DC's Legends of Tomorrow doesn't belong to me

You don't have to love me

"If you only knew how much I love you," he said.

Kendra almost wished that she had slapped Carter when he said that to her; it was so annoying how he knew that she loved him and remembered their past lives while she was still coming to terms with the fact that she was a reincarnation of some Egyptian deity. It was ridiculous how much Carter bought into the whole destiny thing.

You have wings a voice reminded her. Wings, girl, and you can fly. Normal people can not do that, and you have some memories of living in an ancient world. Kendra shook her head to clear it, so she was having some weird dreams, okay, memories, it still didn't mean that she destined to end up with Carter Hall. He was so overbearing, with his calm assurance that they were meant to be.

It really wasn't fair; why could he remember and accept their past while she couldn't? Why was she supposed to just take him at his word?

Destiny was really so annoying.

000

Carter watched Kendra storm out of the room. He couldn't understand why Kendra couldn't remember their past lives; really it had been two months already and she couldn't accept the fact that they were meant to be together. He supposed that he should thankful that she had even accepted to move to St. Roch with him; that they even an apartment and was willing –mostly – to train with him and help people but it really got on his nerves that he couldn't be with her the way he wanted to.

I shouldn't have told her I loved her, he told himself. She had told him repeatedly not to and to call her Kendra and Carter was trying very hard to respect her wishes; after all they were together after almost a year of looking for her he had found her and they were together. That should have been enough but it wasn't, he wanted their lives to be what they were meant to be, especially since they had discovered that their mortal enemy, Vandal Savage, was alive and well.

He really shouldn't have said anything about how much he loved her, Carter knew, but he did love her so and he had thought that it would motivate her, make her want to remember instead she had stormed off. Again. At least she couldn't leave the Wave Rider, not like that night in St. Roch when she hadn't come home.

Kendra had stormed off in the middle of training and he had gone back to the apartment and waited for her but she hadn't returned. He had been worried, that she been involved in an accident or worse, his only consolation being that they were so attuned to each other that he would have known –felt it – if she had been killed, still he hadn't slept a wink after checking everywhere he could think of but not finding her there.

When she had returned early the next morning, he had been so relieved that he'd almost pulled her into his arms and kissed her but he'd remembered just in time that she had warned him against that as well.

"Where were you?" he had asked, trying to keep his voice calm and level.

"I just needed to clear my head, no big deal."

"I was worried," he told her.

"There was no need, as you can see," Kendra had assured him, "I'm a big girl I can take care of myself."

"I know," he had replied, "that doesn't stop me from worrying, though."

Kendra had stared at him and then said, "I won't be training today, I'm tired."

"Okay."

She had spent most of the day in the room only coming out to use the bathroom and to eat and he had given her her space.

Kendra's re-entry into the room brought him out of his reverie. "I wanted to thank you for what you did for Aldus."

He shrugged, "he was my son too."

"It's weird," Kendra seemed confused, "I… we hardly knew him but I feel like something is missing."

They stared at each other in silence.

"I guess I should let you get back to whatever it is that you're doing," Kendra said.

"Okay."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"I have a hard time believing in all… this destiny thing," she said.

He smiled slightly, "That's not a question."

"Why?"

"Why do I believe it, you mean?"

She nodded.

"Because of you."

"Me?"

"You're here, we can both fly and I -."

"Please don't say you love me," she interrupted him.

"I know you don't like to hear it but I do."

"Why?"

"I can't even begin to explain it," Carter told her, "loving you is as natural as breathing."

"You totally bought into the whole destiny thing," Kendra said, "You can't even decide for yourself who you're meant to love."

"Maybe."

"Personally I can't believe that you're my destiny."

He smiled inspite of himself. His Chey-Ara had always been stubborn.

Kendra watched him smile and shook her head and walked out of the room.

As Carter watched her walk away from him for the second that day he made a decision; when she came back he would let her off the hook, tell her that she didn't need to love him not now anyway, he could and would wait until she was ready.

She was worth it.

000