Ray's face peeked around the corner of her door, his teeth widening into a smile as he pleaded, "Coffee?"

Alex sighed and finished folding the last of her laundry, slipping on her shoes and jacket for their weekly walks. Nowadays when Ray wanted a walk in the park, it usually meant he had something he needed to get off his chest. She wondered what had got him so excited this time. They stopped by Sal's for a quick hello before heading to the tiny coffee shop that had gotten used to seeing them together. The elderly woman even had their orders ready.

Alex was paying her when she finally spoke to them for the first time that year.

"You two are quite charming you know," She smiled, the wrinkles on her face creating a road map of untold stories, "Reminds me of my husband and I when we were your age."

Alex scoffed, trying to bury the way her heart jumped at the woman's words.

"You're too kind," The Amazon responded, "But Ray and I aren't a couple," She shot a look at the tall man outside, eagerly bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Just very good friends," She spoke wistfully, not even catching how her chest constricted as those words left her mouth.

The elderly woman smirked, her crinkled lips twisting upward. "I think you may need to tell him that."

A chuckle escaped Alex's lips as she faced Ray's excited expression, gesturing for her to start their walk. "I don't think he's the one that needs the reminder," She whispered to herself, grabbing the paper cup and thanking the woman on her way out.

"What was that all about?" Ray asked, his never-ending curiosity one of the many things that was endearing about him.

Alex shrugged, "She wanted to thank us for being such valued customers," Another easy lie. Except this one sat in her gut, swishing with each stride she took, churning until it flip-flopped.

She hated it.

The cool October air flew through her pink jacket, sending the hairs on the back of her neck spiking up, and she took a sip from her cup to keep herself from freezing entirely. The park was almost entirely bare, no one else in sight except for a lone runner passing them by.

Even the trees had lost all of their leaves.

It was almost Halloween.

Two more months and they would have lived in the fifties for an entire year.

Rip had abandoned them for an entire year.

Sara had been right. They weren't coming back for them.

"You okay?" Ray's voice cut through her thoughts, bringing her back to Earth.

Alex pulled her coat closer to her, "Huh? Oh yeah," she assured him, "Just thinking."

Ray nodded, letting the silence build between them. They both knew one of them would say something eventually.

"We've almost been here a year," Alex finally spoke aloud, the revelation finally turning into reality, "A whole year without the team."

Ray nodded sheepishly. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about." He stopped in the middle of the cement sidewalk, facing her with one hand in his pocket. "We have to start living our own lives," He began, biting his lip, "At some point, we have to start accepting that our lives with the Legends are over."

"Ray-"

"Let me finish this," He cut her off, ignoring the fearful look in her eyes, "We have to start moving on, whether that's in Hub City or...someplace else." He pulled a tiny box from his pocket, and Alex gulped down the nerves that had traveled from her stomach into her throat. Heart pounding.

This wasn't happening.

This couldn't be happening.

It had only been a year.

"I wanted your opinion on this," He flicked it open, revealing the bright diamond in the center of the white cushion, "I'm thinking of, uh, well giving it to Kendra over Christmas."

Alex's shoulders deflated, her stomach twisting into something sinister, something akin to contempt. Everything that had been building in her chest disappeared, replaced by an emptiness she hadn't felt in years.

"Kendra," She spoke aloud, as if remembering that the other woman existed, "Right, Of course," Alex kept walking. She suddenly wished she had something stronger than coffee to finish this conversation.

Ray was going to propose to Kendra.

Of course, he was.

They'd been dating for almost a year.

She didn't know how she'd forgotten it. Somehow amidst the late-night conversations and grocery runs and comforting gestures, she's forgotten that Kendra was his girlfriend.

And that she, like she told the elderly woman who ran the shop, was just a friend.

Always a friend. She bit her cheek, breathing growing shallow at the thought.

Here she was, fooling herself again. Telling herself that she mattered to someone, when really no one cared about her at all.

Because as soon as Ray proposed he would forget all about her. Both of them would.

It would be a victory Kendra would hold over her until death.

Ray didn't even know how Kendra felt. Her own doubts about their relationship. The demigoddess would turn him down. Alex knew it. She felt it in her gut.

If Ray proposed, Kendra would refuse.

If Ray proposed, he would get his heart broken.

And Alex refused to let that happen.

"Alex?" Ray's voice finally pierced her thoughts, and she forced herself to exhale, a cloud of breath evaporating before her eyes. She turned to face the inventor, an expectant look on his face, "Well, what do you think?"

Alex flapped her mouth open and closed, trying to come up with a response. But everything she came up with was negative. Selfish. Unsupportive.

"I think you should take it back," The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, and when she caught the confused look on Ray's face, she immediately wanted to take them back.

He shook his head and stared at the ring again, "Oh, um…" For a moment he was actually speechless, and Alex could feel her throat clog up in guilt. "Does it-Is it not big enough? Cause I can't really afford anything fancy on a teacher's salary"

There he went again. Diffusing the tension with a joke and a laugh. Alex brought her free hand to her arm, trying to rub the nerves away.

She stuck her tongue in her cheek, knowing there was only one way to resolve this. The words were out there now. Might as well tell him the whole story.

"I mean for good," Alex confessed, a weight lifting off her chest as she said the words, "I don't-I don't think you should marry Kendra."

Ray stopped in his tracks, expression dropping into a frown, as if he didn't hear her correctly. "What?"

Alex flapped her lips before biting her cheek, "I said-"

"I heard what you said," Ray cut her off, an uncharacteristically cold tone in his voice, "Why?"

Because she doesn't love you. Not in the way I do.

Because it's just gonna leave you broken again.

Because I care too much about you.

But she didn't say any of those things, instead, she went silent, digging her toe into the ground, trying to figure out the fastest way to disappear.

Ray's breathing grew faster, unable to form any words at the new revelation. "If I had known you felt this way about me and Kendra's relationship-"

"It's not about the relationship," Alex cut him off, her stomach leaping into her throat at her words, shoulders tensing as she tried to find the right way to express what she was feeling. "I just, I think you're making a mistake."

"A mistake?"

Alex shrugged, "Look, you're an optimistic guy Ray," She began, trying to form her thoughts into a cohesive sentence, "You want to believe that there's a future for you and Kendra, but there isn't."

Ray crossed his arms, scoffing at her answer, "What? You can see the future now?"

"I can't tell you how I know," Alex continued, ignoring the hurtful jab, "But if you propose to Kendra, it won't end up the way you expect."

Ray bit his lip, "And you just expect me to believe that?" He pressed closer, "Like your word is enough to sway me from what I've been thinking about for the past three months."

"That's what I'm talking about!" She exclaimed, "You've only known you want to marry her for three months! You've only known her for a year and you're convinced she's the person you're meant to spend the rest of your life with!"

Ray huffed at her words, "That's rich coming from the woman who pushes everyone away!" His bubble burst as well, "You spend your whole life searching for a family, trying to form connections, but the minute you do, you run away from it."

The words stung, a sharp pain in her chest as she felt a prickling in her nose. She forced herself to look away from Ray, swallowing the tears back down her ducts and facing him with a more determined gaze.

"You wanna play that game?" She threatened, "You've been projecting on Kendra ever since she showed interest in you."

Ray shut his mouth at her words, his adam's apple moving up and down as she continued.

"You want a happy family just as much as I do Ray," Alex's voice was thick with emotion, trying to hold the tears back as she let her anger take over, "But you want it with Anna, so you project her onto Kendra, not seeing her for who she truly is,"

Ray shook his head, water building up in the corner of his eyes, "You're wrong-"

"Am I?" Alex asked, "You haven't once asked what Kendra wants to do with her future, you haven't even stopped to ask yourself if this is the life she wants!" Her pulse began to race, all of her anger that she had built up over the past year spilling out like vomit onto the pavement, "You want her to be Anna so badly. But she's not. She's never gonna be her, Ray" Alex finished, the pressure behind her eyes close to cracking, "Kendra is not Anna."

Silence hung over the two of them.

And Alex finally understood the repercussions of her argument.

She had not only dragged his relationship through the mud, but she'd gotten Anna involved.

She'd never felt so guilty in her life.

She wanted to take it all back. But some sick twisted part of her insisted it was all true. And the fact that she agreed with it scared her.

Ray gulped down the lump in his throat, his dark eyes staring into her own, red surrounding his irises as he struck the killing blow,

"Yeah, well neither are you."

The dam burst, and saltwater burned against her lips. She stumbled back at the answer, unable to form any words in response.

Her mouth dropped open, body stiffening at his remark. Her body went numb. She couldn't feel anything.

"I never said I was."

Her voice was barely a whisper, and she blinked once. Twice. Turning on her heel, she floated down the sidewalk. The world melted away as she tried to reconcile the last few minutes with what she knew about the man she had come to rely on this past year.

The sharp pain never left her chest, breath hitching as she moved through the streets, covering her mouth with her hand as she walked back to the apartment.

She wasn't wanted here anymore.

She couldn't stay here anymore.

Her belongings were almost mockingly easy to pack. She had little to nothing, just the clothes Gideon had supplied them with and the presents Ray and Kendra had given her. She brought her hand to the necklace around her neck, thumb tracing the outline of Greece as she stared at the book of art.

It wasn't worth it. She decided. Looking at it will only remind her of him, and that's the last thing she needed. She slammed her suitcase shut, zipping it up as she moved to the living room. She released her grip on it when she caught sight of Ray by the door, his cheeks wet with tears.

"What do you want Ray?"

"Please don't go," He pleaded, voice cracking, and for a moment Alex wanted to stay. To believe that things would be different. That he'd listen to her.

But she had messed up too badly. She had ruined her last chance at a family. She couldn't stay.

"I messed up," Ray's forehead knit itself together, "Alex, I'm so sorry, I never should have said those things-"
"I'm gonna miss my train" She cut him off, trying not to look at him.

Ray took a step forward, "Please, let me say this."

Alex crossed her arms, clenching her jaw as she nodded, giving him a second chance. It was more than he deserved.

Ray straightened up, clearing his throat before launching into his apology, "Our entire time here, we've had ups and downs," He began, trying to appeal to her more nostalgic side, "But through it all, I had you, even at my darkest moments. There you were, helping me deal with my problems, checking up on me." He gulped, "making sure I was okay."

The pressure behind her eyes felt ready to burst, chest constricting at his words.

"You are…" Ray hesitated, his own gaze growing watery again as he looked at her, "You are my one constant here."

Alex scoffed slightly, finally meeting his eyes, shaking her head, "I'm not your personal therapist Ray," She retorted, anger rising up through her throat, spilling out of her mouth, "and you made it clear that I am not important to you in any way."

"I know, I'm sorry," Ray backtracked, squeezing his eyes tight in thought, "I screwed up. I just- Stay. Please."

A moment passed between them. Silence deafening.

"I can't," She choked out, echoing Sara's words all those months ago.

Ray pressed forward, grasping her hands in his, the touch sending pleasant shivers down her back. "Please, Alex, I- I need a friend here."

Alex smiled mirthlessly, biting her lip in frustration, her nose prickling as tears marched down her face. "And what about what I need?!," This was it. Her pulse raced, telling her that this was the perfect time to tell him. This was the moment she had been waiting for. But her head disagreed. She shook it back and forth, "I'm tired Ray," She confessed, "I'm tired of being an afterthought in your life-"

"You're not," He tried to assure her, moving closer. She stepped back.

"I am," She protested, the knot in her stomach growing tighter, "and I'm sick of it" Her tone was flat, emotionless, everything she had ever felt dissipating into nothing, her tears drying in tracks on her face. "You were right," Her voice was hoarse, the sharp pain in her chest growing sharper as she watched Ray's face fall. "We need to start living our own lives," The pain was dulling into a lump in her chest, remaining there even after she turned away to grab her suitcase, Ray's hand slowly falling from hers.

"Alex-"

She pushed past him, opening the door to leave. With a second of hesitation, she turned back toward him, a soft smile on her lips, "If you ever change your mind…" She began, taking a deep breath, "I'll be in Boston." a lump formed in the back of her throat, heart pounding against her chest, begging her to stay with them. But she knew better. "Goodbye Ray."

She stepped into the windy air, shutting the door behind her.

Alex leaned against the metal entryway and lowered her head into her hands, her body shaking from the sobs.