a/n: i love legends of tomorrow and finally decided i was going to write something. this doesn't take place during a particular time, this is just me being sara and ray trash because i am. this is based around "maybe in another universe i deserve you" by gaby dunn.

~*~like cleopatra, joan of arc, or aphrodite~*~

pairing: ray palmer/sara lance

summary: in every universe sara lance steals ray palmer's breath/ or four alternate timelines where sara lets ray love her and one – the real time line – where she doesn't

rating: t

that's all. this is, as they say, the darkest timeline. everywhere else, nay, "everywhen" else – us in the civil war, us in ancient egypt, us in the swingin' 60's – we are happy. if this theory holds, well by the law of averages, there had to be one universe – just this one – where we don't end up together. here and now just happens to be it. if you think of it this way, nothing is our fault. because you could have loved me forever. and maybe in another universe i let you.

"maybe in another universe i deserve you" -

gaby dunn

[one]

ivy town

where ray palmer and sara lance have always been best friends

Sooooo... she was two grades behind him – his mother set up a play date with himself and her older sister (they were the same age) – but ever since she punched Billy Thompson in the face because the older boy stole his bike, he's been a little (okay, a lot) in love with her. Her jaw was set tight, teeth grinding and without even the slightest hesitation, she marched toward the older boy, poking him in the chest – her high-pitched voice ringing out, "you shouldn't steal, billy. that's bad." She cracked her knuckles, told him if he gave him his bike back, she wouldn't punch him and he laughed.

Next thing he knew the older boy was screaming, "ow! i'm bleeding! i'm gonna tell my mom!"

She grabbed him by the collar, bringing his face to an inch away from her own. "i dare you to tell. cause if you tell your mommy, i'm gonna tell my daddy and he's a cop, so you're gonna go to jail cause you stole. now, give ray his bike back."

To this day, Billy still flinched if he caught a glimpse of Sara in the halls of Ivy Town High.

X

That was ten years ago when she was six and he was eight... Now, he was going to be a senior and she was going to be a sophomore. They were lounging on her pink canopy bed in her bedroom, Grey's Anatomy playing on her flat screen, bowl of popcorn long forgotten. He stole glances at her; taking in the freckles that decorated her alabaster skin like constellations, the bright green of her eyes, delicate tip of her nose... all of which he was very familiar. He gave a heavy sigh as he watched her swoon over McDreamy telling Meredith being with her was like coming up for fresh air.

"This is so unrealistic," He grumbled. "An attending – someone in a position of authority – would never jeopardize their career like this. Also, there's no way a hospital chief of staff would let all of this fraternizing go on right under their nose and not actually do something about it."

"It's not supposed to be realistic, dummy," She groused, swinging one of her many pillows at him. "It's romantic. There's a difference, y'know. But whatever... McSteamy," Her eyebrows wiggle up and down. "Is waaaaay hotter, anyway."

X

"Dad says you're a good influence on me," She tells him when they're supposed to be studying, but instead of drilling into her head what phylum protozoa belongs to, she's convinced him to take her to Oliver Queen's mid-semester bash. "I think..." He's practically yelling over the blaring thump of the bass in the music. "That's his way of saying you're way cooler than me! You didn't need me to get in to this party, you know?! If anything, I needed you! I'm pretty sure Tommy Merlyn bro-hugged me because he thinks I'm my brother!"

"Bull shit," She spits, shaking her head. "Sydney's a jackass. I'd never go anywhere with him willingly. Ugh."

X

"Central City University, huh?" Her green eyes are sparkling and he tries (fails) not to notice plunging v of her black dress or the tight flare of her hips or how he really wants to run his fingers through the wild spray of golden waves that is her hair.

She's too gorgeous for his own good, like, she always is and he's going to miss her. Too much, if he's being honest. Not that he would ever tell her so. He's unphased by her tugging him up the stairs and away from the living room where his stupid brother is holding court. He'd follow her anywhere. Even if right now they're only going into his bedroom.

"You're gonna change the world, Ray," Her voice is soft and lilting as she stands on the tips of her toes, even in her spiky heels (that can't be comfortable, he thinks) he towers over her thanks to a growth spurt that came the summer of his freshman year. "And I'm gonna get to say I knew you when." Her smile is cheeky, dimple peeking through and all.

"Stop," His cheeks flush hot as he ducks his head.

"Hey," Her tone is fierce and she's raised his head so he's staring at her again. "Your name's gonna be on everyone's lips once you get to Central City. That jackass, Sydney, he's gonna be Ray Palmer's brother. You're the smartest guy I know and since I've never been wrong in my whole life," There's that cheeky smile again, his heart skips a beat and his stomach flops, like always. "That's exactly what's going to happen. Dad's going to read all about you in the papers and everything. Ugh..." Her nose wrinkles, briefly and she takes in a deep breath, her eyes going soft in a way they never have before. Her delicate hand cups the sharp edge of his jaw and she brings his forehead to rest against his own. "I'm gonna miss you so much. Why'd you have to go and be born two years before me? Shouldn't you have been smart enough to know – even then – that I'm going to be a mess without you."

"Sara..." Her name tumbles off his lips, the four letters clumsy as his throat is suddenly dry.

"For once in your life don't over think this. Cause, yeah, you're the smartest guy I know but you can be a real dummy sometimes. If you don't kiss me right now, I'm gonna punch you in your stupidly hot face, which is gonna suck cause like I said your face is stupidly hot. So show me what you got, Palmer."

X

"Ray..." The three letters heavy and searing as she grinds against him in his dorm room at CCU. He knows he has to stop her, because if this keeps going, he'll have her right here, right now and he can't. He can't because she deserves better than this; his dorm room on his queen-sized bed where, despite the sock on the knob outside, his roommate could still walk in at any time.

"Sara..." It takes everything in him to push her away. There's a scowl marring her pretty face and he sighs, cupping the sharpness of her cheekbones in his palms. "You deserve better than this. It's not a lot, but in a month or two through the work study program I'm doing with Professor Stein, I can have enough money for a small room at the Central City Standard. At least we won't have to put a sock on the door, that will probably be ignored, anyway." He huffs. "I really need to talk to Jason about that, by the way. He has no respect for personal boundaries. Or the chore wheel I've created. Look at his side of the room! It's a..."

She cuts him off with a fierce kiss, her tongue probing and purposeful as she slides her soft hands beneath the band of his boxer briefs, cupping him. Her gem-toned eyes are positively wicked as she leans in, kissing and biting at his jaw and then moving to his neck.

She pulls back, briefly, saying, "Ugh, I guess we'll do things your way, smarty pants. But, seriously, Ray I'm not some kind of princess, okay? And it's not like this is my first time. Or yours, either. For now, though, we can still have some fun. So don't move. If you do, I'll totally tie you up. Don't test me."

"Yes, ma'am."

X

"Y'know..." She murmurs, fingers carding through his black hair as his chest rises and falls with each easy intake of air. "I always thought Laurel would have all this... The guy, the house, thinking about the pitter patter of teeny feet and all that, ugh, domestic stuff and whatever. I was gonna be the fun aunt who fed the kid too much sugar and all while she was going to be Mrs. Oliver Queen, a big ass diamond on her finger while she saved the world. I should be telling you this when you're awake, but I've never been good at that; expressing myself and whatever. Except with you. Maybe tomorrow when you wake up I'll tell you all of this again, I dunno. Anyway..." A soft sigh as she snuggles deeper against his hard body, her head tucked under his chin. "I want all that; the house, the family, my Dad walking me down the aisle being Sara Lance Palmer or whatever. Our kids would be cute as hell. It'd be a dis-service to the world if we didn't populate it with, like, at least one more good looking person. You could shut that asshole brother of yours up, too. Cause, seriously, no self respecting woman would ever have a kid with that jackass."

"I heard you," Ray says the next morning, his voice soft and warm as he wraps her in his arms from behind. She's barely functional until she has at least one cup of coffee. Even on her days off from the Ivy Town PD. Yeah, she followed in her Dad's footsteps despite his vehement protests. Her holster's laying across a chair at their kitchen table. "Last night," He clairfies and for the first time since he's known her – nearly twenty years now – he sees her alabaster skin turn bright red with a flush of heat. "We'd be doing a dis-service to the world if we din't populate it with, at least, one more good looking person, huh?"

"Stop waggling your eyebrows. You look like the creepy guy I busted last week for videotaping little girls doing ballet. Don't let what I said after I was clearly exhausted go to your head, either."

"Even though I was the reason you were so exhausted, Detective?"

"Uh, excuse me, Mr. Three Phd's who fell asleep first? Cause it wasn't me."

Ray laughs, drawing her back into his arms. They share a soft kiss, tongues tangling lazily until he pulls away, resting his forehead against hers. "Margot's a nice name," He murmurs, dipping briefly to glide his lips along hers again. "So's, uh, David. Or we could always go with your Dad's name for his first name and my Dad's for the middle."

Her eyes are that warm emerald that only surfaces when she's really happy and there's a soft smile crossing her daisy-pink lips as she drapes her arms around his neck, pulling him even closer so her every inch is touching his. "Margot's gonna be here first so we'll see about the boy's name. One kid might be enough for us."

X

Margot Laurel Palmer comes screaming into the world a year later during a torrential downpour, because of course she does. She's her mother's daughter, after all, and as if Sara Lance's progeny would make her debut quietly on a warm spring day. She has Ray's head of thick black velvet hair and Sara's fierce green eyes.

As he holds her, carefully rocking her back and forth in his arms, he decides his go to bedtime story will be about a tiny blonde girl who punched a lonely dark-haired boy's bully in the face and after that they were inseparable. It was too soon – she was only hours old, after all – but Ray hopes his daughter falls for her best friend.

Just like he did.