AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I'm setting up another continuity, which I'm calling "Marking Time." This shares the same space with "Not Our Song" but is far more serious, and sets up a little characterization for yet another piece that's in the works.
I was bothered in the finale that Sara never told her dad anything about Leonard. But maybe there was a hint of it that we never got to see.
As always, the characters are the property of DC Entertainment.
Quentin Lance was always his daughters' hero when they were growing up, able to fix anything for them.
A flat bicycle tire? Patched in minutes.
A skinned knee? Bandaged, and the patient cheered up with an ice cream cone (chocolate fudge for Laurel, strawberry for Sara).
He even managed to sew up damaged teddy bears for his baby girls (not that he'd ever tell the boys at the precinct about his skill with a needle and thread).
But as they got older, being a hero got harder. Hurt feelings weren't so easy to fix. And the older they got, the deeper the feelings.
Quentin felt less and less heroic as the years went on.
And then came the days when he couldn't fix things for them at all, because he couldn't fix death.
That thought filled his mind when Sara fell into his arms after he told her Laurel was gone. I can't fix this for her.
When the flood of tears finally subsided, he thought she would stay. But she told him she had to go back. She had a mission to finish, and her team needed her, because they'd already lost someone who'd died to save them.
Her voice broke at that, but there were no tears. And when he asked if she wanted to talk about it, she shook her head, saying there was nothing more to tell.
Quentin knew his daughter well enough to know when she was lying. But this was a story she'd have to tell in her own time.
Sara knew her dad wanted to help. But what could she tell him about Leonard Snart, robber of ATMs and one hell of a thief?
How could she explain to an ex-cop that his daughter lost her heart to a self-confessed criminal?
He would try to make her feel better, try to relieve her pain, just as he'd comforted her over Laurel's death.
But she didn't want comfort for Leonard's death. She needed that pain, so she could finish the mission. He died so they'd be able to defeat Savage, and she was going to see the job through.
Once that was done, she'd allow herself to really mourn Leonard beyond the few tears she'd already shed. To mourn what the future might have held.
And she knew Dad wouldn't be able to fix it.