Cosmic Strings || Ray Palmer

Goodbye Love

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.