A/N: I own nothing you see here at all. But after the LoT season finale, I need some Captain Canary happiness, seriously.
Seriously.
Also, I've been binge-watching "Prison Break" (since I've never watched it before and the new season + Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell have me hooked!), so don't be surprised if a little Michael Scofield sneaked his way into this...
Sara grips the door handle tightly as they race down the road.
"This isn't the time stream, Leonard! There are speed limits on Earth!"
"You pilot how you want, and I'll do the same," he replied as coolly as he could, but the worry was still in his voice.
"I'd rather get to the hospital in one piece!"
"Assassin, I'm used to driving quickly. And now I have the advantage of daylight as opposed to navigating with no headlights at 3 in the morning. We'll make it just fine. Practice your breathing."
If a contraction hadn't hit at that moment, she would have hit him. Practice your breathing, indeed.
Soon enough, they arrive at the hospital (not in several pieces, thankfully), and Leonard rushes to the desk. Before he can even get the words out, the even-keeled nurse smiles.
"We'll get a chair for her. No worries, dear."
Leonard returns the smile and turns back to Sara.
"Ok, they're getting you a chair and it's go time. How are you feeling?"
Sara grimaces. "Peachy," she tersely replies.
He winces at the use of his usual word. Sara in labor was not going to be a pretty sight.
Thankfully, the nurse arrives with the wheelchair and takes them to a room.
"Get changed into this please," the nurse cheerfully asks, handing over the hospital gown. "Now will Mom be wanting an epidural today?"
Sara glares. "Lady, I trained under The L—"
"The best martial arts teachers we could find. She's got her meditation to get through this," Leonard interrupts.
"Ah, a warrior, I see!"
"You have no idea," Leonard mutters.
"Ok, well, I'll be back soon to check on you!" And with that, the nurse leaves.
Leonard sighs as Sara begins to change. "All right then. Things we've learned today: That nurse is way too perky and you get way too honest when you're in labor."
"What?" she snips.
"Probably not a great idea to name drop The League of Assassins here. Why don't you just give her the blueprints to the Waverider while we're at it?"
"Leonard… dear… I need you to calm down. For all our sakes."
Her voice is eerily calm at that moment and there's a fire in her eyes that makes him a little nervous. Leonard thinks she could be having a contraction, but he's not sure. He knows she mostly has the bloodlust under control these days, but she's also in a situation she's never been in before. He also knows that she'd never kill him, but he's not ruling out an ass-kicking if he can't control the snarky comments.
"I'm sorry. Let's just get you changed. Are you certain you don't want the epidural? I've heard great things about them."
Her glare assures him that she doesn't want it.
"Right. No to the meds."
"I'm sorry, Len. I just… I'm scared."
"Scared? You've been through worse than this. You are the warrior that the nurse said you are."
"No, not the labor. I can handle pain. It's being a mother that scares me. Leonard, they are going to expect us to take a baby home with us."
"Typically they get angry when you leave them, yes."
"Aren't you terrified?"
Leonard pauses to choose his words carefully.
"Yeah, of course I am. But I know we've got this."
"How?"
"Didn't you tell me that you and I could get through anything together?"
"Yeah, but I meant immortal psychopaths and legions of doom. This… this is parenthood."
"Come on, you've been parenting the crew of the Waverider since we got on that ship."
She rolls her eyes, because he's not entirely wrong. But still…
"But Leonard, I was an assassin with an added bonus of bloodlust. That doesn't exactly scream maternal."
"Look at it this way. If the baby makes any noise, you've got ears that will hear anything. Once they get mobile, you'll see potential dangers from a mile away. You can read people better than anyone I know, myself included, so friends will have to pass your test. And let's face it, we both sneaked out more than we've admitted, so we can probably tell when those moments arise and can catch anyone in the act."
"All that is true, but can I be the nurturer that mothers are supposed to be?"
"Am I not proof that you are?"
She raises an eyebrow.
He sighs. "You know what I was before. 'Cold hearted bastard' was an understatement. But you saw the good and you nurtured that and brought it out. Look at Mick and how you've turned him. He's shopping for baby clothes as we speak. Mick Rory, in the baby section. Look at anyone on the crew. Your heart was big enough to make positive changes in all of them. So, yes, Canary. You are maternal and you are nurturing."
She's crying at this point. "Thank you, Leonard. You—"
Sara is interrupted at that point by another contraction.
"All right, Sara, you got this," Leonard chants as he rubs circles on her back. He knows he can do nothing to help this, which doesn't help his guilt.
"That one wasn't too bad," she says as she falls back against the bed.
Soon enough, the nurses and doctors make their way in and out. Sara is hooked up to all the monitors and tries to meditate.
Leonard holds her hand through the contractions, but he can't shake the guilt of seeing her like this.
There's a knock at the door.
"Come in," Leonard softly calls.
"Hey, Sara," Mick whispers as he enters. "How you doing?"
"Well, I've been better, but so far so good."
"Boss?"
"Yeah, I'm hardly the one that matters right now. I just want to get her through this," Leonard replies.
"I get it," Mick says with a smile. It's amusing to see the normally unshakable Captain Cold looking so nervous. "I just wanted to check on you both. I'll be out in the waiting room. Crew dropped me off to send news back."
"Thanks, Mick," Sara sighs.
"Sure thing, blondie."
After Mick leaves, Leonard turns to Sara. "Do you need anything?"
"Well, since I've been restricted to these delicious ice chips, I can't think of anything I'd like better."
Leonard keeps from sighing, but he's honestly lost. Is that sarcasm for "yes, more please," or sarcasm for "get the hell out of my face"?
Just then, Quentin pokes his head in. "Hey, baby. How are you?"
"Why does everyone keep asking that? Does it look like I'm having a party?" Sara says through gritted teeth, a contraction hitting.
Leonard attempts to talk to her about breathing, but she's having none of it.
As the contraction ends, she turns to Leonard. "Why don't you go see how Mick is?"
"Mick? Mick's fine. You're the one having a baby," he replies incredulously.
"You need a break. Go talk to Mick."
"I… Canary, I really think…"
"Crook, go."
"All right," Leonard says quietly as he leaves.
As he enters the waiting room, he finds Mick almost asleep on one of the couches.
"Mick, the bird has gone crazy," Leonard sighs as he flops in a chair.
"Whatsa matter, boss?"
"She kicked me out."
Mick chuckles.
"And this is funny, why?" Leonard grumbles.
"Look at you. You're a mess."
"Still missing the humor, Mick."
"This new side of you. This ain't Captain Cold anymore. This is Captain Diapers. Captain Neurotic. This is just funny to watch."
"I'm glad I've made this so entertaining for you."
"Calm down. Think of how you'd be laughing at me if I was acting like this. You're probably gettin' on Sara's nerves, so she booted you for a while."
Leonard puts his head in his hands. "I'm screwing this up already. How am I supposed to do this?"
"You're askin' me?"
"Someone's got to have an answer!"
"I do," a voice says from the doorway.
Leonard turns to see Quentin.
Sara's father shakes his head. "She's too much like her mother. Dinah kicked me out during both the girls' births. And Sara kicked me out now too."
"Do I go back?" Leonard asks.
"Yes, but not yet. Give her time. Plus, she's doing that meditating thing, but she looks so damn angry. I'd wait for that to pass. Let the smiley nurse take the brunt of it for now. And in the meantime, let me tell you something. I think we both know, at first, I didn't like you. Didn't think you were good enough for my baby girl. But you have shown me a different side, Leonard. You changed for her and that means something. You've got integrity now. You've been a damn fine husband to Sara. You've protected her, hell, protected the world and time itself. And she loves you. She really does. But she's scared too, just like you. And you both have every reason to be. This parenting gig? It's terrifying. But you've got this. You can make this everything you want it to be. You're going to do fine. And look at the support you have: me and Sara's mom, your crew, hell, even this lug here," Quentin says with a laugh as he looks at Mick. Mick laughs as well, the hatchet between them buried long ago.
"My point, Leonard, is that the two of you can do anything, apart or together. And that little girl is going to turn out just fine because you and Sara are going to knock this parenting thing out of the park."
Leonard is doing his best to not cry in front of his best friend and his father in law, but he's exhausted and the tears come. "Thank you, Quentin. I never had a father say those things to me and it's… well, it's a little overwhelming," he tries to laugh. "But thank you. Maybe we will be ok with this."
"Why don't you go check on the hellcat?" Mick suggests. "I'll let the Waverider know that things are going exactly as expected."
Leonard raises a questioning eyebrow.
"Well, maybe not exactly. I put money on you'd have a black eye by now," Mick says giving his friend a slap on the back.
Leonard goes to return to his wife when Quentin stops him. "And Leonard? You… you can call me Pops."
There are no words, so Leonard just gives a grateful nod.
He quietly opens the door to Sara's room. "Tell any other time traveling secrets while I was gone?"
She begins to glare at him, but thinks better of it. "I'm sorry, crook. I know I've been… difficult."
"Assassin, let's just let it go. I know you're not yourself right now. I love you and I think you're amazing for doing what you're doing."
"I love you, too. And don't get too amazed. It's getting tougher in here. That's why I kicked my father out. Well, that and because his voice was irritating me."
Leonard chuckles. "And my voice isn't?"
"Never your voice, just your hovering. I love your voice. Always have."
"Noted." There's a pause before he adds, "You know, Canary, we've got this."
"You think so, Captain?"
"Mm-hmm. Your dad and Mick were giving me pep talks."
"There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear."
"Yeah, well, I'm starting to think they have a point. We're both too awesome to not make this work."
Sara laughs. "I guess that's one way to put it."
"We're going to have a beautiful little girl soon. And we are going to kick ass at being her family. Us, and the rest of our crazy family."
"Yeah, I—" Sara is interrupted by another contraction.
Leonard takes her hand and immediately regrets the decision. Even tiny trained assassins will crush your fingers.
Finally the doctor enters. "Well, Sara, I think we're ready to start pushing," he cheerfully announces.
"Oh, we're ready?" Sara snaps. "So glad you'll be having a baby come out of you, as well!"
The doctor's smile drops and he turns back to getting ready.
"You've got this, Sara. You are a warrior and I love you so much."
Sara nods.
Once everything is ready, Sara begins. Leonard chants as many loving and soothing thoughts as he can in her ear. He sees in her eyes the pain she's experiencing, but knows that her training is keeping her silent. The doctor says how impressed he is. Little does he know the woman giving birth in front of him could kill him and not miss a beat with delivering.
After what seems like hours to Leonard, a baby's cry fills the room and a tiny, squishy (and very messy, if he's being honest) little girl is placed on Sara's chest.
Both are too in shock to speak.
Finally, Leonard finds his words. "Sara, do you see her? She's amazing. You're amazing!" He kisses her forehead and just watches. Quiet tears fall down Sara's cheeks.
Before long, the doctor picks up the baby and takes her to the other side of the room.
"Where's she going?" Sara pants.
"Just over here to get her cleaned up and measured," the nurse replies.
Sara grabs Leonard's shirt. "You get over there and make sure nothing happens to her!"
"Ok, but first," and he kisses her soundly.
Leonard watches them clean up the baby and wonders if they're being careful. He talks to the little girl and she seems to calm a little at the sound of his voice.
They weigh and measure her, wrap her up and give her back to Sara.
"Here's your beautiful baby girl," the nurse coos.
"I cannot believe she's here," Sara whispers.
"Believe it," Leonard replies.
Sara is moved into a room and then, visitors. First Quentin (the self-declared "most proud Grandpa in the world!"), then Mick (sporting a "World's Best Uncle" shirt), and before long, Lisa (who is terrified of the baby, but promises she'll hold her someday).
Mick tells them that the rest of the crew will visit once they get home. And finally, the family of 3 is alone. Leonard can't help but think of his life before this and how this moment was never on his radar. He could never love someone enough to get married, let alone have a kid with them. Money was the most important thing. And now? Everything he'd ever need was on the bed next to him.
Sara looks into the baby's blue eyes and sees redemption. She always assumed she was too far gone to have happiness like this. This pure, warm, loving happiness. Who could ever love the monster that she was? Why would anyone want to? And surely a body that had taken the abuse that hers had, there wasn't a possibility of being able to have a child. And now? Proof that she was wrong about it all. Her entire life was right in this room.
"I love you, Sara," Leonard whispers, kissing the crown of her head.
"I love you, Leonard," Sara replies, sighing in her content.