I held my arm up and knocked on the door, in seconds my mom threw it open. "Avery.."

"Hi, Mom" I smiled. She threw her arms around me and pulled me into a death grip hug.

"Jesus, Mom.. I'm supposed to be the ex-assassin here" I said.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen you since..." She trailed off. "I'm sorry"

"No, it's okay" I said. "I can live with it now"

"Ironic" she sighs. "Come on, I'll show you your room"

She lead me up the steps to one side of the hallway, three rooms sat, each reminded me of the childhood rooms Laurel, Sara, and I had. "Is this my old vanity?" I asked, placing my bag in the bed before walking over to the white wood vanity. "The one Nana Petra got me?"

"Yes, when your father and I divorced, he moved into a smaller apartment and couldn't take it, I did" She said. "I always knew you'd be back, so I kept what I could of yours"

"Thank you, Mom" I smiled. "I remember carving my name into it along with Oliver, Laurel, Sara, Thea, and..." I peered to the side and saw Tommy itched in. "Tommy..."

"I still can't believe he's gone, either" Mom sighed. "You two were closer than anyone I've ever seen. I guess covering for each other can do that"

"He always knew when I needed him" I sighed. Mom quickly realized my sadness.

"Tell me about Barry" She sat on my bed, "Tell me about the man that made you so infatuated, you followed him to a different city"

"Well, he's a forensic assistant at CCPD, he's funny, a little clumsy, but so sweet," I said.

"He sounds amazing" She smiles, "What is Oliver's opinion?"

"Don't you mean dad's opinion?" I asked.

"No. No matter what your father says, I know you'd go against his opinion if you don't like it" She said, "You trust Oliver's opinion far more than anyone else's and he's usually right"

"He was hesitant at first, but he told me doing this would be best for me," I said.

"Does Barry know about..?" She asks.

"Yes, I had to tell him," I said, "He took it well... I think"

I helped Barry with his slightly bruising neck. "I'm so sorry about that," I said, "Its instinct at this point"

"What happened to lead you both to this?" Barry asked.

"The gambit sent us to hell, we had to adapt to survive" I explained, "That's the short version, the real version... well let's say you would believe in the impossible a lot more"

"Please... tell me" He grabbed my hand.

"I'm... I'm formerly dead, and not like presumed dead, my heart actually stopped for 7 hours" I said.

"NO! Please!" Oliver cried out.

"Ollie" I jumped up and raced to him, stopping him from pushing Felicity's computer on the floor. "Ollie, calm down"

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Shado"

Mom went back to doing her own thing downstairs and I unpacked. As I went to pull out my SCPD sweater out, I see my canary suit. A paper stuck to the mask;

"Try to behave, Canary...

I won't be there to catch

you if your wings fail" -Arrow

"Little.." I shook my head and stuck the bag under my bed. I am not going to be the Canary while in Central city, not while I'm trying to start something with Barry. My phone goes off.

🌹

💖

I put my phone back in my pocket and grab my bag, I make my way down to the living room where mom was going through a few textbooks. "Hey, I'm going to meet with Barry now," I said.

"Okay, be careful" She smiles.

~

I made my way into the CCPD. "Hello, how can I help you," The secretary asked.

"I'm just looking for Barry Allen," I said.

"Oh yea, you must be Avery" She smiled, "Just upstairs down the hallway and to the left, his lab is pretty recognizable"

"Thank you," I said. I made my way up the steps to the hallway she told me about and found Barry's lab easily. He was hunched over his computer and munching on fries. "Hey"

"Oh, Hey" He smiled. "Here"

"Thanks" I smiled, I took the burger and sat down. "How's work?"

"Crazy. You ever hear of the Mardon brothers?" He asks.

"Oh, god. I hate them" I sigh, "My father and I nearly got them, but they got away on a helicopter"

"Well, they hit a bank today," He says. "Any advice?"

"They usually hideaway near the city limits, and if they got enough money out of the job, they won't stay long," I said.

"Well, that fits in my theory that they are near a farm," He says.

"Who's ready to see this atom smasher... smashing?" a dark-skinned girl, who I can guess is Barry's foster sister, Iris. "Oh... Hello.."

"Hi" I smile.

"Iris, this is Avery" Barry stepped towards us. "Avery, this is my foster sister Iris"

"Hi, nice to meet you" I shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you as well" She smiled, almost forced. "I thought Barr was joking when he said you were coming with him"

"Uh, no. I have a month off work and he told me how amazing the particle accelerator was going to be, so I just had to come and see" I said.

"That's nice," she said.

"Um... I still have some work to do, hopefully, I can get it done before we have to leave" He said, going back to the tests.

"So, what do you do?" Iris asked, sitting next to me.

"I'm a detective," I said.

"Oh.. you're Avery Lance," She said. "Like the Avery Lance that..."

"Slept with my sister's boyfriend and got stuck on an island in the north China sea for 5 years?" I asked, "That's me"

"Oh, wow," she said.

"Yea"

The summary of every meeting I have after the Gambit...