AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since "The Waiting Room" continuity basically ignores canon after 1x15, there are some things that never got said. I thought Mick Rory Appreciation Week would be a good time for me to fix that.
This chapter refers to visions Leonard had in "A Time For Great Things" Chapter 7.
Len's half-conscious nighttime rambles stopped about ten days after his rescue, mostly because he couldn't get untangled from Sara and Mick. His partner had taken to sleeping with them to help Sara keep Len from wandering. Each time Len woke, they tightened their arms around him and murmured reassurances in his ears, letting him know he was safe, that the nightmares he'd seen on Jurgen's Ridge weren't real.
Sometimes that was enough to get him calmed enough to sleep again. Other times, he fought them. One night in his unseeing terror, he shoved Sara off the too-crowded bed platform onto the deck. On another, Len socked Mick in the mouth, bloodying his lip.
Each time, he'd been mortified once he'd come back to himself, but neither of them blamed him. "It's a small price to pay for a miracle," Sara had told him as she climbed back onto the bed and into his arms.
"What you've been through, o'course you have nightmares," Mick had said as he dabbed the blood away.
But Len wasn't the only one to have nightmares. Sara still had them, though Laurel didn't figure so prominently in them anymore. And one night, it was Mick who came clawing up from some terror, who needed Len and Sara to hold him and ground him in the present.
Now Mick was sitting between them on the edge of the bed, hunched over, Sara's hand on his shoulder, Len's on his back, where he could feel the small shudders his old friend was straining to control. Len met Sara's wide, slightly horrified eyes, knowing she'd heard the last thing Mick had cried out before jolting awake:
"Daddy, please don't!"
With thirty years of partnership, it wasn't the first time Len had ever heard that cry in the middle of the night. But this was the first time he'd heard it knowing Mick was begging his father not to do something far worse than beating him.
He felt sick, just as he had when he learned about it on the Ridge.
Sara didn't know the story, but she must have read something in his expression. Quietly, she said, "I think we could use something to help us get back to sleep. I'm going to the galley to make some chai."
She gave Len a look that clearly said, "Talk to him," before rubbing Mick's shoulder reassuringly. Then she slid off the bed and padded out.
Clever woman. Chai would take her a little while to make, and that would give him and Mick a chance to have a conversation they'd put off for far too long. She knew they wouldn't have it in her presence.
Mick made a rumbling sound as the door slid shut. "Sorry," he said in a rough voice. "I'm supposed to be watching out for you…"
"And you have been," Len assured him. "But I know I haven't been giving you two an easy time of it. And I know you have as many reasons for nightmares as I do." He settled back against the wall, just behind Mick. He'd never be able to say the things he needed to while looking him in the eye. They might both be getting better at touchy-feely, but they hadn't gotten that far yet.
Still, there were things he didn't want left unsaid. "No need to apologize, Mick. I owe you for being there for Sara… and for me."
"We're partners," Mick replied simply.
Len huffed softly. "Yeah. But you were there for me even before we were partners. Back in Juvie. For years, I never understood why you stepped in that day." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "But I do now."
Mick's head jerked up, as if he'd been shocked, but he didn't look back at Len. After a moment, he said, "On the Ridge… you saw…"
"I saw what was going on outside of the dogpile when those other kids were beating the crap out of me. I'd always thought you were saving me from the shiv, but…" In his mind's eye he could still see that boy starting to undo his pants with a vicious smile of anticipation.
Mick grunted. "Wasn't gonna let Bundy make you his bitch." Another pause, a longer one this time. Then, in a quiet tone Len rarely heard from his partner: "I think you saw the reason why, too."
"I didn't exactly see," Len said. "Whatever's running that part of the time stream decided hearing was enough."
Mick let out a bitter laugh. "Then it's kinder than the Time Masters were when they turned me into Chronos. They made me relive all the bad memories again and again. Everything my father did to me, everything that happened in the can, everything-"
Mick stopped suddenly, his head dropping.
"Everything I ever did to you," Leonard said softly, remembering the many fights and falling-outs over thirty years. "I haven't always been the best partner, have I? Ordering you around since the day we left Juvie..."
"I'd'a done a lot more prison time if you hadn't."
"Yeah, but… I ran out on you in that fire."
"And I ran out on you when Lewis kidnapped you and planted that bomb in Lisa."
True, but… "Once we came on this boat, I didn't let you make your own choices."
Mick scoffed. "Look what happened when I did. I sold our team out to the Time Pirates."
Len shook his head, even though he knew Mick couldn't see it. "You wouldn't have if I'd been paying attention. The Time Pirates, Chronos… that's all on me."
"Not all of it," Mick said. "Hunter gets a part o' that. And the professor."
"Maybe. But it wouldn't have happened if I'd been paying attention to you instead of…"
"No, you don't!" Mick said sharply, turning around and meeting Len's eyes. "You don't get to apologize for Sara. She's the best damned thing that ever happened to you besides Lisa. Falling in love with her made you a better man. Made you a hero."
Len blinked, not sure if he should argue with love or with hero. He still wasn't sure either word applied. But Mick didn't give him a chance. "Yeah, you took the choice away from me in 2046, but going with the Time Pirates… I chose that."
Len dropped his eyes. "Then I chose to leave you right where the Time Masters would snatch you up and turn you into Chronos."
"Lenny… Leonard." Mick's voice was both sharp and gentle, and Len looked up to see his steady regard. "Part o' Chronos was always in me. Fighter? Killer? You know that. And without him, a buncha stuff that was supposed to happen wouldn't have." Mick's mouth twisted wryly. "You know how Rip is always sayin' time wants to happen."
Len raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying time wanted us to treat each other like crap half the time over the past thirty years?"
Mick chuckled. "Never told you this before, but my shrink used to say you and I had the healthiest unhealthy relationship she'd ever seen. Or maybe it was the other way around. I'm not sure."
Len laughed at the absurdity… and the truth of that statement. "Either way, she's got a point." He leaned his head back against the wall. "Listen, Mick. When we went back to see Lisa I told her... I told her I wanted us to be better with each other. The same goes for you. So if you catch me trying to take your choices away or boss you around again…"
"Can I punch you?"
Len laughed again, and this time Mick joined in. Catching his breath, Len said, "Only if you want Sara doing the same to you! But listen." He leaned forward toward Mick. "If anyone else on the crew starts pulling that shit again…"
"It's okay, Boss. You don't have to beat Hunter up for my sake."
Len smirked. "Actually, I was going to ask Sara to do it! But seriously… " The smirk dropped away. "I owe you, Mick. I've owed you for years."
He reached out his right hand. Mick looked down at it, then closed his own hand over it and met Len's eyes. "Think you already paid that debt off at the Vanishing Point. You saved me and the team. You saved the timeline. You saved free will. You're the best guy I ever knew." Mick's gaze was serious for a moment. Then he smirked. "Didja ever think you'd become a goddamn hero?"
"Hell, no," Len chuckled, shaking his head. "But none of it would've happened if you hadn't stepped in all those years ago. Mick, you may not think you're a hero..." he tightened his grip on his friend's hand, "but you're a hero to me."
