"I know you're working with Leonard Snart."
There was no time for Sara to respond before there was a click and the line went dead.
Sara sat frozen for a moment before jumping to her feet.
What was she going to do? What were they going to do?
She picked up her phone again and opened the text conversation she had with Leonard.
emergency, she texted him, knowing that he would understand.
There was a knocking on her door in a matter of minutes.
"What happened?" he immediately asked, not even inside her apartment yet.
"Merlyn called me," she said, opening the door wider to let him in.
"He what?"
"He called me," Sara repeated. "He knows I'm working with you."
"How did he find out?" Leonard asked.
"He didn't say," she shook her head, "but the real reason I texted you is because he told me he'll be in Central City in a couple days!"
"What?" Leonard narrowed his eyes, "No, we're supposed to have two more weeks!"
"Apparently not," Sara replied, "We only have a few days to plan now. What are we gonna do? We're not gonna have enough time! He's gonna start building the Markov device and then we're screwed and so is the entire city!"
"Sara," Leonard said, instinctively placing a hand on her arm to quiet her. She froze and Sara felt her lips involuntarily part as their eyes met, "Relax."
Sara felt herself nodding.
"Look," he said slowly, "Why don't we sleep on it and talk about tomorrow morning. We'll be fine. We'll figure this out."
"Okay," Sara replied, "Okay."
Leonard began to move towards the door.
"Get some sleep, Sara."
So Sara went to bed, but she didn't sleep. Her mind was filled with thoughts of Merlyn and how she and Leonard were going to have to adjust the plans they had been formulating for weeks.
By the time she finally fell asleep, she was soon woken by a well-rested four year old who was frantic for her Sunday waffles.
Leonard came over as Sara was moving the dirty dishes from breakfast into the dishwasher.
"Mommy!" Avery cried, and Sara turned to see Avery dragging Leonard by the arm across the living room, "Look, Lenny's here!"
There was a reason Sara and Leonard did all their planning at night. Avery had a teensy-tiny obsession with Leonard. Whenever he was around she had to be hanging around by his side, wrapped around his leg or holding onto his arm.
While Sara was glad Avery liked Leonard, she also had to admit that her daughter's presence didn't make saving the city any easier.
They tried to work for a little while, but every time Sara put Avery in her room, a few minutes later she would end up in Leonard's lap or holding his hand.
After Sara had set Avery down in front of the TV for the ninth time, Leonard got an idea.
"How about this," he said, "Do you want to meet the Flash?"
"Wait, the Flash the Flash?" Sara asked, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Sure," he said casually, "He's been giving me a hand with the mission since I started it. His lab would give us a good place to work."
So Sara dropped Avery off with Lisa, and she and Leonard headed off to S.T.A.R. Labs.
Almost the second he pulled up to the building, the Flash had zipped up to them.
"Snart," he said. Sara could just make out the red mask underneath his vibrating face.
"Don't worry Allen, not here to steal anything," Leonard rolled his eyes, "By the way, I think you know Sara."
"What?" Sara asked as the Flash groaned.
"Snart, you have to stop telling people who I am," he said.
"Who are you?" Sara asked him.
"If you're referring to my sister," Leonard responded to the Flash, "I'm pretty sure it was Ramon who told her."
"Still," he protested.
"Who are you?" Sara repeated above them both.
The Flash sighed and then pulled his mask off.
"Hey Sara," Barry Allen said sheepishly.
"Barry," Sara stammered. The surprise didn't last long though, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.
"May I suggest we take this inside," Leonard said lazily, "I'm getting bored talking to you through a car window."
Barry, moving at a normal speed, led them through S.T.A.R. Labs to the cortex, where Sara was introduced to Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, and Harrison Wells. Much to her surprise, her boss, Joe West, was also there. That took some explaining on his part, but she was able to comprehend it all — her coworker and her boss working with some of the smartest people in the country, if not the world, to defeat metahumans — relatively quickly.
If Sara had come here a month ago, she would have been much more thrown off by all of this, but now she lived in a world where metahumans were a normalcy and her neighbor across the hall was the same person she was trying to apprehend at work and her sister's father-in-law was actively trying to destroy the city.
Nothing fazed her anymore.
They all talked about the plan, about how they only had a few days to figure out how to save the city.
Sara appreciated the intellectual input of Harrison, Caitlin, and Cisco, all of whom were admittedly smarter than her and provided a much needed scientific outlook to the situation.
After several hours, they had finally cemented a plan in place.
Now all they had to do was wait.
That was Sunday.
On Wednesday, Leonard was tipped off that Merlyn had arrived in Central City.
They gave him two days to build the Markov device, and then, Friday evening, Avery was dropped off at Dinah Lance's for the night and Leonard and Sara were on their way to the warehouse where the Markov device was being kept.
"The security cameras will go out all at the same time with one shot to the control panel," Leonard whispered to Sara, recounting details they'd both gone over several times, "Then we have three minutes until Merlyn is notified of the problem with the cameras. We have another five minutes before he gets here, so we have eight minutes to cut the security cameras, take out all the guards, grab the Markov device, and get out."
"And Cisco's our getaway driver but Barry can't help because there's a metahuman in downtown Central City and it's breaking everything," Sara rattled off, "I know the plan, Leonard."
They were standing on the roof of the building across the street from the warehouse, and an open window gave them a perfect view of the security cameras' control panel.
"You sure you can make the shot?" Leonard asked for the umpteenth time. The mission was dependent on Sara being able to lodge a bullet in the control panel from all they way up here: on the roof of the building across the street. If Sara missed her mark, they were screwed, and Leonard wasn't used to putting so much blind trust in one person.
"Yes, I'm sure," Sara replied, but she couldn't hide the uncertainty in her voice. She knew she was a good shot, and she had a straight path from the roof to the control panel, but there was so much weight on this shot. If she missed, the guards would be alerted and Merlyn would be on his way over to the warehouse in seconds. If she did make the shot, Leonard would take out the guard watching the cameras and then they'd be in.
"You don't sound sure," Leonard pointed out.
"I shot you," Sara reminded him, trying to put much more confidence in the words that she actually felt, "While you were moving, and from around a corner."
"Okay," Leonard put his hands up in surrender, "I believe you. I'll see you down there."
Leonard turned towards the metal door leading back into the building. Just before he left, Sara said,
"Good luck, Leonard."
"Good luck, Sara," he nodded. He let the door swing closed behind him. Now all Sara had to do was wait until she saw Leonard get into position just outside the big utility door to the warehouse.
She heard a crackling in her ear and remembered the communication system Cisco had insisted on.
"Oh my God," she groaned, "Will I ever get a break from you?"
"Hopefully not," Leonard replied.
"Okay," Cisco's voice came through, "I heard enough of the two of you flirting at S.T.A.R. Labs."
"We're not flirting," Sara insisted. Cisco didn't respond. The only sound that came through the comm was the grating sound of crunching food. "Are you eating, Cisco?"
"Every getaway driver needs snacks," Cisco said, and they heard the rustling of a plastic bag, "What else am I supposed to do while you guys are saving the city."
"Maybe not distract the people who are saving the city," Leonard pointed out. He went quiet as another door opened. He was on the ground now, and Sara watched him cross the street and approach the warehouse.
He waited beside the door so as soon as he heard the gunshot, he'd go inside and take out the first guard.
"Ready when you are," he whispered.
Sara took her place on the edge of the roof. She had a straight shot to the control panel. She could see the guard sitting in a rolling office chair with his feet up on a metal desk and his hands comfortably behind his head. He'd clearly had a dull couple of days.
Well, it was about to get a lot more exciting.
Sara raised the gun so it was at eye level, and aimed for the control panel.
She took a deep breath, steadied her arm, and pulled the trigger.
She didn't get to see if she'd hit her target because as soon as the gunshot rang through the air, she'd taken off.
She yanked open the heavy metal door and ran down the stairs. The building had six floors, six flights of stairs.
By the fifth, the gun was in her pocket.
By the fourth, her throwing stars were in her hands.
Three.
"Did I make it?"
Two.
"Yes."
She jumped over the railing to the first floor and then she was out. The late-May air was warm, even at this late hour, and the humidity felt like a heavy wall she had to push through to get where she needed to go.
She made it into the building.
Leonard was waiting for her, regarding with distaste what appeared to be shards of ice.
The guard was nowhere to be found.
Sara forced the icky feeling that the sight of the ice evoked back down her throat as they moved through the warehouse.
"Six and a half minutes," Cisco said through the comms.
Before, the warehouse had been filled with aisles and aisles of metal shelves. Now, the center-most shelves had been cleared to make a basketball court sized space in the middle of the warehouse, along with a path from the utility door to the clearing wide enough for a relatively large truck to comfortably drive through.
There was a guard stationed at every corner, and another two around what was apparently the Markov device.
It was smaller than Sara expected, about the size and shape of an old box-TV, but visibly lighter.
She had trouble believing that such a small object could deliver such a horrible disaster, but she'd learned by now never to doubt Malcolm Merlyn's abilities.
Leonard shot at the first guard he saw, sending him flying back towards the wall behind him in a blast of ice. The noise attracted the rest of the guards and now they had a full-on brawl on their hands.
Everything was a blur. First she was fighting three guards, then two. Limbs were whirling through the air. She couldn't distinguish between friend or foe, only the damp moisture of her fist hitting bare, sweat-drenched flesh. Her own sweat was dripping into her eyes and mouth, the taste mixing with the tangy iron of blood when one of the guards socked her cheek with the side of his gun, leaving a long gash down her face.
She heard a few gun shots but didn't stop fighting.
"Sara!" Leonard shouted as the man he had been fighting dropped to the ground, the bottom half of his body encased in ice, "Are you okay?"
"What are you talking about?"
She looked around her and saw all six guards on the ground. Four of them were at varying levels of "ice sculpture", one had a throwing star in his leg and another in his chest, and the last was lying on his side, his hands clutching his swollen face.
At this point, she became aware of a dull throbbing in her arm.
She looked towards her shoulder to see a dark red stain spreading across her grey sleeve.
"Oh," she said, realizing what Leonard had been referring to, "I didn't realize."
"Two minutes guys," Cisco said, "Get a move on."
"Go get the Markov device," Sara told Leonard.
A shuffling noise had them whipping around to see the last remaining guard getting to his feet. Sara instantly jumped into a fighting stance.
"Sara, your arm," Leonard protested.
"I'm fine," Sara waved him off, ignoring the searing pain that shot from her fingertips up to her shoulder as her well-aimed punch hit the guard square across the jaw, "Go get the Markov device!"
He hesitated for a moment, unsure if he wanted to leave her.
"Go!"
Sara kicked the guard's legs out from under him. As the guard dropped to the floor, hitting the concrete with a loud crunch, Leonard took off towards the Markov device. He reached it in seconds. It wasn't anchored to the ground, most likely for the convenience of moving it if necessary. Leonard picked it up by a metal bar of its exo-structure. It was lighter than he'd expected, probably no more than fifty pounds.
"Merlyn's closing in on the front entrance," Cisco said through the comm, "I'm just outside the back door."
"Sara!" Leonard called.
"I know, I heard," Sara said. She aimed one more kick at the guard, knocking him unconscious before following Leonard out the door.
Cisco was waiting for them just outside the back door, just like he said. He was pulling away from the warehouse before they even had the car doors closed.
"How'd it go?" he asked as he swerved onto the road, "I see you got the Markov device."
"Just get to S.T.A.R. Labs," Leonard ignored him.
"Why?" Cisco replied.
"Sara here," he said emphatically, "got herself shot. We need some of Caitlin's medical expertise."
"I'm fine," Sara protested, but neither Cisco nor Leonard responded so she crossed her arms, sat further back in her seat, and resigned herself to a stubborn silence.
"You gave me a bit of a scare, Lance," Leonard said, "I thought you said you could hold your own in a fight."
"I can," Sara replied, "but that doesn't make you bulletproof."
"It does if you do it right."
They had made it back to S.T.A.R. Labs and were now in the building's makeshift medical room. Caitlin had extracted the bullet from Sara's arm, but Leonard had insisted on stitching up the wound himself.
"It'll be like old times," he'd said, "I'll stitch you up and we can tell each other our life stories."
Sara didn't think there was anything left he didn't know.
"You're pretty good at this," Sara said, her head tipped to one side as she watched Leonard with the needle and thread.
"Well, you know how I feel about hospitals," he replied, "and it's not like I'm gonna let myself bleed out."
"So whenever you get shot you just stitch yourself up?" she asked in disbelief, "Isn't Lisa there? Couldn't she do it?"
"Lisa is not a huge fan of blood," he replied. Sara nodded.
They both were quiet, Leonard concentrating on the stitches, Sara lost in thoughts of the night they'd had.
"Almost done," he said after a quarter of an hour, "I just want to clean that cut on your cheek."
"I can do it, you don't have to."
But Leonard was already soaking a cloth in hydrogen peroxide.
"You really don't have to," Sara protested.
"I'm nothing if not thorough," he responded. In one hand he held the washcloth and in the other, he gently turned Sara's head so he could see the cut on her face.
"Ouch, he got you good," he commented, "This is gonna hurt."
He placed the washcloth on her cheek. She had to hold in a wince as the wound started to sting. She exhaled deeply through her nose, trying to keep her breaths steady.
"I told you," he said.
"It's not that bad," Sara tried to shrug, but winced as a shot of pain traveled up her arm.
"Sure."
After a few moments, Leonard had apparently decided that the cut was sufficiently cleaned because he stepped away from Sara.
"Am I clear to go, doc?" she joked.
"Not quite," he replied. He dropped the hydrogen peroxide-soaked washcloth in the sink and picked up another one, holding it under the running faucet. He wrung the cloth out and went back to Sara. He started to wipe away the dried blood that had dripped down her face.
He was surprisingly gentle. The hand that was not holding the cloth was cupping her face, his palm on her uninjured cheek. The feeling of his fingertips on her skin had her heart beating in a way that made her grateful she wasn't hooked up to a heart monitor.
He tipped her head upwards slightly to get at the blood that had trickled down her neck. She almost shuddered at his touch.
God, she wasn't supposed to be feeling this way about him! He was supposed to be her neighbor-turned-partner. They were supposed to be saving the world together. Wouldn't that dynamic — a dynamic that was admittedly good — change if they were doing something else together?
That's not to mention Avery. Sara hadn't dated anyone since she had Avery. Sure, she'd gone on dates, but nothing had ever been long term. She'd never had to tell Avery anything. She'd never had to introduce her to a boy or girlfriend.
Would Avery be happy if Sara was dating Leonard? She knew Avery liked him, but she wasn't sure she even knew what dating was. She was, after all, only four. How would she even react if she told her something like that? And what if they broke up? How would she explain that to Avery?
Sara had to hold in a scoff. She and Leonard weren't even dating and yet here she was thinking about what she'd do if they broke up.
"You alright, Lance?" Leonard asked. He'd gotten up to rinse the blood-stained washcloth in the sink.
"Yeah," she nodded, "It's just been a long day."
"Speaking of," he said, "Caitlin has pain meds for you and she says you're staying here for the night."
"Why?"
"I find that not questioning what these people say makes life a lot easier," he advised her. He left the washcloth in the sink along with the first and headed towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Sara asked.
"I have to go work out my bargain with the guy who'd been keeping tabs on Merlyn for us."
"Why?"
"I deal in quantifiable transactions," he answered, "It makes sure I never owe anyone anything."
Sara tried to not wonder what it meant that he had never once offered to pay her.
Leonard didn't return to S.T.A.R. Labs until the next morning. He ignored the hellos of Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry and went straight to the med room.
What are you doing, Sara?" Leonard asked warily. He'd walked in to see Sara pulling on a sweater, her car keys in her hand.
"I gotta go pick up Avery from my mom's house," she said, wincing as she put on her boots, "She has to give a lecture today and probably shouldn't do that with a four year old."
"You really shouldn't drive with your arm like that," he replied, "Not to mention the impressive mix of pain meds in your system."
"What shouldn't she do?" Caitlin entered the room in a white lab coat, "How's our patient?"
"I have to go pick up Avery," Sara said.
"Uh, no, you can't go anywhere," Caitlin said, "Your cells are in a critical state of regeneration. To leave and reopen the wound — possibly exposing the vulnerable cells to bacteria — could be detrimental to your recovery."
"Why don't I get Avery," Leonard suggested, surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth. Sara was just as thrown off.
"You'd really do that?" she asked skeptically.
"Well it's better than the alternative."
Sara was silent for a moment, thinking it over.
"Fine," she said, sighing. She handed him her keys, "Take my car. It has the carseat in it. I'll text you my mom's address."
"I'll be back soon," he said as Caitlin eased Sara back onto the hospital bed.
Leonard drove to Dinah Lance's house outside of Central City. Sara must have let her mother know he was coming, because when he arrived, she opened her front door with a wide smile.
"You must be Leonard," she said, "I've heard so much about you. Avery has quite the little infatuation with you. It's so good to finally meet you!"
"Uh, nice to meet you too," he said uncomfortably.
Avery came bounding down the hallway, her backpack flying behind her.
"Lenny!"
"Avery," he said, "Ready to go?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded, "Where's Mommy?"
"She got held up at work so I'm here."
"Cool!" she said. She turned to hug Dinah, "Bye Grandma."
"Bye Avie," she said, "I'll see you soon."
"So what'd you do with your Grandma?" Leonard asked as they walked down the driveway. He helped her into the car and fastened all the straps and buckles on her carseat.
"We made cookies," Avery answered, "They're chocolate chip and I have a whole box of them in my bag."
"Wow," he replied.
"Yeah, and we played a board game and watched a movie."
"What movie?"
"Moana, the new Disney princess one," she answered, "It's really good. It's about…"
Avery talked about her movie for a little while before switching over to another topic.
He'd never been alone with Avery — besides the day she'd escaped over to his apartment when Quentin and Sara had been arguing. It felt like that day had been years ago, but really it'd only been a few months. So much had happened in only a few months.
Avery babbled to herself the entire car ride to S.T.A.R. Labs and when she arrived, she insisted on holding Leonard's hand as they walked through the curving hallways to the Cortex.
"Where are we?" she asked, peering curiously around her.
"We're at where your mom worked yesterday," he answered.
They turned into the Cortex.
"Avery, this is Caitlin, Cisco, Barry, and Wells," he turned to face them, "This is Sara's daughter Avery."
"Oh my God," Caitlin said, walking around the curved desc to stand in front of them, "She's so cute!"
"Yes, she's adorable but are we really sure this is a good idea," Wells asked, "You all know I'm opposed to more people knowing the Flash's true identity than is absolutely necessary, especially when they're four."
"She'll be fine," Leonard said, "Look, Avery, do you know what the Flash is?"
"It's the thing that makes me blink when we take school pictures," Avery said matter-of-factly.
"See, it'll be fine," he said, mostly addressing Wells, "We're gonna go see Sara."
They walked to the med room, where Sara was sitting in bed with a book and an almost empty cup of coffee.
"Mommy!" Avery exclaimed. She ran across the room and climbed onto the bed.
"Avery!" Sara smiled and then winced as Avery tried to hug her, "You gotta be careful of my arm for a little while, honey."
"How come you're in a hospital, Mommy?" she asked, her eyes full of concern, "Are you sick?"
"No, baby," Sara reassured her, wrapping her arms around her daughter, "I'm not sick. I just got a little hurt at work last night. That's why I'm here instead of at the apartment and why you're gonna have to be careful around my arm until it gets all better."
"Oh," Avery replied. She leaned forward to inspect the bandage on Sara's arm, "Can we go home now."
"Yes, we can go home," Sara replied, "Guess who's driving us."
"Lenny?"
"Yeah," she replied, "Did you have fun on your ride with him?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded, "He's a good driver."
"Oh good, thanks for letting me know."
Leonard and Avery waited for Sara to pull her combat boots on and collect her stuff.
They all walked back to the Cortex where Wells and Caitlin were poring over cellular diagrams on an interactive whiteboard and Cisco and Barry were in the middle of a heated ping pong match.
"We're gonna head out," Sara told the Flash and his team, "Thanks for all your help."
"Hey, anytime," Barry said, putting down his paddle.
Caitlin waited until they had left and were out of earshot before she said, "I give them two months."
"Two months until what?" Cisco asked.
"They're together."
Much of the car ride was spent listening to Avery recount her night with Dinah to her mother. Sara commented every once in a while, but mostly she let Avery talk, and talk she did — all the way home and into the apartment. When they got inside, she hugged Leonard goodbye and then ran into her room to reacquaint herself with her toys.
Leonard lingered in the doorway for a moment.
"So," he said to Sara.
"We did it," she finished. He nodded, "You're gonna keep the Markov device until we figure out what to do with it."
"You trust me not to use it?"
"I always do."
Leonard nodded.
"Get some rest, Sara," he said.
"You don't need to worry about me, Snart."
"I always do."
