Note: I'm only just now watching season 2 - mostly because I refused so that I could work on a fic and not have to deal with season 2 storylines, I'll admit. Then I got tired of avoiding spoilers (it's a pain) and started watching. After the team confronted Sara about her need for vengeance, I really wanted something like this. So I paused the episode and wrote it. I have no idea how good it is or how much it'll be contradicted in later episodes (or even the rest of this one) but at least it's done!

Sara stormed in to her room and let out a breath. Part of her wished she hadn't said anything and just walked away from Stein and that self-righteous, lecturing tone of his. The other part of her wished she'd punched him.

How could he tell her not to save Laurel? Maybe he hadn't said it in so many words but the meaning was clear in the way he'd blasted her for trying to kill Damien Darhk years before he'd ever even know Laurel Lance existed. He wouldn't be saying that if it were Clarissa that had been murdered.

They'd all do the same thing. It's why Amaya was with them in the first place—to find Rex's killer.

The only difference is none of them like to think about it, let alone admit it, Sara thought to herself. None of them want to imagine they could have that kind of anger and darkness inside them.

Well, Sara already knew she had that inside her. She'd been living with it since she'd come out of the Pit.

"Sara."

She turned to find Mick standing in the doorway of her room. He was probably the only other person onboard that actually acknowledged that anger and darkness that everyone had inside them. He'd lived with it for years and now he was on this ship, traveling through time, trying to protect the very history and world that his own brother had sacrificed himself for.

Very deliberately, she pushed that thought and the pain it brought to the side. She couldn't handle thinking about that on top of dealing with Laurel's death and Darhk's continued existence. Instead, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Mick paused as if he was thinking of what to say before walking further in to the room. The look on his face took her back to another criminal walking in to her room months ago.

("I was going to apologize...")

She clenched her jaw and refused to think about it.

"I like you, Sara," he said, reminding her of the night he'd let the time pirates on to the ship. She tensed as he looked passed her shoulder, refusing to meet her eyes. "And I get that you want to make that bastard pay for what he did to your sister. I get the need for revenge." His gaze shifted, meeting hers. "But you've got to start being smart about it."

Slowly, she lowered her arms, relaxing a bit now that she knew he wasn't there to blast her for her choices. "What are you talking about?"

"You're an assassin. You said it yourself, you're basically a ninja." Mick shook his head. "But you're not thinking like one. You're thinking like a sister."

"I am a sister," she said, her voice softer than it ever had been when talking to him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But if you want to kill Darhk, you need to stop thinking like one. You need to think like an assassin."

Sara bit the inside of her cheek as she thought about what he'd said, a habit she'd never been able to break and that had driven her mother nuts. Finally, she nodded. "You're right. Thanks."

Mick nodded. "Don't mention it. Ever. And don't make me have to repeat myself. I won't be so nice about it next time." He turned to leave and she licked her lips, unable to stop herself.

"He's never going to be Leonard." She let out a breath, not looking away from his shoulder even as Mick turned to look at her. She never said his name, not in front of the others. In front of the others, she'd only ever called him Snart. Now, though, she lifted her eyes back to Mick's. "Ray's never going to be Leonard. No one's going to be able to replace him. If you want Ray to be your new partner, you should let him do it as Ray." She couldn't stop the sad smile if she'd tried. "There's never going to be another Leonard Snart."

Mick stared at her for a few moments and she watched the way both his jaw and hands clenched then unclenched as he fought back his emotions. "I know."

They stared at each other in silence and then Mick nodded at her once more before walking out the door. Sara stared after him for just a few moments before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, and pushing her need for vengeance to the side.

For now.