AN: Thanks to Tavyn and crazygirlne for their wonderful encouragement regarding this story, which I began nearly a year ago and didn't finish until last week. This takes place in a season 1 world where the team simply lives on happily forever.
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It was 2:57 on a Wednesday afternoon in 1985.
Leonard didn't particularly miss the 80's, even though he'd grown up in them (that was precisely why he didn't miss them, in fact). That said, he'd never pass up an opportunity to get off the ship for a little while.
Their latest mission was over and they were biding their time until Rip and Gideon decided where and when they should go next. Len figured he had a couple hours of freedom, at the very least. He was starting to go stir-crazy – when was the last time he'd started a fight with someone just for the hell of it? As a matter of fact, when was the last time he'd wanted to do that? He couldn't remember and that wasn't good. He really had to get out there and punch a few people to get back to feeling like his old self.
What was the fun in going alone, though? He weighed his options and his first thought was Sara – he asked her along probably 90% of the time, but she'd mentioned earlier that she wanted to spend the day unwinding after their latest mission.
Mick was always an obvious choice – if Len was looking to do serious damage or risk being arrested. He wasn't sure if he was feeling quite that destructive today. Rip and Ray were usually too law-abiding for his liking. (Don't steal this, Don't destroy that, it got tiring pretty fast.) Along a similar note, Kendra liked to lecture him whenever he suggested anything even remotely on the wrong side of the law.
Stein and Jax had plans to work on a new weapon in engineering, which was too bad, because Jax knew how to have fun. Len just preferred asking the kid when Stein wasn't around, since the older man loved to launch into lectures about 'corruption of youth' (as if twenty-something was that young). And besides, as far as Len was concerned, he'd enjoyed being corrupted in his youth, so…
All other options exhausted, Leonard decided that left him with Lance – her attempts at unwinding on the ship be damned. He chose not to think about how that had been his original plan – it was generally always his plan (and he knew he hadn't hidden it that well, lately – even Stein had started asking him where Sara was when he found Leonard by himself, and the professor was usually painfully unaware of things like that).
Leonard knew he should probably care about that development a lot more than he did, but the alternative was to start avoiding Sara, and he wouldn't do that.
He hoped he could convince her that she'd 'unwind' better at the local bar with him as opposed to reading. He enjoyed a good book as much as the next, but in his mind, it could rarely beat bar hopping, especially when they'd had enough drinks to give the evening a pleasant haze.
One problem: he couldn't find her. She wasn't in her room, or the kitchen, or the gym…
As a matter of fact, there was no one around. Each room he walked through was as empty as the last and he was about to ask Gideon if his team had disappeared in some kind of black hole (nothing would surprise him anymore) when he reached the bridge and found them. All seven of them looked over in unison as he entered. It was strange enough that he stopped instantly. He really hoped it wasn't some kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers type scenario because he wasn't up for it that afternoon.
"You're on time, Mr. Snart," Rip said, and Len relaxed – he didn't sound as if he'd been possessed by an alien. Everyone was watching him, and wait, what was he 'on time' for?
He wouldn't step any further into the room. "This better not be an intervention."
A few of them snickered and Kendra tapped her fingers on the center console. "Do you think this should be an intervention?"
Sara was lounging in one of the chairs next to Jax, eating from a container of ice cream. "Do tell us, what do you think we'd be intervening for? I have a couple ideas."
He looked at her askance. "Just a couple? Remind me to educate you later."
Stein finally revealed why they were there. "It's a team meeting, Leonard."
"No!" he yelled, unconsciously taking a step back. "That's even worse. I can't sit through yet another one. Haven't we all suffered enough? Team meetings are practically –"
"Torture," Sara said the word at the same time he did, earning herself a glare.
"You agree with me?" That was shocking.
"No, I don't," she scolded. (Less shocking.) "You not wanting to do something does not make it torture."
"You're talking as if torture's inherently a bad thing, Lance. Personally, I don't mind it…under the right circumstances." He relished the censure in her next look and waved his arm to encompass the room and the rest of their team. "These are not those circumstances."
Everyone stared at them, long used to this kind of thing. "Can we just get on with it?" Ray asked. "I'm working on a new prototype of my suit utilizing the theories developed by –"
"Let me guess," Len interrupted, "someone we've never heard of?"
"I've probably heard of them," Stein ventured.
Len honestly didn't know how they stayed awake while talking to each other. "Since everyone 'forgot' to mention this meeting to me, I'm afraid I can't attend. I have a busy afternoon."
"Leaving is not an option," Rip told him.
Leonard instantly bristled at the tone, as he always did when someone explicitly told him what he could or couldn't do. They might get along much better than they did in the beginning, but that didn't mean he'd ever be fine with being treated like he was under their control. (Sure, he'd admit they were a team, but he made sure to continuously threaten anyone who so much as whispered the word 'family' – and it was Lance, it was always Lance, and his irritation was probably why she kept saying it.)
"Watch me leave," he said, not at all pleasantly, and he could tell by Rip's expression what was coming next. "Don't you dare –"
"Gideon," Rip cut him off.
"Mr. Snart, you are not allowed off this ship until you participate," the AI informed him.
It was exactly the wrong move and the others knew it as the tension in the room noticeably heightened. Their captain never liked having his authority challenged and Leonard despised being held against his will, period.
Sara shook her head at the two of them, aware they were mere seconds away from fighting. "Boys, please. The longer you drag this out, the longer we're stuck here."
Rip gestured at Leonard, petulantly. "He's being entirely unreasonable."
Len couldn't believe what he was hearing – Rip thought he was unreasonable? He advanced on the other man, stopping just shy of getting in his face. "You're the one who just locked me in!"
"No one's locked in and we can leave at any time," Sara said, pinning their captain with a warning glare. "Right?"
Rip mumbled something unintelligible, and when her look went from mild to threatening, he sighed. "Fine, Gideon, Mr. Snart can leave at any time."
"Understood, Captain."
"Here's a pro tip in case you've missed it," Leonard told him, words sharp as knives, "trying to force any of us to do anything against our will is going to end very badly for you."
"Alright, I apologize for trying to keep you here," Rip relented, "even though you've done the same thing to me."
"I locked you in the med bay by…accident."
"You turned off Gideon, disabled the doors, and then left the ship when we were the only two people here – I was stuck for almost two hours before I was able to break through the wall and manually short circuit the lock!"
"You'd nearly gotten us killed with your awful plan on the prior mission, you had it coming."
"I thought it was an 'accident'?"
"Whatever!" Len said quickly, uninterested in confronting his own hypocrisy. "Now that it's settled, I'm going out."
"Len," Sara called, before he'd made it halfway to the door, "we're all on this team, you might even call us a family –" she broke off when he spun around to pin her with a warning look. (Yeah, that got his attention, much as she'd intended.) "We all know if you didn't want to be part of this, then you would have quit a long time ago. So put in some effort, would you? And if you won't do that, the least you can do is fake it. Even Mick manages that much."
In acknowledgement, Mick waved at the room halfheartedly from where he was leaning against the wall with his eyes shut.
Leonard searched Sara's expression to try and determine how important this was to her. They both knew she swayed him in a way none of the others could, not even Mick, and if he knew why, he'd put a stop to it. Maybe. Okay, probably not.
"We've had to reschedule three times already because you never show up," Jax complained. "That's why no one told you about today. Can't we get it over with?"
"Thanks for the support," Rip mumbled.
Leonard couldn't argue the kid's explanation; he'd have made sure he was MIA for the entire day if he'd known about this meeting. "Fine," he said, but not to them – to Sara. "I'll play along. For now."
The real problem was that he disliked being told what to do more than the 'team meetings' themselves. In fact, the meetings could be amusing when he took every opportunity to tear into Rip's ideas. Maybe it was also partly that he'd never had to play by the rules before (though this team played fast and loose with those, anyways). But still, constant reminders of his new reality were difficult to face head-on.
Leonard was pretty sure Rip loved these meetings because they made him feel like he was in charge. He'd accepted (at least on the surface) that the other man was their leader, though he always surrounded the word with sarcastic air quotes in his mind. (And literal ones when he was forced to say the word out loud.)
He ignored the way the others were watching him warily, as if he might change his mind at any moment and make a run for it. Jax was sitting in Len's usual chair, and one look had him scrambling out of it in seconds.
Sara tore her gaze away from her ice cream to frown at Len disapprovingly. "Jax and I were having a conversation before you got here, you know."
He reached for the spoon and she handed it over. "You can talk somewhere else."
"Your social skills are non-existent, as always," she remarked, as he took a bite of ice cream and then recoiled.
"What is this?" he asked, horrified. "Is there fruit in that?"
She took far too much joy in her next words: "Rum raisin."
"We need to get you some better taste. Unfortunately, that's one of the few things I can't steal for you."
"I happen to like rum raisin."
He took another spoonful, because maybe the flavor around the raisins wasn't half-bad. "There's so much wrong with you."
"I also buy flavors no one else likes – for myself – in the hopes that they won't get eaten by other people. Not that it stops you."
"You know, Gideon can make whatever you like. You don't have to actually go shopping."
"It's not the same," she said, wistfully. "And besides, you could have told her to make your favorite ice cream."
He shrugged, because he more or less agreed with her reasons, but harassing her was always the more entertaining option. "You're right, it's not the same. Even this horrible flavor is better than Gideon's attempts at synthesizing ice cream. However, I can't, in good conscience, allow you to buy this again. Gideon, erase anything Sara put on the shopping list."
Sara glared at him over the top of the ice cream container. "Gideon, ignore that order."
Gideon stayed silent, long since instructed by the captain to ignore both of them when they used her to try and gain a win over each other.
They started arguing over what constituted 'good' ice cream and Sara thought Len's reasons weren't holding much weight when he kept eating from her container. And wouldn't give her back the spoon.
Rip cleared his throat and the two of them glanced over to find everyone watching them. Apparently their team had been waiting for them to pay attention so the meeting could start and they hadn't even noticed.
Sara took the opportunity to rip the spoon from Len's hand. "Sorry," she told the others, sheepishly.
Len refused to apologize, telling Rip, "You better have a good reason for this meeting because it's ruining my plans for the day."
"What plans?" Sara scoffed. "Day drinking? Getting arrested? Finding new and varied ways to piss us off?"
"Actually, I was thinking of going shopping." He grabbed the spoon back, staring pointedly at the ice cream in her hands. "But yes to options one and three – and the middle one if things go really well."
Rip knew he was about to lose their attention again (if he hadn't already). "I wanted to talk about team conflict."
"You're not going to make us play those trust games again, are you?" Ray asked, warily. He had good reason to be doubtful – last time, Rip had been distracted (by Kendra punching Leonard) and had let Ray collapse to the floor.
"Those games were a fun time," Leonard said. His 'fun time' had mostly consisted of letting people think he'd stepped away before catching them at the last second. (Said 'fun' had ended when Kendra punched him in the face when he almost missed catching her for real, but you know, up until then…)
"Can we get this over with?" Mick asked. "I'm not that great with…team things."
A few of them threw sideways glances at him. If there was an award for understatement of the year…
"I've been doing a lot of thinking recently," Rip began. "I think we're becoming a more cohesive unit, don't you agree?"
In answer, he received an enthusiastic 'yes' (Jackson), two skeptical looks (Mick and Kendra), two shrugs (Stein and Ray), and outright laughter from Leonard, which didn't stop until Sara pinched his arm – and also had the side benefit of causing him to drop the spoon which she quickly retrieved.
"I'm glad we all agree," Rip said, sarcastically. "And since I'm more or less serving as our leader –" he ignored Leonard scoffing (and were those air quotes?), "– on these missions, I feel it's my obligation to keep us together. None of us are ignorant of the problems that can affect teams like ours. Petty arguments can lead to lingering issues. Disagreements can spur people to take sides. Small slights can add up over time. All these things can cause resentment and anger."
Len raised his hand even as he spoke, "Does this speech qualify? Because I'm definitely feeling resentment and anger."
Rip crossed his arms and grit his teeth – uh oh, that was his 'I'm annoyed as hell but trying to remain composed' stance. "If you could please refrain until I'm done, Mr. Snart."
"I'm just saying." Len held up his hands, as if he could ever be mistaken for innocent. "I could have knocked over five jewelry stores during the length of this tedious speech about nothing."
Sara hit him on the shoulder in silent chastisement, Len gave her a push in retaliation, and it quickly devolved into a fifteen-second light shoving match that ended when Ray kicked both their chairs.
The captain sent Ray a grateful look and then got back to his 'talking points'. And oh yeah, he meant that literally.
"Gideon, pull up my slides," he ordered, as a list of bullet points appeared on the main screen.
Mick groaned unhappily and slid down lower against the wall, resigned to whatever hell Rip was going to put them through.
It reminded Sara of a power point presentation, the likes of which she vaguely remembered from high school.
Leonard was on the same page as her. "What is this, Psychology 101? Since when are you a professor?"
"We may not be in school, Mr. Snart, but I am your teacher in all matters related to these missions, so please keep quiet and pay attention."
"Or?"
"Stop being difficult just to be difficult," Sara hissed, sharply.
"Whatever," he muttered, and it sounded annoyed, but they all recognized it for what it was – his tacit agreement to keep his mouth shut…for the moment.
The whole team tried to feign interest, or at the very least stay awake (Jax kept nodding off and had to be woken up by Stein three times) while Rip went through his various suggestions to resolve conflict. They ran the gamut from the obvious ('talk through your problems') to the ridiculous ('ask Rip Hunter to mediate unresolvable issues').
"You expect us to come to you?" Ray sounded as unsure as the rest of them felt. Rip had been okay as a leader (and 'okay' was stretching it most of the time), but the thought of putting him in charge of an interpersonal issue had most of them hesitating.
"I assure you that I'm well-versed in solving conflict," Rip said. "I took four separate leadership and mediation classes in my own time."
"Just to clarify," Mick interrupted, gruffly, "that was before you went on the run, stole a timeship, and then formed this team under false pretenses…right?"
"Uh…that's irrelevant."
"I think my partner has a good point," Len broke in. "I think it's highly relevant."
"We've all made mistakes," Rip insisted. "That doesn't mean that we can't learn from them and move on. Now, if any of you have a problem with each other, I'm offering my help to resolve it."
Leonard leaned forward in his chair, which indicated his genuine interest in the question he was about to ask: "What if our problem's with you?"
Rip actually seemed stumped, as if that potential issue had never occurred to him.
"So much for your four classes," Leonard said, mockingly.
"If you have an issue with me, you can talk to me about it or you can ask a team member to mediate for the two of us," Rip suggested.
Leonard turned to address the rest of the group. "Who'd pick my side over Rip's?"
His only response was deafening silence. Len was sure most didn't answer because they wouldn't take his side – Mick, he suspected, stayed silent just to annoy him.
"See? None of them are qualified to mediate," Len complained to Rip. "They're biased against me. And it has to be pretty severe for them to choose you over me."
"That's not it at all, Leonard," Stein protested. "It's simply that we'd need to hear the issue to decide who was right." It was a rational response, which meant Len didn't like it. Was it too much to ask for someone who'd blindly take his side, no matter what? Well, apparently.
Rip pulled up his next slide which read 'Airing of grievances'.
"Oh yeah. That's a smart question to ask this group," Sara remarked, getting up to throw away her ice cream container.
"Who wants to go first?" Rip asked.
Leonard opened his mouth to speak and Rip beat him to the punch: "Not you."
"You're too predictable," Sara told Len, enjoying the end of their exchange as she returned to her seat.
In retaliation, Leonard put his feet up on the chair she'd just vacated. When she stared at him, he stared mutinously back.
Sara turned to the others: "I have a grievance." She capped it off by unceremoniously shoving Len's feet off the chair and retaking her spot.
"Alright…" Rip said, warily, though he looked more like he wanted to flee the room. And regretted insisting on this meeting. Or maybe forming this team, entirely.
Sara jerked her thumb at the man next to her. "Leonard."
"What about me?" he demanded.
"No, that's it," she told him, sweetly. "You, as a person, are my grievance."
"Okay," he said, easily. "I'd like to counter Sara's grievance with a grievance of my own." He jumped out of his chair and pointed at Sara, as if his next words needed such a dramatic display: "Sara Lance is my grievance!"
"See what you've done?" Ray muttered to Rip, running his hands over his face.
Everyone seemed to pause, then turned to the captain as a collective group, waiting to see what he'd do. Comically, Rip was as frozen as the rest of them, looking between Sara and Leonard with growing dismay.
"Well?" Mick prompted, impatiently. "Mediate!"
"Uh, you see, when we talk about the nature of conflict…" Rip tried to stall for time, clearly at a loss and searching for any way out of it. "It's a very complex topic. Moreover, since I haven't heard a specific problem, there's really nothing to mediate, is there?" He brightened, thinking he'd come up with some wonderful solution. "There you have it, grievance resolved! Let's move on to the next slide –"
"Too late, you failed," Leonard declared. "In approximately seven seconds, too. Is that a Time Master record?"
"I have an idea," Mick suggested (showing enthusiasm for something in one of these meetings for the first time ever), "Sara and Leonard can fight it out!"
They both shrugged and looked at each other as if to say 'why the hell not?'.
"No, no, no," Ray insisted, horrified at Mick's suggestion. "Fighting is not supposed to be our solution anymore." At their obvious disbelief, he added, "Not with each other."
"Mr. Palmer is right," Rip said, stepping between Sara and Len. "Physical violence should not be an option."
"We all agreed that we'd stop fighting to resolve problems," Ray added, though he shouldn't have bothered, since Sara and Len were already sizing each other up.
"I don't recall agreeing to that," Len easily lied.
"Alright, then," Rip snapped, frustrated. "You two want to fight? Go right ahead – it'll be Gideon who has to stitch you two up."
"Are you sanctioning this?" Len asked, eyebrows raised, as he glanced from Rip to Sara.
"I think he is," Sara smirked, when Rip didn't answer the question.
"This is a horrible idea," Ray muttered.
Leonard turned to him. "Be a dear and hang this up for me, will you?" He tossed his coat over and everyone watched it hit Ray and then fall to the floor.
"On second thought, I'd enjoy watching Sara knock you out," Ray said, darkly.
"Take a few steps back," Leonard ordered Rip, who hadn't moved from where he was still standing between them, "or we might hit you instead." He paused. "On second thought, stay as close as you want."
"Hilarious," Rip scowled, though he dutifully moved further away.
Len grinned at him, but it was all teeth. "I'm not joking." He turned back to Sara who was watching him, unimpressed. "Alright, Lance. Square up." He shifted his eyes to the captain, then back to her. "You know what we're doing right?"
She read the intention (or rather, lack thereof) in his eyes. It was funny how they could understand each other so well after only a few months. "I'm game, Leonard."
"You two are idiots," Kendra told them, with obvious disappointment.
Jax couldn't resist having some fun with them. "Gideon, what are Leonard's chances of winning against Sara – who, let's remind everyone, for the hilarity of it – is a League-trained assassin?"
"Approximately 12% and that's if Ms. Lance is having an off-day."
Leonard scowled, clearly not a fan of the statistic. "Have a little more faith, Gideon."
"In whom should I have 'faith', Mr. Snart? Because Ms. Lance seems easily poised to win."
"Oh, forget it," he muttered.
Sara wasted no time, lunging forward to swing at him as he ducked away. "Scared, Leonard?"
"Of you?" He wondered if she was serious. "It'd be pretty reckless if I wasn't."
She went after him again and he evaded her once more. Thus began a dozen attempts where they went after each other only to dodge at the last second.
Sara sighed, blowing some hair out of her eyes in frustration. "We could probably do this forever."
He smirked at her. "Darling, I'm an expert at going all night."
She tried really hard not to smile. "What's your plan? Tire me out?" She realized the opening she'd given him the second his eyes lit up. "Never mind. Don't answer that."
"I'd like to point out that when I said I'd fight you, I never said anything about violence."
She eyed him, curiously. "What?"
"We could retire somewhere else and I'd happily show you."
His comment caught her off guard and she started laughing, which meant when he grabbed her, she failed to step away like she was supposed to – but that was fine, because it meant he didn't have to keep up the pretense, either. Instead of taking her down to the floor, he put his arm around her shoulders, but it wasn't to try and gain any advantage or to win their 'fight'.
Understanding dawned on Rip – Leonard's move was a gesture of affection. They weren't fighting anymore – no, worse than that, they'd never been fighting at all.
Sara read the growing realization in their captain's eyes. "Some mediator you are if you can't see when your own team's playing you."
It'd taken the others a few seconds to realize what they'd done – put on a show for everyone in which they all saw exactly what they wanted to see. Two team members resorting to a fake sparring match…but to what end?
"Should have seen the looks on your faces," Sara said, grinning at them. She leaned back into Leonard's hold – he hadn't let go of her.
"Did you really think we'd try to kill each other?" he asked.
Everyone stared at them for a moment, then, as if a floodgate had broken loose, they were hit with a chorus of 'yes' and 'obviously' and 'we'd be out of our minds to think otherwise'.
"Give us a little more credit than that," Sara told them.
Leonard pointed at Rip over Sara's shoulder. "This was a test of you."
"You didn't pass," Sara added. "I can't believe you'd let us fight it out. Come on."
There was no way Rip would admit he should have done things differently. "Like I'm supposed to control either of you?" he asked, defensively. "As if I'd even be able to? Crazy One and Crazy Two? It's easier to let you work things out on your own."
Leonard pounced on that explanation: "And you've just made our main point for us – that in a lot of instances, it's better to let this team work things out between themselves. We're not saying people can't come to you if they want – minimal help as you might be – but don't try to force us. It'll make things worse. For everyone."
"Fine," Rip relented. "I suppose I see your point. Still, I'd argue this is more a lesson for the rest of us that your insanity, combined, is best left to your own devices."
Sara tipped her head back to glance up at Len. "We're fine with that."
He tightened his arms around her in a brief hug before stepping away. "Definitely."
"Is there anyone here that has an actual grievance with someone else?" the captain asked, eager to move on.
"Since you're asking –" Leonard began.
"Oh, please, no," Rip begged.
"– Sara has a persistent habit of stealing things from my room," he continued, as if Rip hadn't spoken.
"Are you on that again?" she sighed. "I borrowed a couple blankets."
"'Borrowed' implies you intend to give them back."
"I do give them back. Every time you do laundry."
"Then you take them again!" He looked around for help. "Now's the perfect time for someone to step in and back me up."
"Is this another trick?" Rip asked, warily. "You just told me to stay out of issues between you two…now you're asking for help?"
"Maybe I've changed," Len insisted.
"In three seconds?" Rip sighed, before coming to a decision. "No, I'm not intervening. You two work out your differences. This might be productive."
"I guess the definition of 'productive' is much different in the future," Mick mumbled.
"I don't see why you care anyways," Sara was telling Leonard. "You have about a dozen blankets. Besides, don't you like the cold?"
"If I liked the cold, would I always be wearing a jacket?" He thought that for such a specialized team, they were painfully unobservant. "I have like fifteen of them!"
Sensing Rip's refusal to intervene, Stein asked, "Sara, would it be entirely unreasonable to suggest you ask before taking anything of Leonard's?"
She frowned, before admitting, "Not entirely."
The older man nodded, quite happy with her response. "And Leonard, would you really deny her when you have plenty to spare?"
Len wasn't quite so quick to dismiss Stein as he usually was Rip (just by default). "No, I guess not."
The captain seemed inordinately proud of the scene that had played out before him. "See, this is what I wanted! Conflict resolution. What did I tell you about its merits?"
"You didn't do anything," Mick pointed out, clearly enjoying that fact. "It was entirely the professor. Maybe we should all go to him for help with our problems."
"No, please," Stein waved them off, though he was obviously pleased. "I merely pointed out what Sara and Leonard already knew. That said, if anyone ever wants to seek my counsel on an issue, my door is always open."
Everyone started thanking Stein for his selfless desire to help the team as Rip looked on, increasingly annoyed.
Ray turned a critical eye back to Sara and Leonard. He couldn't believe they'd actually been fighting over blankets – and for weeks, it seemed. It must have been one of the stupidest arguments he'd ever heard (and that was saying something, considering he'd once heard them argue over who was drinking from the cleanest glass). "Personally, I find it ironic that a professional thief would be so irked at having something taken from him."
"It's the principle," Leonard insisted.
"Maybe it'll teach you empathy," Jax suggested. "If that's possible."
Ray's remark had stirred a new question in Sara. "If you cared that much," she asked Len, "why didn't you just steal them back?"
He tapped his fingers on the back of a chair and looked anywhere but at her. "Well. It's not like I wanted you to be cold."
Kendra took a step closer to Len, pretending to listen for something. "Is that…the sound of an actual heart? I didn't know you possessed one."
"I don't. It's a front!"
"Somebody spare me," Mick snapped, getting up to leave. "I'm going to break into my whiskey stash if we're going to talk about feelings. Don't think you have to wait for me to come back before continuing."
"Moving on," Rip said, "we've come to my last point, which might be one that some of you have the most trouble with…"
From his hesitant tone, Sara couldn't wait for this one, and when Rip pulled up his last slide, she wasn't disappointed.
"Romantic relationships," Leonard read, with mild confusion. "Do you want us to sleep with each other? Like all at the same time? Is this some kind of weird orgy thing?"
Rip wondered what they'd do if he walked out of the room, off the ship, and disappeared forever. (No, he couldn't do it, they'd probably like it too much.) "What I mean is that if any of you are thinking of starting a relationship, you need to consider the far-reaching consequences. It's probably best if we all keep things strictly platonic, but I'm not your parent and it's also not my place to tell you what to do. I only want to remind everyone of the problems that can arise when relationships become intimate – or more specifically, what happens when they inevitably end. I'm asking you to put this team above any personal issues that may arise, even though break-ups might make some of you want to leave. If you don't think you can handle the end of a relationship and still want to remain on this team, working with that same person, then you might be better off waiting until this is over to…start anything."
Ray and Kendra looked at each other, obviously uncomfortable, but no one noticed because Leonard and Sara had also exchanged a glance. The difference was that their reaction was to start laughing.
"Oh come on, you two are sleeping together already?" Rip pressed his hands onto the console in front of him, wondering how problematic this was going to be. Sara and Leonard alone caused him all manners of grief. The two of them together? Would it be like a math problem squared?
"Hey now," Leonard was protesting, "slow it down. I don't know where you got the idea that I'm easy."
Everyone looked at him with varying levels of disbelief.
"I'm not that easy," he insisted, indignant.
"Seriously?" Ray asked, and it was obvious from the others' expressions that he was saying what they were all thinking.
"I'll have you know that if any of you want this," he pointed at each of them individually to make an impact, "then you're going to have to put in the time and effort to win me."
"I can't believe you just pointed at me," Rip said, aghast.
"Yes, I'm feeling somewhat uncomfortable," Stein added, warily.
"I think it's flattering!" Ray chimed in, as Kendra frowned at him.
"I was trying to make a point," Len said, rolling his eyes.
"Now, what did you mean by someone needing to put in 'effort' to win you, Leonard?" Sara leaned over to speak into his ear. "I'm guessing 'showing up in your room'? Because I'm sure that'd be more than sufficient."
He deliberately took a step forward to put more distance between them. "I know you're fixated on me, but I'd appreciate it if you stopped hitting on me so blatantly. Let's give everyone an equal chance!"
Sara took his recently vacated seat and kicked her legs out in front of her. "Who said I'm fixated on you? I have an entire ship of men at my perusal. And let's not forget the lovely Kendra." She sent a wink at the other woman who grinned in response.
"I'm uncomfortable again," Stein muttered.
"Aww, you guys both love me?" Ray grinned at them.
"Wait, does that mean all of us have a shot with you?" Jax asked Sara, slyly. "'Cause if you agree to a night on the town with me, I could show you quite the time."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Could you now?"
Jax was about to reply when he noticed the very unamused look Leonard was sending his way. It wasn't a glare, or even a threat, it was more like an assessing gaze that made him distinctly uncomfortable. Jax loved Sara as a friend, but he wasn't interested in her romantically and if making a joke about it was going to get him on the wrong side of someone like Leonard Snart? Hell no – there was no way he was dealing with that man. "Um, on second thought, Sara... Probably not."
"That was a quick turnaround," Sara remarked, and she wasn't a fool, either. She swept her gaze over to Leonard, though by that time, he was no longer staring at Jax. No, he was suddenly intensely focused on the last slide of Rip's power point presentation as if he'd never seen anything more interesting in his life.
"See?" Rip couldn't believe how perfectly they were making his point for him. "Romantic interest among team members breeds resentment, jealousy, and in worst case scenarios, the desire for people to leave our team. I only want to avoid that for as long as possible. It's the smart play and you're all smart people."
Stein had already been thinking along the same lines, so he was the first to back up their captain. "You have a point. I think everyone's priority should be our missions. If any of us want to explore more personal matters, there will be plenty of time to…seize opportunities later."
"I'm available if anyone wants to seize me," Leonard offered to the room, then glanced at Jax. "Except for you, kid. I'm pretty sure you're underage and I don't need to go to jail for that."
"I'm 22," Jax protested, "I just have youthful features."
"I thought you weren't easy?" Sara asked Len, unable to hide her enjoyment at their discussion.
"You know I'm all talk." He put his hands on her chair, on either side of her, and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Except for when I'm talking to you."
"Is that right?" She grinned up at him.
"Are you two sure you're not together?" Stein asked, in his random, absent-minded manner – it was obvious the question popped into his head as a stray possibility and he'd thrown it out to them because he'd found it entertaining.
Leonard thought about laughing, but as he looked down at Sara, all he could say was, "I don't know. Maybe we should be."
She stared up at him, and he watched her expression change, amusement giving way to something much more serious, thinking over a possibility that both of them had thought of fleetingly, but never seriously considered – or spoken out loud.
Not until Rip Hunter and his ridiculous team meeting.
Leonard hadn't moved, watching the play of emotions on Sara's face. "What do you think, Lance? Is our esteemed captain correct? Should there really be a 'no fraternization' policy while –"
He never got to finish his sentence since Sara surged out of the seat, kissing him even as she pushed him back upright, until they were both standing. He almost pulled away from her in reflexive shock, before he realized what she was doing – and that he absolutely didn't mind in the slightest. He thought he heard the others gasping (or groaning in dismay – that had to be Rip) and it only spurred him to deepen their kiss, tasting as much of her as he possibly could before she came to her senses, or the others interrupted them, or some kind of 'time emergency' threw them for a loop.
"What have you done?" Jax demanded, somewhere in the background, and Len wasn't sure if he was directing that at Rip or Stein. Or perhaps both of them equally.
Sara finally broke apart from him, inhaling sharply, and her eyes – he didn't know if he'd ever seen them so clear or determined as he did right then. "Yes, Leonard," she whispered, moving forward again to bite at his bottom lip, "what have you done?"
Apparently, she'd taken Jax's question as being aimed at him. Alright, then. "I think I inadvertently gave you permission to unleash your hidden desires, the passion that you clearly can't control when I'm –" She shoved him away from her and he shot her a smug grin, finishing, "– around."
She was laughing, though, as Rip surveyed them both sternly.
"Are you telling me that my power point specifically meant to discourage relationships amongst your team –"
"Directly led to one," Jax filled in, dismayed. "Seriously, Rip, what the hell's wrong with you?"
Their captain shook his head, seemingly at a loss. How had his valuable advice that this team stay away from one another resulted in…this? "I don't know," he admitted.
"Is that true?" Sara whispered, leaning closer to Len despite having shoved him away a moment earlier. "That we're in a relationship?"
"Yes, I think so," he murmured, mostly because he didn't like the alternative (of them not being in one). "Sorry, Lance."
"Nothing to apologize for," she reassured him.
And when she moved forward to kiss him again, he only felt an unequivocal love for Rip Hunter's mandatory team meetings.
In fact, he might start insisting they held them weekly, from that point on.
XXXXXX