#acanarycry

He never should have gone off looking for those stupid cufflinks.  He’d given them to Dinah to put in her jewelry box for safe keeping, knowing that there was no way that he would be able to keep up with them.  He had a meeting though, and the shirt he had needed them.  But, the longer he searched, the more it seemed he wasn’t going to find them anywhere.

Frowning, Oliver came across something that he never expected to see.  Another wedding ring.  A woman’s wedding ring.  The sound of the jewelry box had been what brought her into the room, and Oliver had kept his eyes on the ring as he asked her his question, almost dreading the answer.  It wasn’t like he expected her to be some virgin before they got together.  But, the idea of her having someone else in her life, someone that meant so much she kept their wedding band... it almost felt like he was some sort of consolation prize.  Something she’d merely settled for.  Still, Oliver nodded once when she did answer him, considering her words.

“Before you were basically forced into a marriage.  With someone that you made it perfectly clear that you really didn’t have any romantic feelings for.”  Oliver turned the ring over in his hand, still examining it.  “It should’ve been him, right?  That’s why you’re still holding onto this.”

hurt meme

         there was no forgetting just how much time had passed since laurel’s death, the memory of returning home to find out forever seared in her mind. the overwhelming depth of rage consumed her then, curling fingers around rip hunter’s throat to take from him what damien had taken from her sister. he’d lied in the beginning, held his winning hand in secret while he played them for fools. for a time, sara had even found herself placated by their attempts to force her to see her anger as selfishness, her attempts and desires to restore laurel to life as impossible  —  something she had now learned was the opposite. 

    still, the weight of denying herself had taken it’s toll. every day, they’d done more and more for others, rewriting history or preserving it as they went, forcing sara to confront the truth of her fractured mind. she’d like to them all, to stein, to nate, to amaya, to zari  —  even to ava. i don’t even want to start looking for loopholes, because then i’m going to start looking for ways to save my sister. the final straw had been their father’s death, taking from her the last relative who cared enough to see her. something inside of her had finally given in, and the fruits of the decisions come after was standing in front of her.

Olivia sucked in a breath as she glanced around the high tech lair. It was different than she was used to, of course, it was on every earth. Being here without orders or a mission to follow made everything seems stranger and yet she could see her parents in this place. Suddenly she understood why Iris had spent so much time running away since the war, there was a peaceful feeling to being outside of your own time and dimension, away from your own problems. Quietly she approached the glass case that held some variation of her parents’s old costumes, not entirely unlike what she and her older half brother had donned in recent years. Quivering a little, she pressed her palm against the glass over the left breast of her father’s suit. Suddenly a faint noise behind her let her know that she wasn’t alone. Wiping around, she subconsciously put her finger on the trigger of her wrist mounted crossbow, ready to aim and fire if necessary.

But, despite how frustrating it all was, it allowed for him to keep himself busy.  To ignore the fact he’d had little contact with Dinah, and that every time he did happen to see her, she was usually escorted by that idiot she was betrothed to.  He was thankful for the ever growing number of meetings that served as excuses to get him out of situations like that.  Still, he knew he couldn’t do it forever.  He couldn’t keep avoiding her.  After all, even before their night together, they had been friends.  And he missed her ability to distract him from all the worry that was weighing on his mind.

There was another charity ball tonight, and one that he had to attend if he wanted to continue to work on a new deal that he was putting together.  Currently, Oliver was standing off in a corner, a glass of champagne in his hand as he watched the couples swirl around on the floor.  Turing around to start heading towards the other side of the room, Oliver found himself facing Dinah.  Immediately, his royal training kicked in, knowing that he couldn’t just completely leave without at least saying something in acknowledgement to her.  “Lovely party, isn’t it?”

He knew that the pregnancy hadn’t been easy on her.  It had seemed like so much of what they had heard was a lie.  Morning sickness was definitely not just in the morning, and it had lasted well past that whole first trimester stage.  And, part of him definitely felt bad.  Things always seemed to make it worse too.  Any sort of strong smelling food seemed to make Dinah gag, and Oliver had to be careful about the things that she saw, because apparently even the sight of something gross could trigger something sometimes.

He was really, really glad that he wasn’t the one physically going through this pregnancy.

As she refused yet another protein shake and bowl of oatmeal he sat in front of her, Oliver sighed.  “I guess I’ll just clean all this stuff up then,” he said as Dinah jumped up from her stool in the kitchen.  She called something over her shoulder, and Oliver had to be careful not to laugh too loud for fear of upsetting her even worse.  After all, he felt like this was just their baby’s way of making sure it was included.  That they didn’t forget their little monkey was still in there, waiting to meet them.  But he seriously doubted Dinah wanted to hear any of that right now.

“You’re doing great sweetie,” he called back.

          i’m not just going to sit there and let her die . rip hunter had denied her once, weaving his tales of timelines and rules  —  making it seem as if any intervention not spearheaded by his decisions was wrong. but he was gone, dead by his own choice to sacrifice himself, and they were all better off for it. before the beginnings of the time bureau, and his cruel replacement of ava a dozen times, he had set the precedent for her to undo. their father had been gone a month, his loss settling so deeply within her that no amount of explanations could make clear to any of those around her. those that seemed to know without knowing didn’t push.

            until the very moment the waverider’s captain decided to act, they had been left in the dark  —  then quick to agree to her proposal. if they planned on screwing things up for the better, why did that have to stop?  demons were circling, the world was undoing itself, and it was easy to justify her choices. they needed help, and needed it now. gideon hadn’t been surprised when she urged the ai to bring them back a few years, to star city in the middle of strife, her plan already laid by the time they’d arrived at the hospital. snatching her injured sister had been the easy part, the harder was to ignore all those in the room, erasure minds on their departure, and escape newly unnoticed.