Disclaimer: I do not own LOT or any of the characters.
"Should I even be asking what a baby is doing in my ship?" Rip asks the moment he notices the infant sitting on one of the jump-seats.
Everyone has their own story to tell, and all at once. His conclusion, after half-listening to each of them, is that during their last mission, Mick got into a nasty fight with one of Savage's minions, and said minion used some kind of serum to turn him into a child, comic-book super-villain style.
"I think he's kind of cute," Raymond comments as he plays peek-a-boo with the baby.
"For your own sake, I really hope he can't hear you," an amused Leonard says, before taking charge of the situation. "He's my partner, we can't leave him."
Rip nods, looks at the baby bonding with Ray, then at Kendra. "I guess you two can handle him."
Kendra crosses her arms in front of her chest. "First, you bench me during missions. Now you assign me to babysitting duties? I'm not your butler or nanny."
"You're the only one who's ever had any kind of experience with babies," Rips points out, referring to her myriad past lives.
Leonard helpfully intervenes before Kendra can lash out. He picks up Rory, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of the impossible situation they've found themselves in. "I've had my fair share with raising my bratty little sister. I'll take care of this."
Now this she has definitely got to watch, and hopefully record on her phone and use as blackmail material. "I'm going to sit this one out," Sara announces to Rip as she follows Leonard out of the room.
Baby Rory is even more cranky than the adult, if that's even possible. He cries a lot, fusses over the formula milk he's being fed, needs his diapers changed every few hours, refuses to sleep, or burp, or grant them a moment's peace, in general. Babies are officially a nightmare, and harder to handle than a hundred armed assassins.
"I really hope Professor Stein can reverse this soon," Sara whispers when Mick is finally asleep and they have a moment to themselves.
He glares at her from across the other side of the make-shift cot. "You're enjoying this."
She can't help the smile that tugs at the corner of her lips. "A little."
"You can lend me a hand, you know," he grumbles. Lisa was a kid a long time back, back when he himself was young and full of energy. Now, on the other side of his forties, he is really tired from just a few hours of this.
She pretends to think it over for a moment. "I can, but I won't."
He decides to rest while he can instead of wasting his energy verbally sparring with her. He enjoys her company, and is enjoying the odd domesticity of being in this together with her, and the comfortable silence between them is very comforting.
She chimes in again. "For a crook, you're surprisingly good with kids."
"For an assassin, you're surprisingly chatty," he retorts.
She doesn't get a chance to answer. Mick starts crying, again.
Karma is an unforgiving bitch, because Stein needs a formula stolen from the enemy, Snart takes the job, and she is stuck with baby-duties. For the first few minutes, she panics if she is holding him correctly, worries that she will snap his neck or damage his brain further. Then she remembers the uncomfortable fact that this is Mick Rory she is rocking in her arms, Mick Rory whose little little fingers are groping her boobs. Good grief! Once this is over, she is so going back and killing the son of a gun responsible for this.
"Honey, I'm home," Leonard says with a smirk when he returns three hours later. Sara looks thoroughly exhausted, has baby vomit stuck to her hair and the back of her shirt, and is ready to break his bones, which only makes the situation more amusing for him. And she looks breathtakingly beautiful. He wouldn't mind coming home to this some day.
"I'm never having a baby," Sara mumbles as she quickly deposits Mick in Leonard's arms. "I need a shower. I'd ask you to join me, but I kind of hate you right now," she adds sarcastically.
His eyes glaze over for a moment, before he masks it behind the usual coldness. It's all pushing the lines in the game of flirting, raising the stakes, but never doing anything about it. He looks at Mick, sleeping contently after being held so close to Sara's bosom, and shakes his head. "You lucky bastard."
"Can't you put him to sleep, Gideon?" she begs, rocking a crying Mick in her arms, while Ray, Rip and Stein, work on the anti-dote.
"Try singing to him," Leonard offers oh-so-helpfully, while he rests back on a recliner and watches Sara struggle, his logic being he has done his quota of work for the day and it's her turn now.
She's also going to kill this smug son of a gun when this is over.
A sad thought crosses her mind then, of a young Leonard taking care of a young Lisa. Her eyes soften around the edges. "You did this for your sister every day?"
He shrugs. "Mum was there the first couple of years. It wasn't so bad."
She nods. "Laurel and I never got along as kids. We always fought over our dresses and dolls. I don't think she ever put me to sleep."
Silence follows, during which she wonders if her lack of maternal instincts is just an extention of her detachment from her humanity.
"You're doing fine," he reassures her, as if reading her mind.
She smiles, and decides to hum the lullaby her mother used to sing to her and her sister when they were kids. He listens, and confides in her that he cannot remember his mother's songs.
Sara sits down next to him, with a sleeping Mick in her arms, and leans her head on his shoulder. Words are never needed between them.
Two hours later, the anti-dote is delivered and Mick is back to his former self, blissfully unaware of everything that happened in between.
Two years later, they give their first born the middle name "Mick."
A/N: I wrote this for Captain Canary hiatus fest, hope you like it :) You can read more of my stuff at my tumblr (captaincoldgotthecanary), as well as a rec list of almost all Captain Canary fics I've come across. :)