They were in the 1950's. While Rip was getting information from the sheriff of the town, Len had to rush to the bathroom. Once inside, he became violently ill. As he was heaving, nothing left to come out, he thought back to what Gideon had revealed to him a few days earlier.
~x~x~x~
Len had just finished vomiting for the umpteenth time that week when he decided to go to the med bay. He admitted that he may need help and went for a visit with Gideon.
"Mr. Snart." the AI greeted.
"Hey Gideon." Len drawled. "I think I'm sick. What d'ya got for me?" he asked as he hopped up on the hospital-esque bed. Gideon's scanners activated and scanned over his entire body. After a moments hesitation, Gideon spoke up again.
"Mr. Snart, you appear to be pregnant." Len's immediate response was to laugh loudly.
"C'mon Gideon! I need the truth now. Do I have the flu?"
"I'm not joking with you Mr. Snart. Have you ingested something strange lately?" Len's mind was reeling. Was Gideon serious? Were AIs even capable of joking or lying? He hadn't slept with anybody since...well, since Mick. And that was before Star City 2046. And, what could he have eaten or drunk? There wasn't...wait a minute...
"There was this weird strawberry drink in the fridge that I had about a month ago."
"Oh dear." was Gideon's response. "I'm going to have to inform Captain Hunter."
"Wait! No! I mean, even if this was true, I don't want anyone else to know."
"Captain Hunter must know. None of the other team members do." As if just saying his name summons him, Rip appeared in the doorway.
"What is it, Gideon?" he asked. Without any hesitation, Gideon answered bluntly.
"Mr. Snart is pregnant." Rip looked shocked.
"What?! How?" Reverting to his sarcasm in this time of uncertainty, Len replied.
"You see, when a mommy and a daddy love each other..." Rip shot him a menacing look and Len shut his mouth, holding his hands up in surrender.
"How is this possible, Gideon?"
"It seems that Mr. Snart drank the Travia Serum."
"What's the Travia Serum?" Len was getting annoyed with Gideon's lack of answers. Rip took over for the AI.
"The Travia Serum was developed about two years after the population controlling virus was released. The population had declined further and faster than anybody expected. Desperate to repopulate some areas, the Travia Serum was created. It basically rearranged the inner anatomy of men to allow them to bear children. Who is it?"
"What?" Len asked, coming back to himself after being lost in thought.
"Who's the father?" Len visibly bristled.
"None of your business."
"Well, unless you'd like me to question every male on board..." Rip trailed off, letting his threat hang in the air.
"Who do you think?" At Rip's pointed glare, Len sighed. "It was Mick."
~x~x~x~
When Len returned, Rip shot him a concerned glance.
"I'm fine." he said. Rip nodded, holding the door open.
"Shall we?"
On the walk to meet the rest of the group, Len thought about his predicament. Over the next several months, his body was going to change. Rip said it was to accommodate the baby and prepare for the birthing process. Rip had brought up the idea of an abortion, but that was out of the question. Even though he was going back for his partner, things between he and Mick were never going to be the same. This baby may be the only thing he had left of his partner and life before this cursed mission. He didn't realize that his hand had drifted to his stomach until Rip spoke.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Startled, Len looked up, moving his hand to his side.
"Yeah, yeah." Rip's gaze stayed on Len for a moment until they reached the rest of the group.
~x~x~x~
After the whole debacle with Savage's altered hawk-things, Len was ready to be in bed. He was feeling tired more often lately and wanted nothing more than to just lay down and forget about everything. Unfortunately, Kronos had a different idea. Len groaned and got ready to fight. He was very careful and mindful of his stomach the entire time. Well, as careful as one can be in a firefight. It wasn't long before he took a knock to the head and was down for the count.
When Len woke, the first thing he noticed was that he had a splitting headache. The second thing was that his hands were cuffed together around a metal bar. Looking around wildly, he didn't see anyone, but eventually heard clanking footsteps come up behind him. Stilling himself, so as not to show fear, he reverted to his snarky demeanor.
"So, uh, what's so special about me? I mean, aside from my sparkling personality. Back on the Waverider you could have taken your boy, Rip, but you took me instead. Why?" he hesitated for a moment but, when no answer came from Kronos, he continued. "Hey, if you're gonna kill me, you could at least tell me what's going on."
"You should have figured it out by now." came the mechanical voice. Len rolled his eyes in exasperation. A second later, however, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open when Kronos took the helmet off and Mick was behind the mask. The larger man approached and knelt down in front of Len. "After all, I am supposed to be the dumb one." Len suddenly felt nauseous. This was too much. He knew that after he went back for Mick, there was every possibility that the man would never speak to him again, but this? This was nowhere on his radar screen.
"How?" was all Len could manage at the moment. He felt numb and betrayed. Well, his mind reminded him, he shouldn't feel betrayed. After all, he's the one that turned his back on Mick first. But, at the moment, rage was the only emotion he could cling to. He felt like he was drowning or like someone had landed a physical blow to his body, sucking all the breath out. "I think I deserve to know what's going on!" he shouted, jerking against the cuffs and the metal bar.
"You deserve nothing." Mick came back with.
"Says the man that sold us out to the pirates." Len knew he was acting like a child, but dammit, he was emotionally raw. There was a reason he didn't do emotions. It was because he didn't do them well. Mick knew that. "When I dropped you off in that forest, I meant to kill you." he spat, knowing it was a low blow. Finally, reigning in some sort of control, he continued. "That was the plan." he said lamely.
"You should've stuck with the plan and done me a favor." Len looked up at Mick. He knew his eyes were beginning to water, but he didn't care. He was trying to convey how sorry he was through his eyes, but, taking one look at Mick's stern, emotionless face, he knew that it wasn't working. "I knew you lacked the guts."
"I may not have trusted you on the ship with the team, but I was always, always coming back for you!"
"Seems like one of us lost track of time." Mick said in a taunting voice.
"Well, how long did you-" Len was cut off by Mick's sudden yelling.
"By the time they found me, I'd nearly lost my mind! I was so weak, I was strangling rats to survive." Len suddenly felt lightheaded and he struggled to not let the tears that were blurring his vision fall.
"When who found you?" he asked, voice straining.
"The Time Masters." Len should have guessed. After all, it was the Time Masters that sent Kronos after them. "They took me to a place called The Vanishing Point. Time doesn't exist there the way it does on Earth. I've spent lifetimes being restored by them, training by them, fighting by them, being reborn."
"And, uh, when exactly did your new friends give you the, uh, lobotomy?" Len was trying to be snarky again, just so he wouldn't break down into tears. He caused this. He caused Mick all this pain.
"You think I was hunting you an your friends because the Time Masters made me?" A look of glee took over Mick's face. "They barely had to ask." And, that was it. Len leaned to the side, as far as he could, and vomited. Tears fell and he was glad he could blame it on the strain of heaving. When he was done, he wiped his face on his upper arm. This was, quite literally, the worst day of his life. And, that was saying a lot.
~x~x~x~
After Mick threatened Lisa and left the ship to pursue the other members of the team, he did the only thing he could think of, freezing his hand and smashing it on the floor. The pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain of what had happened. Shaking his head to disperse those thoughts, Len stumbled and made his way to where the others were.
He doesn't know exactly why he told the others not to kill Mick, he just did. Well, that was a lie. Guilt is a powerful thing. That and...something else that he wasn't going to dwell on.
"Are you alright?" Rip asked with concern as Gideon regenerated his hand. Len was pulled from his thoughts and nodded. Rip leaned down so that he was eye-level with Len. "Are you alright?" he asked again, with more meaning behind the words. Realizing what he was talking about, Len's free hand subconsciously went to his stomach.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Does he know?" Len's eyes snapped sharply to Rip's.
"No." he said, sternly. "I told you what Mick...no, Kronos wanted to do to Lisa. Can you imagine what he would do if he knew?" Len's tone was nearing hysterical by the time he finished talking. Rip lay a hand on Len's shoulder as the tears Len had held in all day finally started to fall. His shoulders shook softly as he tried to hold back.
"Go to your quarters." Rip said gently. "Rest."