up to now.”

Gary looked fully prepared to reveal the truth, so Ava hastened to interrupt, “The last time I spoke to Laurel before she…before it happened…she said that Sara is travelling the world.”

Agent Green stared at his colleague, exuding utter disbelief. She had just confirmed in her own words who it was she was close to.

Ava bit the inside of her cheek until she cleared her throat and rose to her feet, “We’ll be right back, auntie. I just need to ask Gary something…work-related really quickly.”

Tamsin inspected her niece quizzically for a moment and Ava was well aware what she was thinking.

The older woman had been there for her during every tear filled night when she mourned the drowning of the Queen’s Gambit, having to come to terms with the fact that she would never get to reconnect with her best friend. After all of the articles that announced the revival of Oliver Queen and, then later, Sara Lance, Tamsin did nothing to hide her hope that they would be friends again.

Gary was not exactly being subtle so she had to assume that her aunt was catching onto some Sara-related developments beyond her late sister confirming that she was travelling the world.

Tamsin didn’t object though as Ava pulled Gary up and dragged him along, leaving the older woman deep in thought while attempting to parse things out.

They made it to her old bedroom, decorated exactly as she left it, and closed the door behind them, rolling her eyes as Gary continued to look at her with eyes wide and his mouth open, apparently unable to figure out where he wanted to start with what he had just learned.

Ava sighed and went to sit on the bed to consider what she should do, flashing her best friend’s memory didn’t seem right and she did need someone to talk to about everything.

“What do you want to ask Gary?” Ava asked, dragging her teeth over her bottom lip, wishing that she’d had the foresight to bring a memory flasher to the meal.

“You and Captain Lance are friends?” he forced out.

“Were friends,” Ava corrected, reaching over to her bedside table to pull out a picture she hadn’t looked at in a long time.

Gary trailed over and plopped down next to the other agent, accepting the photo to stare at the captured moment of a simpler time.

A younger Ava was sat on a couch staring at a TV with her head on the shoulder of a blonde girl, both of them smiling broadly.

“We were best friends,” Ava amended.

Gary gawked at the pre-Gambit version of the woman who had pointed a gun at him as he objected, “But…you guys don’t seem like friends.”

Clenching her jaw, Ava explained, “When I found out she’s alive, I didn’t want to interrupt her reunion with her family so I thought I would wait for her to call me, but she never did. I guess she died again and then she came back to life to join the Legends. She either doesn’t remember me or doesn’t care.”

Gary scrutinised the image further and Ava assumed that he was coming to the same conclusion that she had. How could anyone forget a person they were so close to? In the same vein, however, how could they not recognise their connection?

“So…that’s why you hate the Legends so much?” Gary asked, putting the picture down reverently.

“Well…they are also morons…”

Gary laughed but became serious again as Ava could only muster a weak smile and he suggested, “Why don’t you just talk to Sara? Maybe she doesn’t realise that you’re the same Ava Sharpe?”

Ava shrugged non-commitedly.

From the files she studied, she was well aware that Captain Lance was not the person she met at school. That girl didn’t even know that the League of Assassins was a thing but Ava infuriatingly felt everything for her that she always had.

It was probably why she had thrown Ray to the ground violently when Sara wasn’t elated to see her again.

“So…you were just friends?” Gary pried.

Ava swallowed hard and looked adamantly at the floor, apparently she was losing her ability to hide her real feelings.

Not seeing the point in denial now that the bombshell had been dropped, she admitted, “I…had a crush on her but that was before I admitted to myself that I’m gay. I’m not sure I really understood what it was until I had to come and live with Tamsin.”

Gary’s face split into a broad and goofy grin, practically vibrating with excitement.

Deciding that she couldn’t deal with a continuance of this discussion, Ava shook her head and stood while announcing, “Come on, we need to get back to Tamsin.”

She went ahead not giving him a chance to disagree.

Gary nodded anyway, but Ava was simply too tired to stop him from whatever plan he was no doubt formulating as they rejoined Tamsin at the dinner table.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

Sara was not aware of the taste of her food as she chewed slowly and stared into space.

It had been a couple of days since she asked Gideon about Ava and just as many anachronisms later so she hadn’t had much time to process it all yet. The fact thats he didn’t remember Ava was high on the list of things to parse out, but it wasn’t just that which was bothering her.

The proof that she had met Ava before was disconcerting but it also revealed a truth to her that she’d failed to notice until now. Outside of the treasured time with her family, she couldn’t recall much of her pre-Gambit life.

Whenever she attempted to do so, it came back blank as if there were an essential puzzle piece missing.

“Sara?”

Blinking, Sara swallowed as she became cognisant that the wall across from her was not metal and the soft hum of the Waverider that had become a fact of life was missing.

The reason for this became abundantly clear as her father retook his seat at the table that had their lunch laid across it dropping the phone he’d taken an urgent call on. Apparently she had zoned out during this, mentally spiralling about what it all meant now that she was allowed to relax. There was no time ending threats in the Deputy Mayor’s apartment after all, which gave her brain the space it needed to wander.

Seeing his expectant gaze she had to assume that she had missed whatever he said as he approached the table so she cleared her throat, “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Quentin tilted his head, “Just complaining about Rene. Where did your mind just go?”

Sara wanted to lie, hadn’t she put this man through enough for one lifetime without adding potential brain damage into the mix?

This thought was banished, however, when it occurred to her that eh was perhaps the one of the most qualified people in her life to straighten things out. Sitting up straighter, she braced herself for the sweet reassurance she had been craving as she explained, “I was just thinking…there’s this woman I met recently who apparently was in my grade at school. It’s bothering me that I can’t remember her.”

Quentin shrugged, presumably glade that it was something so mundane when it concern his ex-assassin, captain of a time traveling team, daughter, “It’s pretty normal to forget people from High School, what’s her name?”

Sara viscerally felt days worth of anxiety seep out of her.

So there was nothing wrong with her memory just because she couldn’t recall school with clarity. Vandal Savage and the Legion of Doom were more memorable than Algebra, anyway.

“Ava Sharpe,” she replied, reaching across the table for her soda but she came up short upon registering her father’s furrowed brow. This was not the look of someone who wasn’t worried about a normal lapse in memory.

Her anxiety started creeping back in, more so as Quentin asked, “You’re joking, right?”

“No,” Sara said slowly, and Quentin got up again with even more urgency than when his phone rang.

Sara watched him go, how could Ava Sharpe be important enough for such a reaction when she was certain that she had only met her a few months ago?

A beat later, the Deputy Mayor returned holding a box which he placed onto the table, gesturing for her to open it as he sat back down, issuing a silent command for her to open it.

She did so tentatively, finding a pile of photographs as expected. A pang went through her as she went through a few photos of herself and Laurel, but none of them explained her father’s reaction to Agent Sharpe’s name.

“What…” she began.

Quentin cut her off before she could complete the question, “Just keep going, Sara.”

She did as she was told, moving methodically through the captured moments in time, pausing occasionally to linger on her late sister.

Finally, she came to a picture hat didn’t exclusively feature a member of her family. In it, her younger self had her arms around an adorably bespectacled girl, both of them appearing to have difficulty holding in hearty laughter.

Sara’s mouth dried, despite the glasses, she knew exactly who this was. The captain flipped through some more photos, recalling Ava Sharpe in various scenarios, she appeared in a few with Laurel and even with Dinah and Quentin Lance.

If they were close enough for Ava to be stood between her parents, she should definitely remember her, right?

“Ava Sharpe was your best friend, Sara,” Quentin explained gently, “You were crushed when she went to live with her aunt. How do you not remember that?”

Sara swallowed hard, the prospect of being friends with Agent Ava Sharpe wasn’t as disgusting sit should have been but that didn’t change that she had no recollection of it regardless of the irrefutable proof laid out before her.

Laying her palm onto Ava’s smiling face, she said, a hint of fear in her words, “I really don’t remember her Dad.”

Quentin’s gaze drifted to one of the many photos and offered, “Maybe we should give Caitlin a call?

“That’s probably a good idea,” Sara agreed hollowly, suddenly wishing that she knew how to get Ava Sharpe to smile like she did in these photographs again.

S

Sara tapped her finger against the Star Labs bed with increased frequency with each moment that she was kept waiting.

She had never before been so nervous about causing an anachronism before and it wasn’t just because of the structural integrity of the timeline.

The sample of water from the Lazarus Pit that Dr Snow requested now only existed in the past so she had no choice but to go back to 2011 for it.

How would she explain her one-woman mission to Agent Sharpe if she had caused so much as a blip in the timeline?

She wasn’t sure whether ‘I really want to remember you’ would cut it. Then again, maybe she would support it if it was what she wanted too?

She had considered going back to the Waverider while the doctor ran her tests but she couldn’t seem to make herself move, nor stop the tapping.

It wasn’t as if she would be able to think of anything else now anyway.

If it was the case that Ava was just a woman from High School, she might have felt bad, but she certainly wouldn’t be on the verge of letting her nerves make her rock back and forth. It was the pictures of Ava and Laurel that made the former assassin want to know exactly what was going on.

If it turned out there was a rational explanation for all of this, there was a chance that she would get another person to talk about the good days with.

But she was getting way ahead of herself.

No matter how hard she tried, she had no memories about Agent Sharpe before the day she had orchestrated the theft of the Waverider from the Time Bureau.

“I think we may have something,” Caitlin announced as she walked in, closely followed by Barry. Sara shifted where she sat and looked expectantly at the scientist who explained, “The spectroscopy of this water makes no sense, it’s not comprised of anything on the periodic table.”

“Okay,” Sara replied, feeling as though she was listening to Ray’s ramblings when all she wanted to know who to punch, “Does that mean you didn’t find anything?”

“Well…Barry stole this from Nanda Parbot,” Caitlin replied and handed over the book that she’d been too distracted to notice when she entered.

It was definitely familiar being the the tome that only Ras al Gaul was ever allowed to read it. At a different point of her life, it had been a point of curiosity for her, but it never went beyond this for the young assassin who hadn’t been at a point in her life to break League rules.

Barry shrugged in response to her obvious surprise and said, “Nanda Parbot isn’t exactly secure since the League was disbanded.”

Caitlin took over the explanation, “It took a while to translate, but it basically says the Lazarus Pit has to take something in exchange for healing. My hypothesis is that it had to take something major to bring you back to life after months.”

“So you’re saying that it took my memories of Ava?” Sara asked, eyeing the book distrustfully.

“Your brain scan confirms some abnormalities in your memory cortex, but without a scan before the pit to compare, I can’t say for sure,” Dr Snow shook her head.

Sara swallows hard as she began concocting a plan to kidnap her younger self to get that scan, unfortunately that would definitely get the Time Bureau’s attention.

Instead of going straight to such a nuclear option, she inquired, “So..is there anything you can do?”

Producing a phial of blue liquid from her lab coat, Caitlin said, “This will stimulate the memory centre of your brain but…”

Before the doctor could finish her sentence, Sara snatched it and swallowed it in the span of a single second, the burn in her throat drowning out Dr Snow’s and the Flash’s shared objections.

Falling back against the bed, she scrunched her eyes shut and gave into the memories pushing through the fog she hadn’t been aware was there.

“Sara Lance, right?”

A fourteen-year-old Sara looked up from the book on the library’s table and smiled at the familiar girl. They shared enough classes for her stomach to flip at the sight of her but she was not aware of the meaning of this reaction just yet, at least not enough to interrogate the feelings behind it.

Shifting to look more firmly at her, she replied, “Yeah, Ava right?”

The taller girl inclined her head and she slipped into the seat beside Sara, “You signed up for a math tutor?”

“My dad made some threats if I fail again,” Sara groaned, “He didn’t actually say the words but I think he would actually arrest me to prove his point.”

Ava laughed as she pulled some folders out of her bag and a small, shy grin tugged at Sara’s lips at the fact that she was the reason that the other girl made that sound. This meant that she didn’t notice the strong likelihood that she was blushing.

Handing over a pile of math problems, Ava assured, “I’ll do my best to keep you out of jail.”

Sara took the papers, excited to do maths for the first time in her entire life.

Whatever happened next escaped present day Sara as her eyes flew open and she found herself back in Star Labs.

“Woah,” she breathed as Caitlin rushed to steady her. Despite the touch grounding her in the present, she snapped her eyes shut again, willing her brain to play more, to tell her more.

Nothing happened, sos eh let out a frustrated huff, pushing up which had the dual purpose of shaking Caitlin’s hadn’t off.

The brief memory had been incredible but it wasn’t enough, a fact that she poured into her desperate gaze towards Dr Snow, who said, gently, “As I was trying to tell you before you…” she made a wild hand gesture to emulate the captain snatching and drinking the drug that was unknown to her, “It will be a slow process and there’s no guarantee that all of the memories will come back.”

Sara ran her tongue over her exceedingly dry lips and asked, “Is there anything you can do to speed it up?”

There was a glint of sad understanding her eye as Caitlin lamentingly shook her head, “I can only really suggest being patient and…maybe try to be around Ava as much as possible?”

Sara’s shoulders slumped but there was a kindling of hope.

No matter how brief, seeing a time when things were so easy between her and Ava made her hungry for more. Unfortunately, she was way beyond asking for tutoring to get her attention.

Instead she would have to find a way to be near Agent Sharpe without pissing her off.

“Thanks Caitlin,” she said genuinely, shooting a grateful smile in Barry’s direction as she tiredly punched numbers into her Time Courier.

She could already feel this was going to be a long road but she couldn’t give up now that she’d seen a taste of watch they once was.

S

• 20th November 2013 - 7.52 pm -

Gary Green jumped up and down as condensation escaped from between his chattering teeth.

If it wasn’t for the Antarctic conditions of Starling City he likely would have been aware of the level of reprimand he would get for what he was doing, but he had to know.

No doubt Ava would have done the same as him already if she wasn’t so rigid about Time Bureau rules.

Peering around the corner of his hiding place, he managed a wide smile desire the freezing conditions as he watched a younger Ava Sharpe leave the inconspicuous building that would become the fully fledged Time Bureau.

“I knew it,” he said under his breath but squealed when he was suddenly slammed against the wall of the alleyway.

A gloved hand that materialised through the darkness covered his mouth, preventing him from producing any other sound, the other hand pushing his shoulder painfully against the wall.

The masked blonde’s eyes blazed with a familiar intensity as they watched Ava pass by, unaware of her future friend’s detainment.

Once Ava was far enough away, the vigilante removed one hand and demanded in a growl, “Who are you?”

Sara Lance had aimed a gun at him not too long ago but Gary was significantly more terrified right now. This was the Canary who still considered herself an assassin. Plus, this Sara clearly recognised Ava and he knew well what she would do to someone she cared about.

“Gary,” he replied, as if this explained anything.

“Why are you following me?” she asked, pushing against his shoulder harder and more painfully.

“I was just checking on something, Captain Lance,” he breathed, his eyes widening as he realised his folly.

Her grip retreated and she hissed, “Who are you really?”

All subtly having already flown out the window, Gary embraced the Legend’s style and asked directly, “Why are you following Ava, Sara?”

“I…I…” Canary stuttered, her surprise causing her to momentarily forget that she was a highly trained assassin, so it took a split second longer than it normally would tor reach for her knife.

Gary seized the opportunity to push her away, swiftly pulling the flasher from his blazer, the blinding light providing cover for him to open a portal and slip through.

He figured he was talking to the wrong Sara anyway, so he left behind a flabbergasted Canary who would be confused for a few seconds before refocusing on following Ava.

He stumbled onto the Waverider, clutching his burning shoulder.

“I was checking on her,” Captain Lance announced before ehe had a chance to get his bearings.

Gary spun around to confirm it was a more familiar, less stabby Sara Lance reclining on a sofa with a tumbler resting upon what appeared to be an invaluable and old tome.

Under different circumstances, he would be citing the Bureau policy on handling ancient artefacts but he had more pressing matters in this moment.

“So you do remember?” he accused.

Sara tilted her head, taking in the ruffled nature of his suit and then deflected, “You know I could have killed you Gary? I might have actually felt bad about that.”

Gary rolled his eyes,  but kept his response focused on his self-imposed mission, “If you were checking on her, then why pretend that you don’t care about her now?”

Sara dragged in a long swig of her drink, obviously wary from what appeared to be a long day.

After a contemplative stare into her drink, Sara sighed, “I…I do care about her, Gary. I just didn’t remember why until earlier today.” Gary frowned, shouldn’t this be good news? Why did she look so dejected? She kept going, “Apparently the Lazarus Pit has to take something when it heals, something big when it brings you back to life, I guess.”

“It took your memories of Ava?” he attempted to clarify through his bewilderment.

“Yeah,” Sara replied, adamantly staring at the melting ice in her glass, “I guess it couldn’t take my memories of my family since Laurel was right there. There’s only one person I care about as much as them.”

Gary noted the use of present these with a hopeful pang in his stomach, but this didn’t explain everything. The Lazarus Pit hadn’t taken anything from her in 2013 and yet she still stuck to the shadows rather than greeting Ava with open arms.

His need to keep his friend must outweigh his fear of Captain Lance, so he pressed, “If you care about her as much as your family, why did you hide from her when you first came back to Star City?”

Sara whispered, “I don’t know. I still don’t remember everything.”

Gary deflated.

This was shaping up to be a chance to find out if Ava’a feelings were one-sided or not but Sara seemed just as confused as he felt. Still, memory loss was better than the indifference that she supposed Sara felt towards her, so he said, forcefully, “You should talk to her. Tell her what you just told me!”
“No!” Sara shot to her feet, shockingly steady considering how empty the whisky bottle on the table looked to be. She sighed as Gary took a step back, “Please don’t tell her yet, Gary. I just…I need some time to figure everything out, okay?”

“You want to remember before you talk to her?” Gary clarified.

It seemed reasonable enough, but would Ava agree with that sentiment?

“Yeah,” Sara confirmed, “There’s years of stuff I don’t know about her. Just give me some time and I promise I’ll come clean?”

Gary nodded despite the many reasons he had for being reluctant about this situation, “Okay…but the Legends need to start treating the Bureau with more respect in the meantime.”

Sara thinned her lips but forced out, “Fine, but tell her and respect will be the least of your worries, Gary.”

Gary nodded his fear renewed, though it did miss an edge now that he knew that she cared about Agent Sharpe.

Surely she no longer had an incentive to upset the Time Bureau?

This was the justification that took him away from the Waverider, contemplating how long he was going to be able to keep these revelations from his friend.