The Archer's Canary

Twelve

Barry had woken up before me and was getting dressed, "Hey" I smiled.

"Morning" He crawled over and kissed me, "I want to say we can get breakfast, but I need to get to work. I can run you home if you want"

"No, I was thinking I can stay in Starling for the day, spend some time with my dad" I shrugged.

"Well, Caitlin and Cisco are coming in on the train in a few hours," He said, buttoning up his shirt. "They are helping Felicity with Sara's... case"

"I guess I should be their guide then," I said, "Can you get them to take my suit to, I have an odd feeling I'm going to need it"

"Of course," He said, his phone began ringing. "I should get going, love you"

He ran out, I froze. Holy shit. Did he just...? I... what? We haven't said 'I love you' yet... WHAT?!

~

I stepped into dad's apartment, the sound of laughter echoed. "Dad?" I asked.

"Avery?" I walked into the room and saw dad and another woman I didn't recognize. They were drinking coffee and had been seated closely.

"Hi," I said.

"I didn't know you were coming to town," He said, walking over and kissing my cheek. "Why are you dressed so fancy?"

"Came in last night, it was me and Barry's technical aniversary," I said. "We got a hotel and I didn't bring spare clothes"

"Oh yeah, well your stuff is still in your room and if not, Laurel wouldn't care if you borrowed hers," He said, I nodded, looking behind him when he got the realization. "Oh right! Avery, this is Donna Smoak, Felicity's mother. Donna, this is my youngest, Avery"

"Hi, nice to meet you, your father and Felicity spoke greatly about you" Donna smiled, shaking my hand. 

"It's nice to know where Felicity got her eyes from, after all, she managed to make Oliver Queen so infatuated with her, it must be genetic" I smiled, looking at dad who coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You're Oliver's ex? Right?" Donna asked.

"Technically yes" I nodded, "We're better friends than we were romantics"

"Quoting the article Iris West wrote about you?" She asked, smiling. I froze and looked at dad.

"She found out on her own," He said.

"I may not be as smart as Felicity, but I put two and two together," Donna said, "You two go missing for 5 years, rising from the dead and coming home, suddenly there are two vigilantes fighting for justice? The masks may hide your identity, but your stories reveal much more"

"I like her" I smiled, "Let me change and we can talk more"

~

I changed into a normal white blouse and a black pencil skirt, "Ave?" Laurel burst in. "Oh my god, is that my skirt?'

"No," I said, "I use to wear this whenever I was stuck on desk duty"

"Bullshit" She crossed her arms.

"Fine, it's yours" I smirked, "It looks better on me"

"You're the worst sister in the world!" Laurel exclaimed as we walked out, "Steal my boyfriend, my skirt"

"You stole Black Canary," I said.

"Touche" Laurel sighed, we sat down with dad and Donna. "In my defence, I was getting bored with Oliver saving me all the time"

"Honestly, I'm getting there with Barry" I sighed.

"You two are weird sisters" Dad sighed.

"Hey, you raised us"

~

ARGUS was interfering with Arrow business, at least, that's what Oliver is saying. Can't trust his word when it comes to his ego though. "You would think Lyla would have realized you don't stand back easily," I said, walking down the steps, "God it's been a while"

"What are you doing in town? Not that I don't mind having you back" Felicity smiled, running over and hugging me.

"It was my anniversary with Barry yesterday... technically," I said, "We recreated our first date. By the way, going to need some girl talk later"

"Of course, I'll rally the girls" She smiled.

"You here to help as the Canary? or moral support?" Oliver asked, hugging me.

"I'm a Lance, so as the Canary of course" I smirked. "Tell Lyla, in the capacity of the Canary, she should at least let us in on this, in the capacity of the godmother of her daughter, she should REALLY let us in on the job"

"I'll talk to her" Dig sighed, "Really regretting naming you godmother"

"Yea, yea" 

~

Caitlin and Cisco called and told me they were at the train station so I went to pick them up. We immediately headed to Palmer Tech, which had recently replaced Queen's Consolidate.

"I'll be one sec, Jerry," Felicity said as we walked into her office, aka Oliver's old office. "You should have gone home hours ago"

"Who's Jerry?" Caitlin asked. Felicity's head shot up.

"This place is bigger than my apartment," Cisco said, looking around.

"I haven't been in here in a while," I said, remembering a few late nights in here with Oliver.

"What are you two doing here?" Felicity asked, I looked at them and that back at Felicity.

"They didn't tell you they were coming?" I asked, biting my lip.

"You asked us to analyze the DNA of the Arrow that... killed Sara" Caitlin sighed heavily.

"I was just gonna mail you the sample," Felicity said, fiddling with her tablet.

"Fel, girl, we both know that would've been... dumb," I said. "The mailing company would've been triggered"

"We want to see the Arrow cave" Cisco stated.

"There it is!" I said, "Your wish is my command"

"Avery!" Felicity scolded.

"Come on Fel, Oliver owes me for going for Sade's scar," I said, "It'll be fun"

"Fine, but when it comes down to it, you're taking the arrow for us," She said, grabbing her bags.

"Deal"