Title: well versed in etiquette, extraordinarily nice
Rating: PG
Pairing: Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer aka Darhkatom
Warnings: Some pretty anti-arrow feels are in this one, sorry y’all.
Summary/Notes: Ray and the rest of the Legends are invited to another wedding of their allies. After the Nazi invasion from Earth X, Ray is hesitant to go. Nora encourages him only to find out that Team Arrow will be there and Nora is not sure she can be held responsible for what would happen if she were left unsupervised near Oliver Queen
Day nine of 25 days of Darhkatom! Feel free to click the through my blog to see the others! Basically, I will be posted all loosely related (unless stated otherwise) fics for 25 days straight!
Thank you so much to @timetravelingpalmer for encouraging me to publish this.
Ray honestly wasn’t sure whether or not he’d attend another wedding of someone in their general circle of allies after what happened the last time. Nazis. Losing a Legend. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.
And yet he and the rest of the Legends were all agreeing to RSVP for the wedding of Wally West and Linda Park. He liked Wally, he’d been a part of the Legends for a short while and had saved him from being kidnapped in Berlin and had helped defeat Mallus. Wally was a cool guy and Ray couldn’t be more happy for him.
“Wally feels too young to be getting married. Isn’t he like 15?” Nora asked as they walked back to their room.
“No, I think that’s how old you technically are right now.”
Nora smacked his chest playfully. “So, who’s going to be your hot wedding date?”
Ray shook his head. “You, of course. Though I could always take Zari, she’s not the one with the history that may complicate the jolly festivities…”
Nora arched a brow. “And what’s THAT supposed to mean?”
“Well, Team Arrow is invited and you, for good reason, don’t like them.”
“Yeah cause Oliver Queen killed my dad.”
“Well Oliver Queen is probably going.”
Nora thought for a minute. Really thought if she could be civil and be in the same room as the man that killed her father. She understood from the day that she was free of Mallus that her father was not a good man, not even a good father, but he was still her father and he had sacrificed himself at the very end to give her a second chance. Knots formed in Nora’s stomach. She wanted to be there, with Ray, do something that made her feel normal. Normal people were their boyfriend’s plus ones to weddings.
“As long as I don’t have to talk to him I’ll probably be fine.”
“I’ll make sure we stay clear on the other side of the room of him at all times.”
xxxx
Much like Barry and Iris, Wally and Linda held a party the night before after the wedding rehearsal at Jitters. Ray and Nora were thrilled to be back in the place they had their first date in. The space was a lot smaller than they had remembered and it definitely felt small when Nora spotted Oliver Queen walk in with a pretty blonde on his arm.
Nora tightened her grip on Ray’s arm and he looked down at her.
“What’s up?” Ray asked.
“He’s here.”
Ray followed her gaze to where Oliver and Felicity stood. He saw the ring on Felicity’s finger shine brightly in the fairy lights decorating the room and swallowed. He knew that when he and Felicity ended things she went to be with Oliver but he had no idea they had gotten married after the Nazi’s from Earth X had invaded.
“If you feel like you can’t do this, we can go. Wally and Linda won’t be upset. We’ll just say goodnight and see them at the wedding tomorrow.”
“No I need to do this. I’ve been able to grow so much mostly thanks to your help. I need to be able to at least stand in the same room as him. It was a long time ago for me, I can handle it. I’ll let you know if I can’t. So thank you.” She leaned up and pecked his lips.
They continued to mingle with the others, mostly keeping in groups with the other Legends, occasionally talking with members of Team Flash, congratulating Wally and Linda until two blondes made their way towards them.
Nora tightened her grip again on Ray’s arm. “Relax, I’ll handle it.”
“Ray!” Felicity held out her arms for a hug. “How are you? I’m sorry about Professor Stein, he was a good man.”
Ray nodded. “Thanks, Felicity, I think that there will always be a missing piece of the Legends because of his absence.”
“Yeah. We all saw how many lives he touched at the funeral…” realizing the conversation was dying she turned her attentions towards the brunette with Ray. “Who’s your date?”
Ray pretended to not try and deflect the conversation onto something other than Nora and facepalmed himself. “Of course, you guys haven’t met. Felicity, this is my girlfriend, Nora. Nora, this is Felicity and Oliver Queen.”
Felicity pulled Nora into a hug, which was probably the last thing Nora ever wanted, and thankfully Oliver was standoffish as usual and didn’t even offer a handshake.
“It’s… nice… to meet you guys.” Nora tried to regulate her breathing. She was just a girl, meeting old friends of her boyfriend’s.
Felicity crinkled her nose. “Wow, we have so many Nora’s floating around lately, now another, how fun.”
“Yeah… exhilarating.” Nora deadpanned.
“And your eyes are so pretty, they’re absolutely striking.”
“Thanks, I got them from my dad.”
Nora watched as the comment made Oliver almost visibly flinch. She tried her hardest to hide the smirk. If he had figured it out, watching him squirm at her kindness was going to be almost as fun as all of the things she used to plan to do him if she ever got the chance to see him again.
“Well they’re gorgeous. So are you a Legend?”
“I am. Have been for about three months now.”
“That’s awesome they’re a good group of people.”
“Especially Ray.” Nora leaned her head onto his bicep. “He’s made me a better person.”
“Ray sees the best in people.”
“That he does.” Nora replied in a sickenly sweet but almost ominous tone.
Oliver coughed. “Felicity let’s go get a drink. It’s was nice seeing you again Ray, and meeting you Nora. We’ll talk later.”
Nora watched them walk away and smirked.
“See that wasn’t so bad.” Ray grinned optimistically.
“No, you know, it wasn’t.
xxxx
“Hey, we have drinks back at our table, why did you drag me away like you couldn’t me out of there fast enough? Don’t tell me you’re like jealous of Ray or something.”
Oliver made a face. “No. Something, something’s just off about what just happened.”
“What? The fact that Ray has a girlfriend? I’m really happy for him and Nora seems nice, a little on the dark side, but nice.”
It clicked. If Oliver were in a cartoon, a lightbulb would be turning on.
“Say that again.”
“She’s nice, a little dark but nice.”
“Dark.”
“Yes. The absence of light but also when people act a little mysterious.”
“No. Darhk.”
“Still not following you.”
“I think that’s Damien Darhk’s daughter: Nora.”
Felicity laughed. “That’s not possible. Nora Darhk is about sixteen years old. That can’t be her, that woman is in her thirties.”
“Ray spends his days traveling through time. I don’t know how or why, but I’m telling you, that woman over there is Nora Darhk and she’s dangerous.”
“Oliver, come on. That’s not her. You’re being ridiculous and paranoid. Now can we go back to the party, to celebrate Wally and Linda. Fashion a smile, Mr. Grumpypus.” She pretended to pinch his cheek.
“Fine. But I’m telling you I’m right.”
“Sure.” Felicity patted his chest to appease him.
xxxx
“Felicity… why does that name sound familiar?” Nora asked she stirred her drink while at a bar top table with a few of the other Legends. Ray had left to go talk with Cisco about something on the other side of the room and Nora didn’t trust herself to be left unsupervised.
“Like Felicity Smoak? That’s cause she’s Ray’s ex.” Zari explained and popped an olive in her mouth.
Nora almost choked on her drink. “What?”
“And you didn’t know that. Right well I’m going to exit the conversation now.”
Nora grabbed Zari’s arm. “What do you know about his relationship with her?”
“Brief cause now she hangs on Oliver Queen’s arm. It was right after he bought Queen Consolidated. I’m trying to remember other concrete details but honestly I only know this much cause Amaya and I got Ray super drunk one night and he kept crying about wanting to find love.”
Nora sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Do you know if they’re still on good terms?”
“Oh yeah, they broke up amicably. Felicity knew her heart was with Oliver and Ray was being a little too Ray about the whole thing. That’s all. Can you let go of my arm now?”
Nora realized she still had it in a tight grip and released it. “Sorry.” She returned to stirring her drink. Oliver had hurt her. Felicity had hurt Ray. She needed Ray to come back before she did something really stupid.
xxxx
Ray finally returned to her side and she kissed him softly.
“Hey, miss me?”
“Always.” She felt him drape an arm around her shoulders and smiled up at him. She was ready to grill his ass.
“Why didn’t you tell me Felicity was your ex-girlfriend?”
“Because we broke up amicably and it didn’t seem relevant and I didn’t want to add to the stress of you being in the same room with the man that killed your dad.”
Nora glared at him. “Your ex married the man that killed my father. It’s definitely relevant, babe.”
“Sorry… I’ll make sure to tell you the next time I run into an ex of mine.”
“How many exes do you have!?”
“Just two others and one died.” Ray squeezed his eyes shut, ready for Nora to hex him.
Nora took in deep breaths to calm herself back down. “Okay. Oliver and Felicity don’t know who I am. We are going to keep it that way because I will not be held responsible for what happens if he confronts me and knows I’m Damien Darhk’s daughter.”
“Don’t worry, I have it all under control.” Ray said and totally lied through his teeth, he did not have it all under control.
xxxx
Oliver caught Sara’s arm and she batted him off.
“Can I help you with something, Mr. Queen?”
“Sara, I’m going to ask you this once and you better tell me the truth. Who is that.” Oliver pointed over to Nora as she and Ray chatted with Wally and Linda.
“That’s Nora, she joined the team three months ago and has been dating Ray for about as long.”
“And?...”
“And she’s really great, she makes really good baked chicken soup and makes Ray really happy.”
Oliver sighed, exasperated. “You know exactly why I’m asking you who she is. Sara, she’s the daughter of the man that killed your sister.”
“And you’re the man that murdered that man in front of her when she was twelve! She’s not dangerous if that’s what you’re wondering. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot date to return to.” Sara caught Ava’s eyes from across the room and winked at her.
Oliver shook his head. “She’s dangerous. She’s a Darhk. She’s probably killed tons of people.”
“So have you and so have I. We’re already a team of misfits and felons, why not add another?”
“Because you guys have reformed.”
“You don’t know that she hasn’t. Look at her, really look at her. Remember the little girl you made watch as you killed her father. She’s only just now getting back to being the person she was before you did that. Ray makes her really happy and Ray has really really sad puppy eyes when she’s not around. Leave her alone, Oliver. I mean it.”
“I’m surprised to hear you defending Damien Darhk’s daughter but fine. If she causes trouble...”
“I’ll kill her myself.” Sara replied to appease him.
xxxx
“Nora Darhk, you’re causing quite the stir.” Sara saddled up next to Nora and Ray.
Nora laughed. “Are you talking about Oliver Queen? Did you tell him who I was?”
“I did and I told him to leave you alone and that if you actually started causing trouble that I would kill you. Now that of course, makes him think I’m on his side when in reality I lied through my teeth and will cheer you on if something ends up happening.”
Nora choked on a laugh. “Thanks for the moral support?”
“Anytime.” Sara clapped Nora on the back and went in search of Ava.
Felicity hurried up to them as soon as Sara left. “Okay so Oliver just told me that Sara confirmed what he was thinking and I just have to say that…”
“I’m gonna stop you right there, blondie.” Nora held up a hand. “I might be Damien Darhk’s daughter but I think I am the first person in line ready to bury every atrocity with my father. Also. I stopped you because your opinion is pretty invalid given how terrible your taste is. You left Ray, a true gift to this world, for Oliver... oh what could be said about Oliver? Oliver, a man who thought it would be perfectly okay to murder a twelve year old girl’s father in front of her. That is why your opinion is invalid and I really don’t want to continue talking to you anymore.”
Felicity sputtered out words that weren’t actually words and turned on her heel, leaving the conversation.
Ray was shocked, turned on, and proud of Nora. He couldn’t decide which more he was but she could.
“What do you say we ditch this party early and head back to the Waverider since we’ll be the only ones on board?” She winked and pressed her back into his front further, feeling his need for her.
“I… yeah, that sounds like an excellent idea.”
Nora turned a little and grabbed him by his tie. She kissed him square on the mouth and when she pulled away, glanced over at Oliver Queen with a smirk and then led Ray to the door, ready to spend the rest of her night with the man she loved.
