March 3, 2017
Laurel's planned expedition to Star City in order to surprise Thea was halted by both the elevation of conflicts with the British Men of Letters and Prometheus as well as the unexpected arrival of Sara and Ray to the bunker.
"Finding this place was harder than," she came up with something super-dirty, "well…" but elected to simply allow her voice to trail off so as to let Laurel speculate. "Come here, you!" The sisters embraced and soon after Ray descended the staircase. Sara's brow knitted together in momentary confusion. Part of Laurel felt hard, stiff, like well-toned abs but different. It was definitely her midsection, which felt distended. Pulling back, Sara gingerly opened up her big sister's coat and gasped when she saw the small baby bump.
"Someone's been busy. I didn't even know you and Dean were a thing before-"
She abruptly cut herself off, not sure if it was okay subject to broach.
"I'm sixteen weeks as of yesterday, believe it or not. I scared the hell out of Dean and Castiel when I started showing. It's a funny story, I'll tell you later."
Ray smiled, "Laurel!"
"Ray!"
Laurel ran to the scientist, embracing him. Ray took one look at her bump and broke into the biggest grin anyone had ever seen him give. "I'm glad you and Dean are getting your happy ending, Laurel. You got any names picked out?"
"Well, if it's a girl we're calling her Bobbie but we're not sure if that'll be short for Barbara or Roberta yet."
"That's cute," he smiled.
"So, what brings you two knuckleheads here?"
"No real reason," Sara sighed, almost disappointed, "we just wanted to check in." An obvious lie. The younger blonde looked down for a moment, hoping to hide something from her sister. Thankfully, Laurel was far too enamored of an animated conversation with Ray about the pregnancy to notice.
"Baby's current estimated due date is August 17th, and…"
The conversation grew smaller and farther away as Sara scoured the bunker for Dean. Eventually, Sam directed her to his and Laurel's room. Dean had a beer in one hand and a book on some sort of supernatural creature in the other.
"Sara? Hey!"
He got up and hugged her. "How have you been?"
"The usual. Traveling through time, trying to fix what errant time-travelers want to screw up. We're currently working on these things called time aberrations, which is basically when something happens that isn't supposed to as a result of historical intervention from- it's complicated."
"Sounds heady," Dean chugged his beer and munched on the piece of bread Laurel insisted he eat along with the beverage. Then he noticed the downcast look on Sara's face.
"What? You don't think that Laurel-"
"She's not supposed to be back, Dean."
"Well, she is. Don't pretend you didn't want this," he spat out a little more defensively than he intended. Not only was she alive again, but also was their child. Their would-have-been Christmas baby that was now an end-of-summer baby.
"I did! I do, it's just… so confusing. Conflict of interest, and you know I don't do feelings as it is."
"You think your sister is one of these aberration things? Take that up with God."
"Dean, don't bring theology into-"
As if on cue, Chuck sat up from his place on Dean's bed, hidden under lots of covers.
"Yo! You-yo! Sara Lance! Hi" He was a bit groggy. "Didn't sleep well last night, may have a crick in my neck. Anyway, hi! Call me Chuck."
Sara's face was priceless, to say the least. From disbelief to Dean's look saying they were serious, to her eyes going wide as saucers, and her overall demeanor changing into the very un-Sara-like deer in headlights visage.
"He's crashing with us for a bit, and the room is getting a bit too stuffy for Laurel."
"Ooo-kay," Sara drew out the word.
"My sister brought her back," Chuck blurted. "You don't need to do whatever you were gonna do. You can't set the timeline back to where she's dead even if you wanted to. I know for a fact you don't, but still. She's not a time aberration, Sara. Stop fretting, you can let this one slide."
"Wait, you have a sister?"
"Long story," both men said simultaneously.
Unable or unwilling-in-that-moment to continue processing the information that the deity she didn't even believe in actually physically existed, Sara returned to the kitchen area where Laurel and Ray were still chatting and laughing. Laurel smiled when she saw Sara return.
"Did you see our guest?"
"Yup," Sara popped the 'p' sound.
"Hey, I'm gonna go see Thea later, wanna come with?"
"Oh, we already stopped by Star City," Ray clarified, "we might just chill here for a minute if that's cool?"
"It's never an issue," Laurel beamed with delight. Seeing her sister and a man quickly becoming her best friend was never burdensome or unwanted. "Stay as long as you like!"
"We were in Camelot," Ray perked up. "Actual Camelot."
"Cool! You, uh, you'll have to regale me with your stories sometime," Laurel's smile was genuine and full of curiosity.
Later that evening, she drove to Star City and found where Thea was staying. She had decided to spice up her attire for the visit: a nice Carte Blanche white maxi dress. The young brunette practically tore the door off its hinges when she spied Laurel through the peephole. "Laurel!"
"Hey, Speedy!"
Thea's eyes, as Sara and Ray's before her, widened to an almost comically large size.
"Holy shit! Laurel, are you-?"
"Uh huh!"
"OH MY GOD!" Thea shrieked and hugged Laurel before jumping back quickly as if she'd been burned. "Oh, am I squishing it? I don't wanna squish it. No squishing my little niece or nephew!"
Laurel guffawed, and Thea soon joined in.
"Oh, I'm being rude. Please, come in."
Leading Laurel to the couch in front of the fireplace, the two ladies sat down and Thea continued hugging Laurel. Hugged her like she didn't know until now that her older sister was back. Clung to her like a frightened child, as if letting go would mean losing Laurel all over again.
"Hey," Laurel soothed, stroking Thea's short brown hair, "hey, Thea. It's okay. I'm right here and I'm never going anywhere ever again. I swear."
Finally, Thea pulled back, tears threatening to spill and ruin the makeup she had forgotten to take off. Yeah, that's how tired she was. "I'm just so happy you're back!"
"Me, too, I- oh!" Laurel's hands grasped her belly in surprise.
"What is it? Laurel?!"
"It's fine. It… it's moving. I just felt it move. It hadn't done that before. It's real, Thea," and then she started crying happy tears. "She's there!"
"Yeah!"
And the two women embraced again, united in their boundless joy. Who could ask for a better second chance than this?
