It had been barely a few hours since Sara had broken up with her, but Ava couldn't deal with the pain and sadness that filled her heart. She threw herself into her work, wanting to stay busy as long as she could. She knew that as soon as she stopped, she would break down. Without looking down at her phone, Ava answered the incoming call. The voice on the other end of the line was the last person she expected would call her. A rollercoaster of emotions washed over the Time Bureau Director in a matter of seconds: first happiness, then pain and sadness, followed by anger and then back to pure sadness. "Why are you calling me, Sara?" The blonde sat back, sighing tiredly.
"You don't know me. You might have read my file, but that doesn't tell you everything. You don't know how I feel, the nightmares I have, the urge I feel to kill," Sara said, the words were slightly slurred, telling Ava that the Captain of the Waverider had been drinking. "You have this image of me. You think I'm cool and collected all the time, you told me so yourself, but that's just a mask." She confessed.
The Time Agent could hear the vulnerability in the other woman's voice. "I want to know that, just like I want to get to know the entirety of who you are, Sara. You're the one that pushed me away. You're the one that..." She paused, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Broke up with me." The pain was evident in her voice.
"You really think I wanted to do that Ava?" Sara slurred. "I did that to protect you. I never want to hurt you, but I'm afraid I will if you come to close to me. I was protecting you from me." For the first time, Ava truly understood Sara and how she saw herself. She heard the vulnerability in her ex-girlfriend's voice and wanted nothing more than to pull her close to her, to hold her and protect her from all the evil of this world.
"I can protect myself," Ava told her finally. "I don't need you to protect me, especially from you, Sara. I can handle myself. And I trust you. I might not know everything about you, but I know that you could never hurt the people you care about."
There was a small moment of silence. "You're wrong," Sara's voice sounded pained and broken. She sounded so small, that it broke Ava's heart. The Time Director knew what had happened that day. The whole team of Legends had gotten hurt. She also knew that none of them blamed their Captain.
"That wasn't you," Ava insisted. "That was Mallus. You'd never hurt your team."
Sara sighed. "It was me. A part of me. Mallus might have been inside of me, but in the end, it was still me." She could hear the other woman taking another large gulp from whatever bottle she was holding.
"Sara, please, listen to me, when I tell you that it isn't your fault. There is so much good in you, you just have to believe it. I'm ready to spend the rest of my life reminding you of that because you are. You might be broken and hurt and part death, but you're also strong and fearless, a great Captain and you are love." Ava opened a portal into the Captain's quarters and hung up the phone. She took the other woman's hands in her own, putting down the bottle Sara had been holding. "It might be because of your past or maybe it's just who you are, but you Sara Lance, love like no one else does. You protect the people you love, even if it might hurt or even kill you. You put others' safety before your own and that makes you one of the greatest people I know, Sara." The Director spoke strongly, passionately, while looking straight into the shorter woman's eyes.
"If I tell you my whole story, will you still be here when I'm done?" Sara asked sadly.
"I promise," The taller blonde smiled lovingly and pulled the love of her life into her arms. "But not tonight. You're drunk and we're both tired. Let's go to sleep and continue this conversation in the morning."
A panicked look crossed over the blonde's face. She clung onto the taller woman's shoulders as if she'd disappear if she let go. "Stay?" She asked quietly.
Ava smiled and kissed the blonde's forehead. "You're never getting rid of me again."