Laurel and the Phoenix
Chapter 1: So It Begins
Summary: Sara and Leonard are getting married and ask Laurel and Mick to be the maid of honor and best man. They didn't expect them to develop romantic feelings for each other.
Disclaimer: We don't own Arrow, Flash or Legends of Tomorrow. AU in which neither Laurel or Leonard die. Inspired by Not Just a Nerd's story 'The Rogues and The Canaries'. This story is co-written with temari80.
Despite all of the fighting and broken hearts shared between her and Laurel, Sara always knew that when she eventually got married, that Laurel would be her maid of honor. Or matron of honor if Laurel got married first, of course. So when Leonard Snart proposed to her, and Sara accepted, she immediately called Laurel and told her the news, and asked her sister to be her right hand woman at her wedding. Laurel happily took the role, but that didn't mean that she was thrilled with her baby sister's choice of groom.
Laurel's uncertainty about Leonard deepened gravely when she met the man that would be Leonard's best man: Michael "Mick" Rory. Mick apparently had a thing for fire. And it wasn't until after finding out about Mick's fascination with fire that Laurel found out about Leonard's fascination with ice. It also didn't help that Laurel had a nagging feeling that she had heard the names Snart and Rory before. Upon doing some research, Laurel was furious that Sara hadn't told her about both men's criminal pasts. But what could she do? Her sister was happy, and Laurel had to be happy about that, right? She also knew that Sara could hold her own, so if either Leonard or Mick crossed her, Sara would put them in check, so Laurel put her professional feelings about this whole thing on the back burner and was there for her sister.
As it turned out, Sara and Laurel's mom, Dinah, and their step-mom, Donna, were the ones that were planning the wedding, but Laurel and Sara were there for every decision so that the wedding turned out to be the one that Sara wanted, and not some gaudy event that didn't fit Sara or Leonard's tastes or personalities. But after every meeting with Dinah and Donna, Sara would drag Laurel to lunch, or dinner, or some kind of meal date with Leonard and Mick, forcing Laurel and Mick to get to know each other. Laurel went along begrudgingly just so that she kept a smile on Sara's face.
It was during one of these lunch dates that the guys had gotten to the restaurant first, and were sitting across from each other, so when Sara and Laurel joined them, Sara immediately sat down next to Leonard and snuggled into his side- something that Laurel noted was out of character for her sister, and Leonard apparently- meaning that Laurel had to sit next to Mick. This would have been fine if the second she sat down Sara and Leonard hadn't gotten back up and left Laurel and Mick alone together.
"What the hell are they doing?" Laurel snapped as she watched her sister and her soon-to-be brother-in-law hurry away from the table.
"Going to make out. Leaving us alone to get to know each other better. Take your pick." Mick said with a shrug of indifference.
"What, then, is the point of the four of us meeting for lunch to go over what was planned today if they run off?" Laurel questioned as she half turned to look at the arsonist.
"Again... they could be leaving us along to get to know each other better." Mick said with a bored roll of his eyes.
"I have no intention of getting to know you better Arsonist. At least not past the fact that you are a criminal, and that I have to put up with you because your best friend is marrying my baby sister." Laurel said in a hard whisper.
"Right back at ya ADA Lance." Mick said with a mock salute.
Laurel turned away from Mick with a huff. He was infuriating. And there was a chance that she was going to be left with the check. Picking up the menu, Laurel tried to ignore the feeling of being watched. She didn't need to be an ex-member of the League of Assassins like both Sara and Oliver to know that Mick was staring at her. But after a good few minutes of trying and failing to ignore the staring, Laurel slammed her menu down and turned to glare at the man next to her.
"Will you stop staring at me!?" She asked.
"I don't see it." Mick commented.
"See what?" Laurel questioned.
"How you and Blondie can be sisters. You look nothing alike and your personalities are so different." Mick replied scooting closer to her, invading her personal space.
"What are you doing now?" Laurel snapped as she leaned away from him.
"Testing your reflexes. They are nothing like Blondie's." Mick said before sitting back.
Laurel glared at Mick. Who the hell was he to compare her and Sara? Laurel was well aware of the differences between herself and her sister, she didn't need some criminal that she didn't even know commenting on the differences. It wasn't his place and Laurel wasn't going to take this. Grabbing her jacket off of the seat, which she had placed between her and Mick to give them each their own space, and standing up, Laurel gave Mick a hard look. It didn't take the arsonist too long to look up and match her gaze.
"Where do you think you are going?" Mick asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"I'm going home. If Sara and Leonard can just up and leave us, then I can up and leave too. Goodbye." Laurel said definitively before turning on her heel and walking away.
Mick watched as Laurel walked away from him. He was amazed that she wasn't going to stick around to see if Sara and Leonard would come back. He honestly thought that she would, just so she wouldn't be rude to Sara. But there she was, walking away, and Mick couldn't help but stare at her ass as she did so.
Not knowing what else to do, but being hungry all the same, Mick stayed where he was and ordered himself some lunch. It wasn't until his food was arriving that Sara and Leonard came back, surprisingly with Laurel right behind them. As the couple sat down across from him, and Laurel retook her seat next to him, Mick leaned back in the booth and place an arm along the back, behind Laurel, and glared at his best friends.
"What exactly, did you two think would be accomplished by leaving so suddenly?" Mick asked.
"We thought you and Laurel could use some bonding time." Sara replied with a shrug before reaching across the table and snatching a fry from Mick's plate.
"Well, that didn't happen." Laurel said bitterly.
"Something had to have happened, or you wouldn't have left." Leonard pointed out.
"I left because as soon as Sara and I got here, you two took off. Mr. Pyromaniac over here and I argued and I left. That isn't bonding." Laurel snapped.
"It is for two people who are basically going to be family soon." Sara replied.
"No Sara, no it's not." Laurel said before eyeing Mick's place, and feeling her stomach rumble.
"You want half Canary?" Mick asked motioning to the half of his burger that he hadn't touched yet since cutting the burger in half.
"No thank you." Laurel said politely before turning to glare at Sara. Did the younger Lance really have to tell these criminals about Laurel's nighttime job?
"Eat something Laurel." Sara demanded.
"I'm going to. I just don't want half of a burger." Laurel snapped back.
"Then order yourself a burger, cut it in half and give half of it to Mick and eat the half that he's offering you." Sara argued.
"I don't want a burger, period!" Laurel shot back.
"Then eat half of Mick's burger and give him half of whatever you do want." Sara said.
"Sara... I don't want half of Mick's burger, and I don't want a burger at all. Stop trying to force whatever you and Leonard are wanting to happen between me and Mick." Laurel said before standing up and leaving again.
"She's right you know." Mick commented after he was sure that Laurel was out of earshot.
"Right about what Mick?" Leonard asked.
"Right about needing to stop forcing us to be something we aren't. We will be there for the two of you at your wedding. We can even set aside our differences for the ceremony and reception and maybe even enjoy the party, but if you keep forcing us together, we will only be at the wedding out of obligation, and not because we want you two to be happy." Mick explained as he went back to eating his food, eventually asking for an extra order of fries and a to-go box for the other half of the burger.
Sara and Leonard were mostly quiet for the rest of the meal. They hadn't been trying to force something between Mick and Laurel, at least not intentionally. But they had, and now Laurel was upset, and Mick was seemingly disappointed, with them. Once Mick had left with his remaining food in a to-go box, the couple turned to each other. They had some serious things to discuss.
LOT – LATP – LOT
Mick had no problem locating Laurel once he left the restaurant. Mainly because she hadn't left the parking lot yet. Which was something else that had surprised him. He figured with an argument that intense in public with her sister, that Laurel would have left completely. But she hadn't, and when Mick walked over to her car and knocked on the passenger side window, Mick was even more surprised when she opened the door for him.
"What do you want?" Laurel asked.
"I got the rest of the burger and a full order of fries to-go for you. If you are going to argue with your sister again, you should do it on a full stomach." Mick explained as he got in and handed her the box of food.
"Thank you." Laurel said with a small, but grateful, smile on her face.
"Don't mention it." Mick said before starting to get out.
"By the way... how did you know that I'm the Black Canary?" Laurel asked.
"Well... most of our team already knew. Most of our team knew the rest of Teams Flash and Arrow, Sara just filled us in." Mick said with a shrug as he partially settled back into the passenger seat.
"How did it come about that you didn't know?" Laurel asked.
"An alternate timeline's newspaper headline declared that the Black Canary died in an Iron Heights prison break. When Sara saw that, she let out a blood curtailing scream. Haircut, I mean Raymond, looked horrified, while the rest of the team was merely saddened. Snart and I couldn't figure out why, until Sara calmed down enough to tell us." Mick explained.
"An alternate timeline?" Laurel asked skeptically.
"Yep. And I can't say any more about it. It was a path that could have happened and didn't, nothing more to it." Mick said.
"Is there anything else in this alternative timeline that you can tell me? That's not about me?" Laurel asked.
"No can do Canary. If Rip was here, he'd have my head for telling you what I already have told you." Mick said with a half apologetic smile.
"I understand." Laurel said with a nod.
"Why are you still here?" Mick asked after a moment or two of silence.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, why are you still here? Your argument with Blondie was pretty heated, I figured you would have wanted to hightail it out of here as fast as you could." Mick elaborated.
"I was Sara's ride." Laurel admitted.
"So? Snart can drive her home." Mick said as he settled fully back into the car.
"That is true..." Laurel agreed slowly.
"Do you want to go do something?" Mick asked with a smirk.
"I suppose so. But there isn't much to do around Star City." Laurel said as she put her key in the ignition and turned the car on.
"We could go to Central City and take a walk along the water." Mick suggested.
"Sounds like a plan." Laurel said with a smile before pulling out of her parking spot and heading towards Central City.