++++++ With all the shit that life is feeling fine to throw at me right now something good has happened. I have a new baby sister!

You're reading one proud as punch step-sister over here!

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I do not own ++++++

Nineteen

I awoke the next morning to find that Leonard was gone.

Not surprising really.

Does that make us enemies now?

Climbing out of bed, I started the dull routine of having breakfast-well more poking it around the plate-having a shower and heading into work. River and Felicity were down in the walk-in area, each talking with their individual staff members, I ignored the two of them and just headed straight up to my office on the fourth floor.

My office was decorated in a wash of blue and silver tones with black and silver furniture. It fitted me perfectly but given my current mood I just preferred everything grey. I dumped my helmet on the filing cabinet and my bag in my desk drawer, sitting down just as my door opened.

"You certainly get to come and go as you please don't you?" snipped Casey Waters, another one of the caseworkers on the floor. Sure I didn't have the qualifications that she had but I had the history and I knew how a lot of these kids were feeling.

"Buzz off Casey," I snapped, turning the laptop on.

The blonde remained their in my doorway. "How a little rat like yourself can get a job like this without qualifications I don't know." I wasn't stupid. Sure I knew that there was talk around the building that I was too young for the job and that I had no qualifications and my criminal background was questionable-but Simon Axe, the guy who was in charge of all the mentors and the caseworkers agreed to hire me. Experience is better than qualifications, he said, if it works out-we'll pack her up and ship her off to collage. No harm done.

"Maybe you shouldn't think you'll only hurt yourself," I growled. "Just get out of my office."

"Leave her alone Casey," frowned my next office neighbor Jess Philips.

I noticed Casey immediately go from bitchy cheerleader to flirty beauty queen in under a second. "Good morning Jess," she smiled. "You never did say yes to my coffee date earlier."

"By all means," I muttered, "feel free to flirt in my doorway not like I have WORK to do."

"Well I'm honestly trying," Jess shot back with a grin. "But the 700c hybrid is stopping me. I've a file for you. Thought you'd like another one-the boss approved."

I hid a smirk; obviously the fact that Jess had called Casey a town bicycle went over her head. "Sure," I smiled. I got up and went to grab the file, the name NAOMI FRANKS on the cover.

"I've read it and worked with Naomi in the past," Jess told me, "good kid-bad crowd. Needs a friend. We could have dinner later and go over my notes?"

"Come on and have coffee with me," Casey cut in. "River put me in charge of fundraising at opening night-you could help." I found myself incredibly miffed at the fact she said River like they were lifelong friends or something.

"I don't date coworkers or married women," Jess informed her.

Casey walked off in a huff-her in her $1000 shoes and me in a pair of daggy Converse high tops.

"Thanks for this," I smiled

"So is that a yes to the date?" he grinned, flashing what I'm sure others would call a perfect Greek-God smile.

"I'm eighteen," I frowned, "almost nineteen."

"I'm only twenty-four," Jess shrugged, "so what if I was like six when you were born?""

"I thought you said you didn't date coworkers," I frowned.

"Oh no-I just don't date her," he smiled. "So tonight, you and me are gonna go see the new Marvel movie and after we're gonna have Asian and I'll awkwardly walk you back to your apartment afterwards."

I couldn't help but laugh. Last night as I lay there next to Leonard the idea that I was in love with him crossed my mind. Right now though, the only thought in my head was that I wanted to forget it all. Forget being a superhero and forget Leonard Snart and go out on a regular date like a person who had been nicknamed the Avatar. So I nodded. "Okay. Sure, you can awkwardly walk me back to my apartment any time."

Jess grinned. "Awesome. Movie starts at 5:50 so we can go from here."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're awfully confident that I would say yes."

"I'm a confident kind of guy," he grinned. "So confident that I'm pretty sure if I organize date number two you'll say yes to that as well. Possibly date number three."

"Okay I'm replacing confident with cocky," I told him.

He laughed. "See you later, Lottie."

I raised an eyebrow as he left. "Lottie?" Sitting back down at my desk, I logged on. Waiting for the laptop to let me in, both River and Felicity came into my office, closing the door behind them. "Well shit," I mused, "catch me with my hand in the cookie jar?"

River shook her head. "Not really-kinda wondering why you just ignored us both downstairs though." She was looking super professional today wearing a pencil skirt with a blood red silk blouse and black heels, her short hair pulled back with products.

"Shit night," I shrugged, "was trying to figure out if I was delusional or hallucinating when I saw a woman with a black and orange mask on her face staring down at me."

"You're kidding?" Felicity burst out.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" I snipped. "She threatened me and just disappeared. I thought Isabel Rochev was dead."

"Oh she is," River nodded. "Tessa cut her head off. Good and proper. Can't come back from that no matter how good the Mirakuru is."

"Could it be another one of Slade's?" Felicity frowned. "I'll see if I can pull any CCTV footage from that area and send it to Oliver." She stood up and left the room, muttering to herself like she always did when she had a particular thing on her mind.

"Before I go back to playing boss-what happened at the theater?" River demanded to know. "Felicity went back to STAR Labs after and Barry had been hurt. Said he left you behind. Detective West said that Snart had fled so we knew he hadn't killed you."

I sighed and slumped into my desk. "He recognized my fighting style right off. Snart knew it was me."

"HE WHAT!" River yelled. "Charlie he could ruin everything!"

I could see that she was angry and honestly her reaction angered me more. "I got back to the apartment and he was waiting for me. He could have killed me but he didn't."

"What happened?" River asked me.

"Lets just say I'm lucky I heal quickly," I told her, "otherwise you'd know I had some rough fun last night."

River groaned. "Okay-wow. That I do not want to know," she frowned.

"Well I'll deal with it when it comes okay?" I assured her. "I can handle this on my own. I don't need you guys babysitting me. Barry doesn't thing I can do this and I have to prove to you all that I can. You don't need to treat me like a child okay?"

River sighed. "I can't help it, okay?"

"Well you don't baby Felicity so don't baby me," I warned her. "Age is a number. Okay?"

Reluctantly she nodded. "Okay. I trust you, Charlie. Always have but you are the youngest out of all of us with powers none of us understand. Just let me worry okay?"

"Don't do it too much," I sighed.

"And you're going to need to tell your brother," River warned me. "You can't have secrets in this life-especially from the ones you love. We all learnt it the hard way." She stood up and fixed her shirt up. "Now-time to play the boss. See you later-"

"I've a date tonight," I cut her off. "It'll be tomorrow until I see you."

River raised an eyebrow. "That explains Jess with the huge grin on his face. Gotcha. Well have fun, kiddo. Don't stay up too late."

I opened the file on my desk as River left, eager to read what was inside.