So I have a couple of pieces in progress (including a v big one I'm excited about but left the outline in my dorm over break?) and I've been working on them before I head back to school so it might be a while before I start posting again. However, I was reading through some old notebooks and I found this, so I typed it out and I'm posting it as-is. Not my best but I never say no to some fluff. Enjoy!
There was a baby in the Arrowcave, and that fact was making Oliver very uncomfortable. The baby in question belonged to Sara Lance and Leonard Snart, which, for whatever reason, was adding to his discomfort.
"She's seriously the most beautiful baby I've ever seen," Thea said, looking up at Leonard and Sara from the baby Laurel was holding, "Like, good job guys, seriously."
"Thanks," Sara said as Leonard chuckled.
"It's the eyes," Laurel said, "Those big blue eyes."
Oliver had known Sara for a very long time, and he had to admit it was just a tad disconcerting to see her as a mom — not that he doubted her abilities as a mom, but the path most of her life had taken led Oliver — and perhaps even Sara herself for a time — to believe that this part of adulthood would pass her by.
Yet here she was with her five-month-old baby girl.
Oliver had asked Sara and her husband Leonard to come to Star City and help him out with the latest bad guy terrorizing the city (actually, he'd asked the Flash and his team for help, but apparently that now included the White Canary and the long-since reformed Captain Cold). Needless to say, the Arrowcave was significantly more crowded than Oliver usually preferred.
They were mostly all on task, but Oliver couldn't keep himself from watching Sara with her daughter. She was very good at multitasking, although this wasn't new information to him, balancing Rory on her hip as she poured over building schematics.
He couldn't ignore the tingling nerves in the back of his mind at the baby's presence. He'd never even brought his own children — three year old twins Tommy and Mara — to the Arrowcave, but he wasn't about to tell someone what to do with their own kid (especially when one of those someones was Sara Lance).
Still, there was something about it that Oliver found…unnerving.
"Are you sure it's okay she's here?" Oliver had asked when they had first arrived.
"Yeah," Sara had replied, "What could happen?"
"You do know we're trying to take down a serial murderer, right?"
"We have Donna on retainer if things start heading south," she shrugged.
And that had been the end of that.
Then Oliver was worried that Rory would be a distraction to their crusade, but after a couple days he had to admit he was wrong about this one too.
Rory proved to be a remarkably easy baby. She hardly ever cried, napped most of the day, and was quiet when she was awake (his surprise may be coming from experience with his own baby girl, Mara, who screamed nearly nonstop from the day she was born to the moment she learned to speak). The only distraction Rory caused came from the adults on the team, especially his wife Felicity.
Often, when the two teams were out in Star City, Felicity remained in the Arrowcave with Rory.
"How is she?" Sara asked over the comms.
"She's doing great," Felicity told her, "She woke up a few minutes ago and I swear she's the cutest baby I've ever seen in my entire life — aww, she's sucking on her fingers and it's so cute I could cry. Hang on, I'll send you pictures."
"Felicity," Oliver interrupted, "How are those security feeds looking?"
"Oh right," she exclaimed.
Later, when they had all returned to the Arrowcave, Felicity approached him and draped her arms around his neck.
"I want another baby," she whined.
Oliver followed her line of sight to Sara, sitting in Felicity's desk chair and slowing rotating side to side with her baby in her arms.
"Really?" Oliver asked, "Because earlier this week you said that if someone gave you the right price, you'd sell the ones we already have."
"I obviously was kidding," she replied, "Look at them."
He looked back to Sara and her daughter. Oliver had to admit that there was something enrapturing about watching a mother and her baby, seeing the purest love in her eyes. He'd seen it with Felicity, but now their kids moved so quickly and it was hard to capture those moments.
"You really want to do all that again?" he asked, meeting Felicity's eyes again, "Being pregnant, labor, the screaming newborn, diapers — we just got Tommy and Mara out of diapers."
A bit of the longing left Felicity's eyes.
"Maybe…maybe I just want to watching them. Forever," she said. Her eyes widened and she shook her head, "Was that creepy? I didn't mean it to be creepy."
Sara got up, cradling Rory in her arms, and walked over to them.
"Do you want her for a little bit, Fliss," she asked, holding Rory towards her, "It kinda sounds like you need it."
Felicity took Rory, holding her close to her chest.
"Ugh, I miss this," she groaned, "I know everyone says this, but it's true. You have to cherish this time, Sara, when she's all squishy and cuddly and falls asleep in your arms because mine used to do that and now they don't and I don't know when it happened."
"I know," Sara replied, a smile on her face.
A moment later, Leonard walked over to stand beside her.
"Hi," Sara said, smiling fondly up at him as she lifted one of his arms and draped it around her shoulders.
"We're supposed to be at your dad's house in fifteen minutes," he said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.
Felicity moved to give Rory back and Leonard took her, bouncing her a few times before she settled in his arms.
"I'm gonna get her ready to go," he said. Sara nodded as he started to turn away.
"I know our work isn't done yet," Oliver told her, "but I just wanted to thank you for coming here to help us. I know this stuff can be hard with a baby. I really appreciate it."
"It's no problem," Sara replied, "We're happy to help."
"You should know that I am very proud of you," he continued.
"Why?" Sara asked.
"You and I were both in really dark places years ago, and now here we are," he replied
"Here we are," Sara repeated, looking over to where Leonard was sitting with Rory, chuckling at something Laurel was saying.
"For a really long time, I thought having people you loved in your life made you weaker, but I was wrong," Oliver said, "I know I never thought I'd end up here, with a wife and kids, but I am, and I've never been happier. I see the same in you."
Sara smiled.
Leonard walked up to them again, this time carrying Rory. She was now wearing a dark grey fleece onesie with little round ears on the hood.
"Your sister had another gift for Rory," Leonard said, holding her up so Sara could see.
"Aww," Sara said, taking Rory form him and planting a kiss on her cheek, "Are you my baby bear?" she cooed, swaying back and forth. She saw Felicity groan and bury her face in Oliver's jacket.
"We should probably go," Sara said, looking up at Leonard, "if only just for Felicity's sake."
"Your daughter is beautiful," Oliver told her, a genuine smile on his face, "You have a wonderful family."