Rip woke up lying on a bed in a strange room that he didn't immediately recognise. This would have panicked him in other circumstances, but it didn't feel like a hostile location. He blinked groggily up at the ceiling and then lifted his head from the pillow to attempt a better look around. He felt tired, weak, and his left arm ached, but he was dressed in clean clothes and could feel that his arm was bandaged. He noticed that he'd been hooked up to an IV line, which explained the soreness in the back of his right hand. Beside his bed sat Caitlin, reading a tablet, which was when all the pieces of what had happened began to fall back into place. He groaned at the memory, which alerted her that he was awake.

"Hi there," she said.

Rip looked up at Caitlin.

"Er, hi," he replied. He tried to get the arm which didn't ache into position to push himself up, but a hand on his chest stopped him immediately.

"Hey, not so fast," said Caitlin. "You've been out for a couple of hours."

He huffed out an annoyed breath and sank back into his pillows. He took stock of his body and realised that he was dressed in a STAR Labs sweatshirt that he hadn't been wearing earlier, and was feeling a bit fuzzy, probably from the drugs he'd most likely been given to combat the pain of a gunshot wound. He still felt a little cold, which was almost certainly down to the blood loss.

"I can raise the head of the bed a little for you," said Caitlin.

"Thank you," said Rip, and felt Caitlin adjust the bed so that he could sit up a bit more and still lie back. She helped support him as he gently got himself repositioned.

"Better?"

He felt slightly dizzy from the movement, but it was passing. He nodded his thanks.

"How do you feel?"

"Pretty good for someone who got shot," replied Rip. "Mainly tired."

"Any pain?" she asked.

"It aches a bit, but the warm, fuzzy feeling that I'm experiencing suggests it could be a lot worse."

"Yeah, I've got you dosed up on painkillers," said Caitlin, confirming Rip's suspicions. "It's all stitched up and the wound should close nicely. I took an x-ray and the bone's not broken, but it did damage some muscle so you'll need to build that up again with some physio." She paused and leaned on the bar around the edge of the bed. "You saved my life, Rip."

"All in a day's work," replied Rip. "Besides, they were pointing the guns at me too, so I wasn't being entirely altruistic."

"I'm sorry for putting you in danger," said Caitlin.

"It is most certainly not your fault that two armed men decided to attack us whilst walking in the park," said Rip.

"But they were after me," said Caitlin.

"I seem to remember being told off very recently for taking too much blame upon myself," said Rip. "Physician, heal thyself."

Caitlin gave him a slightly amused look, but nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you feel up to visitors?" she asked.

"I have visitors?" asked Rip.

Caitlin apparently took that as a "yes", because she went to the door of the lab and called out, "guys, he's awake."

Barry, Cisco and Julian followed Caitlin back into the room.

"Dude, you need to learn to dodge bullets like Barry if you're going to do this kind of stuff," said Cisco.

"Yes, when I get my super-speed I'll be sure to get on that," replied Rip.

"Or we could just give him a phone with a panic button, like the ones we all have," said Julian.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Barry. "You are pretty much one of the team now."

Rip looked perplexed. "Because I got shot?"

"Because you helped to take down two of Savitar's goons," said Caitlin.

"I hardly did anything," said Rip. "Doctor Snow was the one with the forethought to call you. I merely acted as a temporary distraction to give you time to arrive."

"Which seemed to work," said Barry, grinning. "Welcome to Team Flash, Rip."

Rip let out a short laugh of mild disbelief and then regretted it when it pulled on his injured arm. He winced slightly, making Caitlin look concerned but he shook his head to indicate that he was fine.

"I am truly honoured to be a part of it in whatever small way I can."

"Good," said Barry, "because we can't thank you enough for keeping Caitlin safe."

"Any of you would have done the same," said Rip

"Oh no," said Cisco, "you're a special kind of crazy. No powers, no weapons, still takes on armed gun men."

"Yes, well, you've met the rest of the Legends. I have a certain level of insanity to uphold," said Rip, and yawned.

"Okay," said Caitlin. "We need to let Rip get some rest. You can all come back for the team showing of Blink later if Rip's feeling up to it."

"Team showing of Blink?" asked Rip.

"We knew you'd been looking forwards to it, and it is a classic episode," said Julian, "So we thought, rather than cancel it, we'd all watch it with you. Assuming you're sufficiently recovered."

Rip felt somewhat overwhelmed, but sort of in a good way. He was not at all used to this sort of behaviour from others when he was injured. In fact, usually on the times he'd been injured enough to use the medbay on the Waverider, he'd been alone. He'd had no team to look after him. Gideon had fixed him up and he'd gone back to work. That was when he'd been in his right mind and before the Legends had joined him. But his most recent stint in medbay had been after Camelot when they'd had to restrain him to treat him and then had returned him to the brig whilst still sedated, for their own safety. The only people to visit him had been Jax to tell him he wasn't their Captain and Sara to ask where the last piece of the Spear was. He'd been shockingly rude to both of them.

"I'm sure I'll be able to manage it after some sleep," said Rip, shaking off the bad memories.

"That's our cue to leave," said Barry. "We'll see you later."

Rip nodded, and settled back against his pillows.

"How's the pain?" asked Caitlin. "I can top up your pain relief."

"It aches but that's about all. I doubt it will keep me awake," said Rip, his eyes already closing.

He felt Caitlin squeeze his good hand reassuringly, and then he drifted off to sleep.

Sara and Jax walked back onto the bridge of the Waverider. They had left a depressed and suicidal Rip Hunter with Team Flash only minutes ago. The other Legends were waiting for them on the bridge, ready to get on with the mission.

"How did it go?" asked Ray.

"They'll take good care of him," said Jax, sounding rather unhappy.

"Gideon, set a course for Central City two weeks from now," said Sara.

"Yes, Captain," said Gideon.

"I was under the impression that we were heading to 1967 to collect the next Spear fragment," said Martin.

"We're going to go back for Rip first?" asked Ray. "Can we do that?"

"But the Legion could already have found my grandfather," said Nate

Sara leaned on the central control console. "Look, I know we have a job to do, and I know what the stakes are, but I don't want to do it without Rip on board. This is his ship and we've only just got him back. It feels wrong to abandon him here in 2017, while we just carry on."

"The mission should come first though," said Amaya.

"The mission will still be there if we take a short jump forwards to get Rip. Hopefully he'll be feeling better and he can come and join us properly again," said Sara. "We need all the help we can get."

"Yeah," said Jax. "No one knows this ship like him and, I hate to say it, he knows more about time travel than any of us."

"And he also happens to be handy in a fight and one of the most honourable men that I know," said Ray. "I mean he put his own life at risk to save New York, and time scattered all of us to keep us safe."

"Yeah, well, I'd like to have words with him about that," said Sara. "He could have chosen nicer time periods."

"But he did it for the right reasons," said Martin.

Ray gave a half shrug. "I kind of liked the Jurassic, even if it was a bit lonely, well apart from Gertrude."

"Gertrude?" asked Sara, and then shook her head. "No, I don't want to know."

"I want him back, he has all the good alcohol," chipped in Mick.

"If Rip gets back and you've drunk all his best whiskey, he is going to kill you," said Sara, looking daggers at Mick.

Mick looked offended that she would even suggest such a thing as he took a swig of his beer. "He's welcome to try. Again."

Sara rolled her eyes, and turned to the rest of the team. "So, are there any objections to us just jumping two weeks ahead and collecting our former Captain?"

There were a series of shakes of heads around the table.

"Okay. Gideon, make the jump, please. Actually, take us back a day early."

"Yes, Captain Lance."

The Legends took their seats and went to collect their missing team member.

Rip felt very unsettled by "Blink" because the Weeping Angels were about the scariest thing that he'd seen in ages. He wasn't sure that he could think of anything worse than the fate of their victims. At least they didn't appear again for a while. However, what he did enjoy was the entirety of Team Flash keeping him company for an evening, accompanied by pizza and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate that Caitlin presented him with was covered in cream and marshmallows, which she had declared compulsory for someone recovering from blood loss. Rip did not complain and managed to get through several slices of pizza.

He was in the centre of the party, with furniture dragged into the room around his bed. Caitlin had fitted him with a sling for his injured arm, which was definitely helping with the pain although putting him slightly off-balance. The TV had been set up at a good angle for everyone and Joe and Iris had arrived with the food, followed by the final member of the group that he'd yet to meet: HR Wells.

HR had a pair of drumsticks in his pocket that he would wave around when he talked and wore a waistcoat over his t-shirt. However, after a very brief chat with him, the group seemed to be determined to keep him away from Rip. Which was possibly because HR seemed to have a talent for putting his foot in his mouth, and they didn't think Rip would be able to deal with that whilst still recovering from a gunshot wound. They were probably right about that.

The huge mountain of pizza that had been ordered put actual Italian restaurants to shame, and disappeared quickly. Rip could have sworn that Barry was on his tenth entire pizza, and Wally had possibly eaten more, before either of them came up for air. Speedsters had fast metabolisms and needed more fuel than normal people.

"Sorry," said Barry, between mouthfuls. "When I first got my speed, I used to pass out from low blood sugar until Caitlin worked out that I wasn't eating enough. Cisco made me some protein bars so I don't have constantly eat this kind of volume, but occasionally it's nice to get my energy from proper food."

"No need to apologise," said Rip. "I've just never seen anyone eat that much pizza in one go."

"So, now that Rip is officially a member of Team Flash, I've been thinking about suit designs," said Cisco.

There was a good-natured groan from all those assembled.

Rip rolled his eyes. "I don't need a suit and I think the Legends would laugh themselves silly if I turned up wearing one."

"Time Masters don't wear super-suits?" asked Cisco, somewhat disappointed.

"Time Masters wore uniform," said Rip, emphasising the past tense, since the organisation had come to rather an abrupt end, "or at least we were supposed to when we were on base at the Vanishing Point, or training. Captains did not have to observe the same regulations and of course we needed to blend in to any time period we visited, so a super-suit would not have been appropriate. Not that it stops the Legends doing it anyway." He sighed. "Besides, as you so kindly pointed out, I have no superpowers."

"Armour, then," suggested Cisco.

"Not of much use when I'm in the field because I wouldn't want to risk losing it and contaminating the past," said Rip. "Honestly, I don't usually get hurt much, and Gideon is quite capable of fixing any injuries."

"As long as you get back to the Waverider," said HR, handing round buckets of popcorn. "What happens when you don't make it back and get left bleeding on a street in…" he thought for a moment, "1980s TSR?"

"TSR?" asked Rip.

"Trans Siberian Republic. You didn't have that here then? Really nasty time period on Earth 19. Giant beetles and rodents running amok."

Everyone looked blankly at him with mild puzzlement, and possibly some slight alarm.

"Luckily, I have a team to ensure that I get back to the Waverider these days," said Rip, deciding to ignore the idea of a period of history where giant beetles were a pivotal part of whatever had transpired.

"It's got to be better than being alone," said Julian, who sounded very much like he was speaking from experience.

"There are days when I do wonder about that," said Rip. Usually those days were when he walked into the galley to find that no one had loaded the dishwasher for a week and he'd been too busy to notice. The Waverider was his home and sharing it with a group of superheroes wasn't always easy. "But," he added, thoughtfully, "I do believe I wouldn't be without my band of misfits."

"Likewise," said Barry, grinning.

"Are you calling us misfits?" asked Joe.

A chorus of "hey!" came from the assembled Team Flash members and Barry found himself pelted with the popcorn that had just been handed round.

"I thought this was supposed to be a Doctor Who marathon," said Cisco. "One episode does not a marathon make. Please, stop throwing stuff at Barry so that I can get the next episode cued up."

"Are you okay for more?" Caitlin asked Rip, quietly, while everyone else was getting settled for the next episode and Barry was picking popcorn out of his hair. "You're looking a little tired."

"I think I could manage at least one more," said Rip. "Besides, at the moment, I fall asleep more easily around people."

"You're sure this isn't all too much for you?" said Caitlin.

"I promise, I'll let you know if it is," said Rip, "now, you had best take your seat, Doctor Snow, we're about to get started."

"Given that you saved my life today, don't you think you should start calling me Caitlin?"

"Are we resuming therapy sessions tomorrow?" asked Rip.

"As long as you're feeling up to it," replied Caitlin, frowning slightly at what she apparently considered to be a non-sequitur.

"In that case, I believe shall continue to call you Doctor Snow for a little while longer if you don't mind," said Rip. Somehow the separation between therapist and friend had become important and it was easier to talk to her as his therapist. He didn't think losing that would help him now.

Caitlin nodded. "You call me whatever you need to for however long you need to, Rip."

"Only three episodes to go until the end of the series," declared Cisco, interrupting any further conversation. "HR, can you get the lights."

Rip didn't even make it past the first fifteen minutes before he was gently snoozing.

Rip felt well enough to be up and about the next day, and had slept relatively well. He was putting that down to sheer exhaustion, one good day was not going to equal the end of his nightmares, but he'd take what he could get. The door of his room stayed unlocked and whilst Caitlin was still keeping an eye on him, he could come and go as he pleased.

He swapped the STAR Labs sweatshirt for a clean t-shirt, negotiating his injured arm with only a small amount of difficulty, and realised that he was cold without the long sleeves. His only jacket now had a bullet hole in the arm and was covered in dried blood. He was trying to decide whether to just put the sweatshirt back on when Caitlin arrived for their usual morning therapy session, which he was not getting out of.

"Do you have another sweatshirt I could borrow?" he asked. "I'm feeling the cold at the moment."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should have thought. Blood loss can make you feel cold and it could be a few days before your blood volume is properly replaced. I'll see what we've got in the store cupboard," said Caitlin, and left to see what she could do. She returned a few minutes later with two hooded tops with zip fronts and a couple of sweatshirts identical to the one he'd just taken off. Rip liked the look of the hooded tops better, at least partly because they had pockets for him to put his hands in and were easier to get over his sore arm, so he put one of them on. Caitlin helped him get the sling back on, and he finally felt ready to face the day.

"It suits you," said Caitlin, and he smiled in reply. "So do you have anything you'd like to talk about today, or do you want me to suggest something?"

Rip sighed. Therapy was still hard even after over a week of talking through his problems, and if he was honest, he was still finding it hard to see how he moved on from this. He may not have been in control of what Evil Rip did (and yes, in his head he was thinking of him as Evil Rip now, so a step in the right direction), but he still had to deal with his actions and the memories of those actions. He still had to work out how he could forgive himself for allowing all of this to happen.

"Today is the first day I've woken up here and not thought about how many ways there are to end my life," said Rip.

He could see that Caitlin had been expecting this at some point, but she still looked at him with something like pride in her eyes. And then, unexpectedly, she was hugging him and Rip didn't know how or why, but he was crying. He was sobbing in a way that he'd never managed before, crying tears of relief and sorrow at the same time. There was nothing that could be done to undo what had been done to him, but he didn't have to let it be the end of him, and that sudden realisation was powerful and disarming. It was frightening, because if he could move on from this, then he now had to find a way to actually do it.

Therapy dissolved into a box of tissues and Caitlin making him more hot chocolate in the lab kitchen, whilst he tried to explain just how scary the decision to live was. By the end of it he was worn out emotionally and physically, and Caitlin suggested that he nap before lunch, reminding him that he was still recovering from a gunshot wound. He didn't need much prodding to do as he was told.

He was awoken by an alarm sounding. Force of habit had him up and searching for its source before he'd really even remembered where he was. His arm was hurting again, and the sling was still throwing him off balance. He stepped out of his room into the main lab. He found Cisco and Caitlin sat at their computers in the cortex with HR standing behind them, avidly watching the screens.

"Oh Rip, I'm so sorry," said Caitlin, as he came in. "Did the alarm wake you? I forgot you'd hear it with the door open."

"Yes. What's going on?" He headed across the room to watch the screens.

"Three alarm fire," said Cisco. "Flash and Kid Flash to the rescue. This is looking like a bad one."

A live news report was on one of the screens and showed a tall building on fire. The news reporter was occasionally being drowned out by the sounds of yet more fire trucks arriving at the scene.

"We've been due something big for a while. It's unusual for things to be this quiet around here," said Caitlin.

"I expect Gideon picked this particular period for that very reason, although obviously she didn't account for random walks in the park in that," said Rip.

Barry's voice came over the speakers. "Okay, we're here. We're going to start evacuating the building."

"Great, Barry, this should be straight forwards," said Caitlin.

"You jinxed it," said Cisco.

"Did not," said Caitlin, looking a little offended.

"I just pulled up the building plans and guess what this block is right next to," said Cisco.

Caitlin looked over. "I did jinx it."

"Barry, you have to get everyone away from the west side of the building first. You're right next door to a propane gas storage facility."

"Or you could move those gas bottles somewhere safe," said HR. "No heating, no explosion."

"Good idea," said Cisco. "Wally, you get that? Get those gas bottles moved somewhere safe while Barry gets the people out."

"Copy that," said Wally. "Any suggestions for where?"

"Er… the harbour. That's cool and there's plenty of room."

The news feed now had twin yellow lightning streaks flashing across its screen. Rip watched it with fascination. Julian walked into the room reading something on a tablet, with a pencil and notebook clutched in his other hand.

"Hunter," said Julian, when he saw Rip. "How's the arm?"

"A little sore but otherwise fine," said Rip. "Not helping with the fire?"

"They can handle this without my input and they've been doing it a lot longer than I have. I've learnt not to interfere with their well-oiled machine when it comes to routine call outs. My expertise is not going to be of much use here," said Julian, heading across the cortex to one of the computer labs. "No, I have other things to attend to, such as dealing with Savitar." He gave Rip an appraising look. "In fact, you might be able to help."

He beckoned Rip over towards a glass board with some things written on it. "These were the things that Barry saw when he ran into the future. Barry thinks that if we can change enough of them then Iris won't be killed by Savitar. Perhaps we could have your professional opinion on that."

Rip frowned at the board. It was a rather random collection of headlines, but one caught his eye.

"Killer Frost…" he murmured. "Caitlin?" he asked, turning to Julian.

Julian glanced back towards the woman in question, who was currently directing Barry to more potential fire victims with a cool professionalism.

"But she has the power dampening cuffs and pendant," said Rip. "And, well, she's Caitlin."

"I know," said Julian. "But I've seen her transform when she uses her powers, and she becomes a totally different person. So far we've always been able to bring her back, but we're left with the inescapable situation where this was a headline in the future."

"Have you considered the possibility that it isn't our Caitlin?" asked Rip.

"Of course, but the Killer Frost from Earth 2 is dead," said Julian.

"There is a big, wide, multiverse out there," said Rip. "Equally, you could already have prevented it from happening. As soon as you become aware of a possible future, that in itself changes something. You've already introduced a new variable into the system."

Julian tapped his pencil on his lips. "I hadn't thought about that."

"You like her?" asked Rip.

"Is it that obvious?" asked Julian, with a touch of dismay.

Rip shrugged. "There appears to be a mutual attraction. Speaking as someone who lost the woman that I loved too soon, I'd suggest you act now and make the most of whatever time you have. And potentially, having someone that she cares about will make it harder for her to become Killer Frost. It's like I said before, having people you care about tethers you and makes it harder to see people as just problems to be dealt with, or impediments to one's goals. Giving her someone to love may be all that's needed to stop her from becoming Killer Frost."

Julian let out a long sigh. "But it would be wrong to form a relationship for that reason."

"You're not though, are you? Have you asked her out yet?"

"We went for drinks a couple of nights ago," said Julian.

"Then this all started well before I suggested anything," said Rip.

Julian gave him a dip of his head. "Okay, I'll… er… think about it."

Further conversation was interrupted by Joe walking into the cortex, beaming.

"Did you all just see my boys save a building full of people?" he asked, pointing at the TV screen.

"Yes, Joe," said Cisco, good naturedly. "We were helping them."

"I still cannot get over the fact that I have two hero sons," said Joe, still grinning.

Wally and Barry ran into the room a few seconds later, smelling of smoke and burnt masonry. They both looked hot, dirty and tired.

"Hey, well done, guys," said HR. "You saved…" he checked a screen. "Wow. You saved 89 people today."

Barry and Wally high fived.

"Couldn't have done it without the team," said Barry. "I'd never have got around that building fast enough without that route you gave me, Cisco."

"Or found that tiny girl hiding in the bedroom without Caitlin reminding me to check the closets," said Wally.

"And if those propane tanks had exploded…," said Barry.

"It was HR's suggestion to get them moved," said Caitlin.

"Go Team Flash!" said HR, with more enthusiasm than was really required. "How do you guys celebrate a huge victory on this Earth? Normally I'd phone up for an elephant parade but that doesn't seem like something that happens here."

Barry grinned, taking off his mask. "Er, no, we don't have elephant parades, and some of us have to get back to work."

"Yes, me too," said Julian. "We'll have to continue our conversation another time," he added, turning to Rip.

Rip nodded in agreement, still examining the board for any clue that could help Team Flash with their Savitar problem, but if there was anything to see, it eluded him. Perhaps even a Time Master couldn't help here, at least not without further information. If he had been back on the Waverider…

Unbidden, Rip was assailed with a memory of hunting Jax through the darkened corridors of the Waverider. Hunting Jax so that he could kill him and take the fragment of the Spear from him. How were his team ever going to forgive him? Then he realised that people had kept talking while he was busy, lost in his thoughts. His breathing had quickened and he'd backed away from Julian, unable to shake the memory that he was reliving.

"Rip?" asked Caitlin, coming towards him. She seemed to have realised that something was wrong. "Do your breathing exercises if you need to."

Rip shook his head.

"They're never going to be able to forgive me," said Rip, all his good feeling evaporating.

"Who?" asked Caitlin.

"My team. I tried to kill them."

"Yeah, me too, mate," said Julian, also approaching, his tone surprisingly gentle. "But it wasn't us and they did forgive me."

Caitlin and Julian exchanged a quick look, but Rip was finding it hard to stay in the present because his brain was pulling him back to the American Revolution. His eyes were unfocused and he couldn't see the room or the people with him. He had his right hand in front of him, palm spread wide to keep people away.

"I was going to shoot Jax."

"Not you, Rip," said Barry.

"You saved Caitlin's life yesterday. Would he have done that? The man who tried to kill your team?" asked Julian.

Rip shook his head. "No. He'd have let her die."

"But you saved me," said Caitlin. "You're a good man, Rip. You save lives, you don't take them."

"Do I?" he asked, with a half laugh at his own expense.

"Yes, god damn it!" said Julian, crossly. "You can't be both people, and yesterday, you saved Caitlin's life by putting your own in danger. That's what heroes do."

"I've never called myself a hero," said Rip, lowering his arm and instead wrapping it around himself.

Joe stepped forwards. "Barry doesn't either, but I've lost count of the number of people who are alive because of things he's done. Now, I don't claim to know everything you've done, but I do know that the world is still turning because the Legends exist and you assembled that team. So, to me that sounds like you're a force for good, and those are the people we call heroes."

Rip met Joe's eyes briefly, and then looked down, embarrassed by the sentiment. "Thank you," he mumbled.

"Actually," said a voice from the doorway, "we prefer Legends."

Sara Lance stood in the entrance, flanked by Ray Palmer and Mick Rory. The Legends were back to collect him.