Interlude: It's Not the Big Pieces, It's The Little Things.
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A/N: Part three of The Tracks Don't Have to Separate Us
"Come on Sara, it's all for the best, don't you think?" Laurel said, watching her sister angrily shove her clothes into her suitcase. She tried not to wince at her words, know that she was trying to help, but were she in her sister's shoes they weren't what she would want to hear. "I know it hurts now, but in time I think you'll come to realize that this was the best thing that could happen."
Sara stopped, whirling around to face Laurel. "Why, because he's a criminal and obviously not good enough for me. Or maybe because he's not Tommy, who you seem to think actually likes me without an ulterior motive."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Laurel questioned confused. Sara shook her head, rolling her eyes at her sister's cluelessness.
"Nothing, forget I said anything." Sara turned back to her suitcase, this time slowing down as she packed. "I need to hurry if I'm going to catch my flight. I need to get back to Central."
"Classes don't start until next month." Laurel replied softly, laying a hand on her sister's shoulder. She was just trying to help and Sara knew that, but it was hard to accept help from someone who couldn't see where her own relationship was doomed to fail.
"I know, I'm going to stay with Lisa for a little while, make sure she's taken care of before I go back to school." Sara explained.
"Oh, okay." Laurel replied. "I guess, I'll leave you alone then. Call me if you need anything?"
Sara nodded, never turning to look at her sister as she walked out. When she was gone Sara collapsed back on the bed, taking slow deep breaths as she tried to calm the raging storm in her head. Tears threatened to fall as she her hand absently reached for the small stuffed dog at the head of the bed. She held it close to her chest, her breathing become more ragged as she failed to keep the tears back.
Everything had been going so well. She was doing well in school, she got a part time job and she and Leonard had been happier than ever. And then his father's friends showed up, although friends was probably too strong a word. Lewis was planning a break out and while Leonard was all too happy to let the old man rot in prison the men Lewis had contracted to help weren't the type to take no for an answer. Apparently it was by Lewis' request that he be apart of the crew. Yet another chance for him to bring his children down with him.
The plan was Lewis' so of course it failed and unfortunately Leonard wasn't able to get away. He was able to plead his case about being forced into the job which got him a reduced sentence but the fact of the matter was he was going to be in prison for a good few years. Luckily Lisa had Mick to watch out for her until then-that is if he didn't get himself arrested without Leonard to keep him grounded.
She had gone to see Leonard at Iron heights when she found out-much to her father's chagrin, who had had no idea she was seeing anyone much less a thief- and while initially Leonard had been happy to see her, almost immediately the look of happiness dropped out of his eyes and he put on a cold front. Sara was taken back by his demeanor but it soon became obvious why he was behaving so coldly toward her.
He wanted her gone. He didn't want her anywhere near him and the life he had chosen for himself and he wasn't above hurting her to protect her from what very well could be a disastrous life.
She'd left visiting hours heartbroken, heading straight back to her apartment, packing a bag and hopping the first flight back to Starling.
xXx
The headlines told of the Queen's loss, but they told little if anything about the Lance's tragedy. Maybe Oliver was trying to help, or maybe he was just taking advantage of Sara's vulnerability after such a harsh break up, but Sara was on the Gambit when it went down and now they would never see their daughter, sister, baby girl again. And the whole world would mourn the loss of the Queen men while only a select few would ever know Sara was gone.
Laurel was devastated, knowing now what Oliver was really like and then losing him in the same accident that took her sister, she was barely functioning for the first week after they called off the search for survivors. By the second week, she'd picked herself up, dusted herself off and packed a bag, setting the small stuffed dog from Sara's room in her suitcase and taking a flight to Central City. Laurel knew Sara would want Leonard and Lisa and Mick to know and while she may not have approved of Leonard or Mick she was more concerned with what Sara would have wanted than her own personal feelings.
Leonard looked less than thrilled to see her. Probably under the impression she was here to warn him away from Sara for good. "I have to say I'm surprised to see you. Figured you be with your boyfriend's family." he drawled in his cold, closed off manner.
Laurel shook her head, looking away for a moment before turning cold eyes back on him. "You must be a completely different person with Sara," and Leonard didn't miss the way her voice cracked on her sister's name. "Because I certainly have no idea what she saw in you."
"What can I say, I have layers." he replied nonplussed. "Now, why are you here? You can't possibly be here to warn me away from Sara. If you're even half as close as she's told me you already know that's redundant."
Laurel took a deep breath. She didn't want to just come out with it, he was a jerk but that didn't mean he deserved to hear this so callously. "So you know about the Gambit?" she began. And he hesitated before nodding. He was clearly suspicious and he had every right to be. They had never met and the only reason he would even know who she was, was because of Sara. "I um… we don't know why… but…" she was having trouble getting the words out and it clearly bothered Leonard.
"Just spit it out Lance."
"Sara was on the Gambit." she blurted out, her plan lost.
She could see it then, the man her sister had fallen in love with. For a long minute his walls came down and she could see the pain in his eyes. Emotions warred in the deep blue pools ranging from denial to heartbreak. This must of have been what Sara could see with him, what he let her see. The emotions he kept bottled up inside, the part of him not even his best friend could see. She felt guilty for having caused the devastation on his face,even when he violently slammed his walls back up into place.
"Thanks for letting me know." he said coolly. She nodded, knowing full well now that it was all an act.
"I can go tell Lisa if you'd like, I have a few things of Sara's that I know she would want both of you to have." she told him and Leonard simply nodded, before putting the phone back in the cradle and walking away.
xXx
Leonard was put into Temporary Solitary Confinement that night, having gone back to his cell and thoroughly trashing it in a fit of rage. This led to a fist fight with his cellmate who already hated him and Leonard had to be pulled off of him by no less than three guards. He got an extra six months for the assault.
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Sara's final thoughts before falling unconscious among the driftwood were of Leonard. She wished she was with him right now, that she had handled losing him better. Then maybe she wouldn't have let herself succumb to Oliver's invitation. She missed Leonard, she just wanted to see him again. Wanted to hold him, tell him she loved him even if he refused to say it back.
xXx
Lisa was devastated. Sara had been the older girl she looked up to; the older sister she never had. Laurel could tell this had hit her hard and while she was loath to give her false hope she told her that while the Coast guard had called off the search, the Queens were paying for a private team to look for Oliver, Robert and Sara.
Laurel didn't tell her how little hope there was or how the family was planning a memorial as if they knew for sure that she was gone. She simply handed over the things she had brought for them; a few photographs of all of them together-ones of Sara and Leonard and ones with Sara and Lisa-There was the stuffed dog that Leonard had one at the carnival the summer they had met and a bracelet that Lisa had made Sara for Christmas. Lisa asked about the necklace that Leonard had bought Sara for her birthday and Laurel told her the last time she saw Sara she had been wearing it.
Laurel left the young girl and headed for Sara's apartment where she boxed up everything she could and sent it off to be shipped home. And it was there, surrounded by everything that was so Sara, that Laurel realized she would never see her baby sister again.
It wasn't the big pieces of her life sitting out, waiting to be put away, but the little things, the trinkets and knick knacks that described Sara better than words ever could. It was the lingering smell of her perfume, the way she so haphazardly stacked her books when they didn't fit on the shelves. It was the way that it was all that was left of a woman too complicated for words.
She broke down there on the floor, arms wrapped around herself as she let it all out into the universe; a desperate plea for her sister to come home, for all of this to be a bad dream.