Note: This fic was pure indulgence for me because I really wanted Sara to kill Lewis long before the Flash even existed and to do it because nobody touches what's hers. So raised as an assassin!Sara was born and so was this fic. My search history looks hilarious now and is the embodiment of that saying "I'm not a serial killer, I'm a writer!" Because everything Sara did, from breaking Lewis's jaw with her fist to the spot she stabbed him in to get to his heart, is a result of that research. As are all her weapons and that thigh holster, which also all exist.
Considering the family business, Sara has always found it hilarious that her mother married a cop. After all, what they do isn't exactly legal. But Quentin loves Dinah so he looks the other way as long as Dinah doesn't bring her work (so to speak) to Starling City despite the fact that he's never been comfortable with what her family does.
When Laurel is five, Dinah makes it perfectly clear that she doesn't have to go in to the family business but she does need to train until the age of ten at least so that she'll be able to defend herself. Sara gets the same talk when she turns five and Quentin doesn't argue either time because as daughters of a cop, it's better if they're able to defend themselves.
When Laurel turns ten, she stops training.
When Sara turns ten, she keeps going.
Sara finds the advanced training as easy as breathing. She learns hand to hand, trains with various weapons, how to identify different poisons by sight, scent, and taste, and she learns the value of researching and being able to improvise when things don't go as planned.
By the time Sara graduates from high school, she's handled more than one job on her own.
She chooses Central City University because it gives her even more freedom but is still only a train ride away from home. She chooses photography because she loves it and because it makes her job just a bit easier. No one looks twice at her when she's taking pictures once she mentions she's a photography student.
It certainly makes surveillance easier.
It doesn't take long for Sara to settle in to a routine, one that she sticks to for the next year. She goes to classes, submits photographs to the newspaper—both school and local—and the local gallery to try and get her name out there, and occasionally, she leaves town for a weekend to go on a job.
It's after one of her weekend jobs that Sara decides to stop at Saints and Sinners. Normally, she'd drive straight home (and continue to be grateful that she'd skipped dorm living and gotten an off-campus apartment) but something told her to stop and Sara had learned a long time ago to trust her instincts, even for something as trivial as when to stop for a drink.
She doesn't bother to remove any of the knives on her, simply puts her jacket on instead and walks in.
It's early enough that the bar isn't too full she notes, her eyes flicking around the room as she automatically takes in where each of the exits are. Satisfied, she chooses a seat at the corner of the bar, perfectly centered between two of the exits (three if she counts the window).
Her phone buzzes in her pocket and she pulls it out, nodding at the bartender to signal she's ready as she opens her messages. She senses someone approach her from the right but doesn't look up.
"You know," the man drawls, "I don't usually care about the drinking age but I do actually like this bar."
Sara turns, switching her phone to her left hand to keep her right hand free as she studies him.
He's tall, standing a few inches taller than her despite her seat on the bar stool and the fact that he's actually leaning against the bar. Dark brown hair that's cut close to his head (she wonders if he just likes the convenience of it or if he's got hair that curls if it's too long) and eyes that seem to change color in the light. She's fairly certain he's got a gun hidden beneath his jacket.
She raises an eyebrow. "You know what they say about assumptions."
His eyes spark with interest that he doesn't bother to hide. "In that case, the drink's on me."
She gives him a slow smile and slips her phone back in to her pocket, the text message from Oliver already forgotten.
That's how she meets Leonard Snart.
She and Leonard fit. Not just physically (though they fit together fantastically when it comes to the physical side of things she finds...the man knows exactly what he's doing with his mouth and hands) but in every other way as well. It starts out with meeting at the bar for a drink every now and then and then drinks turns to meeting up for coffee and coffee turns to breakfast and then breakfast becomes walks through the neighborhood which turns to shopping together or sitting in the park. He disappears for days at a time sometimes and the first time he does, he looks mildly surprised at the way she doesn't demand answers to where he's been and then he hides the surprise behind a smirk and a kiss and they move on. She tells him that she has another job that sometimes takes her out of town and pulls her own disappearing act sometimes and he gives her the same courtesy of simply accepting it.
They each start keeping extra clothes in the other's apartment, an extra toothbrush appears next to hers in her bathroom and a woman's razor along with her favorite shampoo and conditioner are now on the shelf in his shower. She likes to make hot chocolate from scratch and has to make sure to always have the supplies in her pantry because the man's got a serious love for the drink but only knows how to make it using Swiss Miss and that's not happening in Sara's kitchen. (He gave her one of his rare, genuinely amused smiles when she told him that and then tossed the bag of mini marshmallows at him.) He starts buying multiple bags of frozen curly fries because she's addicted to curly fries but doesn't like having to go out to eat just to have them.
Sara doesn't say anything when she finds an extra key on her keyring one day and Leonard doesn't mention it when he finds a key in his pocket one night after she kisses him goodbye.
The first time that Sara sees Leonard in a short sleeve shirt, she doesn't say a word about the cigarette burns which makes him relax. But she makes note of how old the scars look and feels rage begin to build inside her. Rather than let it show, she ruthlessly shoves it aside and slides a hand down his arm and uses her grip on his hand to tug him closer.
She never ignores the scars that he slowly reveals to her but she never demands answers either. She touches them freely, accepts the scars as a part of him, and gives him a look that says she'll listen if he wants to talk.
He doesn't but the press of his lips against her shoulder tells her that the message was received.
Sara has her own scars. It's inevitable after so many years on the job. She knows that Leonard wonders about them, she can tell by the way he traces the shape of some of them with the tips of his fingers. But he never asks.
She knows that if she wants to tell him though, he'll listen.
And all the while she mentally catalogues every single mark on Leonard's skin and vows that one day, she's going to make someone pay for them. (She's had her theory on who since she met Leonard's sister, Lisa, and if she's right then Lewis Snart is going to regret every single scar. She'll make sure of it.)
It's been over a year since she and Leonard met and she's actually happy. She still has yet to actually tell him about the family business but that doesn't bother her all too much. Her mom had waited until the night her dad proposed to tell Quentin, telling him exactly what she and her family are capable of and telling him that he could back off and she'd understand. He'd waited until they'd gotten back home to turn to her and tell her that he didn't care, he still wanted to marry her.
So she's okay with waiting to tell Leonard. After all, she has a feeling he's doing the same thing with her. (She'd nearly burst out laughing when he'd mentioned he was in to acquisitions and she knew he'd been able to tell by the way he'd looked at her. After all, that was the plainest way to admit to being a thief to anyone in the know.)
Sara's happy.
So, of course, Lewis Snart shows up.
She's not sure if it's stupidity or arrogance or a little of both that have Lewis Snart deciding that coming after her by himself in her own apartment is a good idea.
Sara can feel the difference in her apartment the moment she walks in. It feels off and that's the only explanation she has. But she knows what home feels like and she can tell when Len is here and this feels different. Rather than make it obvious that she knows someone is there, she simply sets her bag down as if it's any other day.
She's curious so she'll let this play out a bit.
She's halfway to the kitchen when she sees movement from the corner of her eye and she forces herself to keep going rather than turning to kick the man she now recognizes as Lewis Snart (she had researched him months ago) in the face. Instead, she reaches out as if she's going to get a glass and lets out a convincing gasp when he roughly grabs her arm.
He looks satisfied at her reaction and Sara has to fight not to roll her eyes because he's extremely predictable.
She knows what she looks like. She's a petite blonde with freckles and big blue eyes and when most people look at her, they think she's vulnerable. An easy target.
Those people are always surprised.
Lewis will be too, she knows that. But for now, she widens her eyes and stares at him as if she doesn't know where he came from or who he is.
"Well, my son has good taste," he observes.
Sara frowns and makes a halfhearted attempt to tug her arm free. "Excuse me?" She lifts her chin as if trying to fake bravery and watches as he smiles. "Who are you?"
"Don't tell me that Leonard didn't tell you about me. He always was useless."
She narrows her eyes. "He is not-" She breaks off when Lewis backhands her. She moves with the hit even as she feels her lip split, keeping her head turned and her gaze down, lifting a hand to her mouth as if she doesn't know what to do with the fact that she's been hit. She hears the click of a camera and she just knows that Leonard's going to be sent that picture. The shot will be completely unobstructed too since she'd put her hair up that morning.
"That wasn't up to debate. Now be a good girl and keep your mouth shut or things will only get worse." She wants to hit him but forces herself to remain still. When she doesn't respond or move, he nods. "Good. Come with me now." His grip tightens to the point of bruising. "And make it fast. I don't like repeating myself."
Sara makes sure the breath she lets out is shaky and she lets herself stumble a bit when he jerks her towards the door.
She's already planning what she wants to do to him which is why she goes along with him instead of breaking his wrist. She can't do anything to him here in her apartment. That's just common sense and one of the first things she'd learned.
The car ride is silent with Sara doing all she can to project the image of a scared college student, completely out of her depth. Lewis is apparently not the type to monologue while he drives but she has a feeling that once they reach the place he's chosen (she'd put money on an abandoned warehouse downtown) that he'll change that. Probably as he uses her as a punching bag for the next couple of hours or so because Leonard had mentioned going to the next big city over and if Lewis has been watching his son then he knows that.
Not that she'll allow him to do that. But she's sure that's the plan.
Lewis stops the car in front of—holy hell, he really is predictable—an abandoned warehouse. She's going to punch him for that alone.
Sara lets her eyes roam over the interior of the warehouse, making note of the table with multiple stacks of paper and a few guns on top, the two chairs and the rope that she assumes is to tie her up.
That'll probably get her a bit more information so she'll wait. It's not like she doesn't know how to get out of the restraints when she needs to.
Keeping that in mind, she only struggles enough to keep him from being suspicious as he forces her in to the chair and begins to tie her up. She mentally rolls her eyes at the fact that he doesn't even bother patting her down. She may be in a skirt today but she's got numerous weapons on her person and it's just insulting that he doesn't check.
Then again, she is supposed to be helpless and that's exactly what he's been expecting and it's exactly what she's been letting him see. People get stupid when they see what they expect.
"I don't understand why you're doing this," Sara protests, letting a mix of fear and anger show in her tone.
"You're the perfect incentive for my son to do what I want," he says, securing the rope around her ankles. It's actually a bit gratifying that he's not a total idiot and assuming she won't try to kick him. "I was going to use Lisa but this works out nicely. She can be the backup so to speak and you...well, you're expendable, sweetheart."
Now that's just rude, Sara thinks, already working on the ropes and scowling when he pulls out his phone and types out a quick message before hitting send and turning to look at her. If he'd just look away, she could be much more obvious about loosening the rope.
As if on cue, his phone rings. Sara lets out a breath and holds back a smirk when he turns to answer.
"Hello, son. Anything I can help you with?"
Sara almost wishes he'd put it on speaker so she could hear Leonard's responses but this is better. She'll have to twist her arm to the point that she'll be in danger of popping her shoulder out of place but she can get the rope off of her wrist that way. She focuses on that rather than the conversation because she doesn't actually care about anything coming out of Lewis Snart's mouth at this point. From the bits she does catch, it sounds like he's simply telling Leonard what he wants and she can always find that out later if she really wants to.
She twists her arm, clenching her jaw to keep from making a sound, and then allows a brief smile to flash across her face when her wrist slips free. She pauses and while Lewis's back is turned, she bends and loosens the rope around her ankles so that all she'll have to do is put a bit of pressure on them to free her ankles. She straightens and winds the rope behind her up so that she's holding it off the floor just as Lewis turns to stare at her.
"Call me in an hour, son, and give me a progress report on how close you are. If you're not as close as I think you should be, your girlfriend is going to start learning a few more lessons. I trust you remember those and I've already had to teach her how to be quiet." He doesn't wait for Leonard to say anything before hanging up and turning back to Sara. He takes a step forward in a move that's probably supposed to be intimidating and Sara fights the urge to sigh. "Now, you just better hope that he drives quickly."
Sara smiles. "Actually, I kind of hope he runs in to traffic. Just so I can spend a bit of quality time with you." Even as his expression darkens, she's up and moving away from the chair, the rope falling to the floor. She lets herself feel just a bit of satisfaction at the surprise on his face before stabbing her fingers in to his throat and watching him fall backwards.
That was probably overkill. The throat stab is taught as method of knocking a person out but it's also emphasized that it should only be used as a last resort or in life or death situations since it can severely damage the person's windpipe. Not to mention it knocks the person out by caving in their pharynx so that they can't breathe.
Not that Sara particularly cares. At least, this time. Scaring the hell out of Lewis Snart doesn't bother her at all. She's actually taking a bit of pleasure in the panic on his face when he has trouble pulling in air which is a line she usually doesn't cross. When Sara does a job, she does it quickly with no unnecessary marks or mess.
This man though? He's the exception to that rule.
She waits the few minutes it takes for him to fall unconscious and then quickly pats him down. Another gun joins the ones already on the table along with his wallet, phone, gloves (that can only be to keep him from leaving fingerprints because it's too warm to be carrying gloves for any other reason), cigarettes, and his lighter.
Okay, she's back to being insulted.
Shaking her head, she looks around and takes in the things she didn't the first time around. It's a bit of a typical warehouse—there's multiple support beams and pillars throughout, crates over to the side, and there's chains hanging down from one of the beams. At that sight, she tilts her head back and studies the chains, following the beam to where it intersects with one of the pillars and smiles.
She can work with that.
It takes a bit of maneuvering but she manages to get Lewis strung up using the chains and leans him against a pillar. She uses the rope to wrap around his ankles, securing them to the pillar, tying it tightly. She wears his gloves when handling the chains because she's not taking any chances of leaving fingerprints.
Sara frowns, tilting her head and tossing the gloves back on the table. She should have taken his jacket off. Well, there's an easy fix for that. Briefly she contemplates cutting his jacket off but with his arms secured above him already, that'd be a pain. Instead, she tugs the sleeves down until they're bunched up at his elbows. It'll have to do she decides, dragging one of the chairs so that it was facing him. She drops down and crosses her legs.
Now she just needs him to wake up.
Thirty minutes later and Lewis begins to stir. Sara lets out a sigh, smirking and standing when he opens his eyes.
"Finally," she sighs. "Leonard is going to be calling soon."
Lewis jerks against the chains, glaring at her. "Let me out of these," he demands.
Sara can't help it. She scoffs. "Yeah, that'll work," she tells him. "Now say pretty please." She turns and studies the objects laid out on the table. After a moment, she picks up the silver lighter. Lips twitching at Lewis's frustration, she flicks it open and closed a few times.
She flips open the carton of cigarettes and shakes one out. She listens as he swears that he'll make her pay for every single one that she smokes and Sara smiles, just managing to hold back a laugh, as she lights the end then flicks the lighter closed.
She doesn't smoke.
Sara turns and does something that she knows will disturb him more than anything.
She smiles.
Almost thirty minutes later, Sara is pulling the cigarette away from yet another burn on Lewis's right arm. Having to stand on the chair might have seemed like a pain but it's definitely proven to be worth it. Lewis's upper arms may have still been covered by his jacket but the skin below his elbows is exposed. Sara couldn't just let that opportunity pass, of course. Not when she thought about the promise to herself to make Lewis regret every mark he had put on Leonard in the past.
She studies the mark and then the cigarette, ignoring the noise that Lewis is making and trying to decide if there's enough of this cigarette left to get another burn out of it. The thought is cut off by Lewis's phone ringing.
Sara hops down off the chair and crushes the cigarette beneath her boot. "Looks like you're getting a break," she says before going to the table, ignoring the mounting rage in his glare. She can't help the smile when she sees Leonard's name on the screen and she picks up. Before she can say anything, Leonard is speaking,
"I'm a half an hour out."
Sara pauses. He'd been at least two hours away which meant he must be pushing the limit every chance he had in order to get here. Her smile widens a bit.
"Don't get pulled over."
She can hear the pause her voice causes and then Leonard lets out an audible breath and the relief in his voice is clear, to her at least. "Sara?"
"Hi, Len." She briefly glances over her shoulder at Lewis. "I mean it though. Don't get pulled over."
Leonard laughs a bit. "I'll try." He pauses again. "How did you—"
"You bitch," Lewis suddenly shouts, unable to keep silent. "I'm going to kill you when I get out of here, you understand me? I'm going to blow your brains out and I'm going to make my worthless son watch!"
At that, Sara spins. Not only does she hate the word bitch but this is the second time he's insulted Leonard in front of her and this time, she doesn't have to just sit and listen while he does it. She doesn't bother to say anything to Leonard, simply lowers the phone from her ear and stalks up to Lewis, her right hand curling in to a fist. He's still shouting when she lets her fist fly, slamming it in to the side of his jaw, right below his cheek. She feels a flash of satisfaction at the sound of his jaw breaking and the look of shock and pain on his face.
She smiles again, narrowing her eyes. "Much better." She lifts the phone back to her ear. "I really hope you weren't planning to have an actual conversation with your father."
"Why is that?" Leonard asks, though he sounds as if he already knows the answer.
"Well, it's usually difficult to talk with a broken jaw and he doesn't seem like the type to put himself through any pain if he can help it." She just barely stops herself from tapping Lewis's jaw with her fingers.
Leonard snorts. "You're not wrong." He let out another breath. "I'll be there soon."
"I hate to use a cliché but I can't guarantee that he'll be in one piece when you do."
He doesn't bother to acknowledge that with anything but a snort and, "I'll see you in a little while."
"I'll be waiting," she promises before hanging up and tossing Lewis's phone on the table. She turns back to him. "So, another cigarette? Or something else?"
A strangled, "Kill you," is the only response she gets and she raises an eyebrow. Looks like he's willing to struggle through the pain if it means threatening her. So she nods.
"You're right. Something else." She studies him, trying to decide what to do next. There are numerous cigarette burns on each of his arms now and her lips twitch in to a satisfied smirk at the idea that now he knows what it feels like. But she clenches her jaw when her eyes roam over him and she bypasses his belt. She's seen the marks on Leonard's back—the ones that look as if he'd been whipped with the buckle end of a belt.
It'd be a bit too impossible to whip him unless she went for the front but she isn't about to undress him so she'll have to settle.
He won't be able to hold anything with broken fingers.
So, she climbs back on the chair, this time without a cigarette, leaving the lighter in her skirt's pocket. She doesn't do anything at first, simply stands there, making sure she's just out of his line of sight, and lets the tension in Lewis build for a few minutes. Then she reaches out and grabs his pointer finger, yanks it backwards towards his wrist, and twists it to the side, nodding as it snaps. She smirks when Lewis screams and then moves on to the next finger.
It only takes minutes to break all the fingers on his right hand.
She steps down and then moves so she's standing in front of him. There are tears streaking his cheeks and his face is red with strain. Sara grasps his jaw, uncaring about the groan of pain that escapes at the move, and forces him to look at her.
"I want you to remember something, Lewis Snart. This is happening to you because you abused your kids. Because after everything you've done, you still couldn't just leave well enough alone. This is because I promised to make you suffer for every single mark you ever gave Leonard. Remember that. If you had been a decent man, a good father, none of this would be happening to you." She squeezes his jaw once and then lets go, turning and grabbing the chair. She walks behind him to move it and she wonders if he's trying not to flinch. He stopped struggling to get out of the chains back when she was inflicting burns on his right arm.
She doesn't climb back on the chair at first. Instead, she tilts her head and waits until she sees his shoulders tense and then she climbs back up on the chair, deliberately letting her boots click against the wood of the seat rather than climbing up silently the way she had before. Once more, she waits, letting the tension increase before she reaches out and breaks the pinky finger of his left hand.
She alternates, doing the thumb next, then the ring finger, followed by his index finger. Leonard walks in just as Lewis lets out a scream when Sara breaks his middle finger.
"Now that is not something I ever thought I'd see," Leonard says, eyes moving between Lewis and Sara. She glances over and lifts her brows up a bit.
"Hi, honey!" Her lips curl up a bit. "I've just been getting to know your dad here." She turns to face Leonard when he stops in front of the chair.
"Sara," Leonard says, keeping his tone light, "what made you break his fingers?"
Rather than answer, Sara meets his eyes and very deliberately bends slightly and slips her hand beneath the neck of his shirt, brushing her fingers over his spine. He sucks in a breath and she watches the realization enter his eyes when he looks from Lewis's fingers and then down to the cigarette burns now littering Lewis's arms.
Leonard trails his fingers over her arm and down to her wrist when she slides her hand up and out of his shirt and to his shoulder. He squeezes lightly, a faint smile on his face and then wraps his hands around her waist and lifts her off the chair before lowering her until her feet are on the ground.
He studies her for a few moments, that faint smile never leaving his face, before his eyes narrow and darken in anger at the sight of her split lip and the hand shaped bruise that's already formed on her arm. His hand comes up and he traces along the edge of her lip with his thumb then stops, his hand cupping her cheek.
"What exactly are you planning to do from here?" There's nothing but curiosity in his voice and she smiles, turning her head slightly to kiss his palm before stepping back.
Sara's smiles slowly, ignoring the way it pulls at the cut in her lip. "I thought I'd explain to Lewis here why he's a very stupid man."
Leonard doesn't bother to hide his amusement at that response, stepping back until he can lean against the table and watching as she drags the chair around so that it's facing Lewis again. Lewis gives an involuntary flinch at the noise and Leonard can't help but wonder what Sara's been doing to get that reaction just from moving a chair.
Not that it bothers him after everything his father has done to him and Lisa. But he's curious.
Sara steps up to the table and picks up the gun that he recognizes as Lewis's and casually checks to be sure it's loaded. She winks at Leonard and then walks away to sit in the chair, crossing her right leg over her left and holding the gun in her lap.
"So, Lewis, do you know why you're a stupid man?" she asks, moving her right foot up and down as if tapping against thin air. She tilts her head and when there's no response, lifts one shoulder in a half shrug. "Let's start with surveillance. I don't know if you did it yourself or if you had someone else do it but, either way, it wasn't done very well." Her finger begins tapping against the chamber of the gun. "Because if you had, you'd have realized very quickly that I wasn't just a normal college student and that it'd be a very bad idea to use me as leverage. Then again, since your backup plan was to use Lisa, I'm not all that bothered that you can't do something as simple as surveillance."
Leonard's eyes narrow once again when he hears the last part. Of course Lewis was going to use Lisa if he couldn't get to Sara.
He really hates this man.
"You see, if you actually thought things through, you'd have realized a few things. Like the fact that I carry weapons on me. Something I guarantee Leonard noticed right from the start. You want to see a man that actually uses his brain, take a good long look at your son." She says it partially to annoy the hell out of Lewis but mostly because it's true and the fact that Leonard is intelligent (and uses that intelligence) is one of Sara's favorite things about him.
"You had three knives on you the night we met," Leonard tells her. Just like he knows she's got a few on her now though he hadn't taken the time to see how many when he'd lifted her off the chair.
She looks over her shoulder, a small smile appearing on her face. "You had a gun," she replies. "And a set of lock picks in the left inner pocket of your jacket."
Leonard doesn't actually smile but his eyes light up at the fact that she had noticed the lock picks.
Sara turns back to look at Lewis. "See? Think of all the pain and trouble you could have saved yourself." Her eyes and smile both gain an edge that has Lewis looking nervous, a look that causes Leonard to shift positions out of curiosity until he's leaning against one of the other pillars and can see the look on Sara's face. When he's able to see her expression, he crosses his legs at the ankle and acknowledges to himself that that's a look that definitely does it for him.
"But you want to know the biggest reason I think you're an idiot?" She lifts her chin slightly causing the silver chopsticks in her hair to glint in the light. "You didn't do your research. At least, nothing beyond my name, address, and usual schedule. Because if you had decided to dig deeper and see if I had any sort of connections, you'd have come across my mother and her side of the family." She leans back in the chair slightly. "Would you like to know my mother's maiden name, Lewis?" She doesn't bother to wait for an answer that she already knows won't come. "It's Skotóno." Even as a horrified look appears on Lewis's face, Sara flips the safety off, lifts the gun, shoots him once in each kneecap, then puts the safety back on. Lewis screams again, unable to take any weight off of his legs by pulling himself up since there's no give in the chains or the rope.
Leonard stares at Sara, unable to hide the bit of awe he feels at the revelation of the family she comes from. Anyone that has made a career out of crime knows who the Skotóno family is.
Assassins.
It's the family business and it goes so far back that no one (except the family themselves probably) knows when they got started. But it's well known that if you want a person taken out of the equation with nothing tracing back to you, it's them that you go to. No one outside of the family itself knows the actual names of any of the family members. If you want to hire them, there are certain channels to go through and each family member that's involved in the business uses a code name so that they can be requested specifically and so that people know who is in which part of the world.
Leonard thinks of all the little things he's noticed about Sara—the way she can blend in to a crowd despite the fact that she moves like a predator, the scars, the way she scans a room when she enters and makes notes of both the threats and the exits, the way she always has at least two knives on her—and feels all the pieces fall in to place.
Sara looks pleased with Lewis's reaction and stands, moving back to the table. She quickly and efficiently wipes the gun clean of all fingerprints with a cloth that had been on the table before letting it fall out of the cloth and next to the other guns. She even takes a few moments to swipe the cloth over the cigarette box, just in case.
"Now, usually I'd just kill you," Sara informs Lewis sounding as though she's telling him it's cloudy outside. "But I thought I'd leave that up to Leonard." Sara smiles at the look on Lewis's face when she says that and turns to Leonard. She lets out a breath at the way he's looking at her, a mixture of awe, fascination, gratitude, lust, love.
They've never said the words out loud, letting their actions say everything and now is no different. Instead, she simply lets everything she feels show when she returns his gaze. He gives her one of those rare soft smiles that she's come to think of as hers and nods.
"Do you want to do it?" she asks. As much as she wants to end the man's life, he's still Leonard's father. Leonard and Lisa are the ones that Lewis has hurt over the years and if Leonard wants to be the one to do this, she'll step back.
He pauses and considers it for a moment and though a part of him desperately wants to say yes, he shakes his head. Sara had done this for him and he's going to let her finish it.
Besides, Skotóno or not, Leonard knows that it'll gall Lewis to be killed by a tiny blonde that he'd never once recognized as a threat.
Her mouth quirks up in a pleased smile and she nods. She reaches under her top on the right side and pulls out a steel butterfly knife, opening it to reveal a double edged blade that's five inches long. Walking up to Lewis, she stares at his torso as if considering her next move before she turns the knife in her grip slightly and then stabs him just to the left of his sternum, keeping the blade horizontal as she shoves it forward, cutting through the tissue and muscle with some effort until she pierces his heart. She twists the knife slightly and then pulls it out, backing up a few steps and nodding to herself.
Sara goes back to the table, using the cloth to wipe the blood off her knife before she folds it closed and slips it back in to place on her side. She ignores Lewis as he falls unconscious. He'll be dead in the next few minutes she knows.
She moves to stand next to Leonard, slipping her hand in to his and squeezing while he watches his father. He squeezes her hand in return but keeps his eyes on Lewis. They stand there, silently holding hands, watching until Lewis stops breathing. Once he does, Leonard tugs Sara closer and presses his lips to her forehead, closing his eyes and breathing in deep, taking in the faint scent of vanilla and lavender that he'll forever associate with Sara.
For the first time in years, something in him loosens and he's able to completely relax.
"We should go," he says softly, pulling back after a few minutes.
Sara hums in agreement and steps back, turning to scan the room to be sure she hasn't left anything that can be traced back to her. There's only one thing that she can think of and so she squeezes Leonard's hand once more before letting go and moving back to the table.
"One last thing," she tells him, picking up Lewis's phone. She quickly goes in to the camera roll and deletes the picture he'd taken of her before opening his texts and deleting the picture from the text sent to Leonard as well so that it simply shows a message of I've got something of yours. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She's beginning to think that Lewis took lessons in how to be a cliché. At least he didn't have an iPhone since that meant she wouldn't have to worry about the picture being backed up on iCloud. She doesn't bother trying to delete the evidence of Leonard calling Lewis—phone records would reveal that easily so deleting his calls from the phone would just make the police think Len was involved. Wiping the phone down and letting it fall to the table the way she had with the gun, she nods. "There."
Her hand easily slips back in to Leonard's as they leave, pausing only long enough so that Sara can make sure her prints aren't on the car door or seatbelt. They don't speak when Leonard drives to his apartment instead of hers since it's closer. Lewis will be found eventually and when that happens, Leonard will have a story for where he was and Sara will corroborate his story, there's no question about that.
Once they're in the bedroom, Sara sighs and stretches, grinning when Leonard backs her up against the dresser.
"So," he starts, stretching the word out a bit, "just how many weapons do you have on you today?"
Rather than respond, she gestures for him to move and then bends to reach in to her boot, pulling out a solid black dagger and sets it on the dresser. Next, comes her belt and she raises an eyebrow at him when she tugs on the buckle and it slides out of the belt to reveal a blade before setting it next to the dagger. He laughs and shakes his head when three butterfly knives are taken from under her top and set down as well. The look she gives him next has him pausing when she moves around him and lifts her right foot up on the footboard. Eyes on him, she slides her skirt back to the top of her thigh, revealing a handgun in a thigh holster that's made of white elastic that almost looks like leather. What makes Leonard suck in a breath and his eyes darken in interest is the black lace going down one side and the tiny black bow on the other. Sara winks at him and undoes the hook attached to the strap that wraps around her waist—which keeps the holster from falling—and then unhooks the holster from around her thigh, bundling the whole set up and carefully setting it down next to her knives. Lastly, she reaches up and lets her hair loose, holding up what he had assumed were silver chopsticks. Instead, they're steel hair spikes, both ends sharpened though the top is also twisted so that it's not obvious that they're not just simple hair accessories.
By the time she's done, the top of the dresser is covered in weapons and he smirks when the only thing he adds to the assortment are two handguns and his favorite set of lock picks.
Sara wraps her arms around his waist and tilts her head back to look up at him. "I could really go for pizza right now."
Leonard laughs and slides hands up her arms and to her shoulders, leaning down to press his lips to hers. "I can do pizza," he agrees.
They change and Sara can't help the smile she gets at the sight of Leonard in what she knows are his softest pair of pajama pants and a baggy shirt. That tells her that he's about to go put a frozen pizza in because he wouldn't answer the door for a delivery while dressed like that. She follows suit, tossing her clothes in the hamper and putting on shorts and one of his shirts then heads to the kitchen to settle on one of the bar stools. She swings her feet and watches as Leonard slides the pizza and a baking sheet full of curly fries in to the oven.
It's completely unhealthy and neither of them could care less tonight.
Leonard rounds the counter, a beer in each hand, and pauses at the sight of her, his lips twitching at the sight of her in his shirt.
"It's your turn to pick the movie." He holds out one of the bottles towards her and she takes it, sliding off the bar stool and heading towards the shelves of DVDs, already knowing what she's going to choose.
Leonard smiles when the menu for the original Ocean's Eleven comes on the screen and settles on sofa, Sara leaning against him.
They spend a quiet night in, eating pizza and fries and drinking beer while they go from one movie to the next (all of them are heist movies because Leonard likes watching and seeing if he can come up with a better plan than the characters do) until Sara yawns partway through their fourth movie.
"I can finish the movie," she protests when Leonard stops the movie and pulls her to her feet. He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I know." He turns off the TV and takes her to bed anyway because as comfortable and easy to fall asleep on as his couch is, nothing beats a bed.
It doesn't take long for them fall asleep.
Sara wakes up the next morning partially on top of Leonard with his arms around her and she blinks in surprise when she sees that he's still asleep. Even if he hasn't left the bed and is just reading, Leonard is always the first one up and even him relaxing enough to just read in bed is rare. She usually wakes up to him already in the living room and getting a start on his day, whether it's work or just making breakfast.
She studies him, noting how much more relaxed he looks this morning. On the few occasions she's seen him asleep when she's gotten up for a drink or to use the bathroom, she's noted that he never seems fully relaxed, even in sleep, as if he's ready to wake up at a moment's notice.
But today, his expression is completely relaxed, there's no tension at all. Even her shifting out of his arms doesn't wake him though he frowns a bit until she puts her hand on his chest for another few minutes. She slides out of bed to use the bathroom and brush her teeth and then slips back under the covers, pressing a kiss to Leonard's shoulder as she settles against him once more.
Later, they'll have to figure out what Leonard will say when the police eventually come to tell him that Lewis is dead—though Sara has an idea for that already and it's not far from the truth, just takes her so-called kidnapping out of the equation. Later, she'll answer any questions that Leonard might have for her about her family and what she does. Later, she'll make French toast because Leonard's sweet tooth doesn't stop at hot chocolate and Sara likes dunking her bacon in the syrup.
Later.
For now, she's going to let Leonard sleep soundly for the first time since she's met him.