Author's Note: Hey everyone, and sorry for the hiatus! As I've told a few of you, I went through a really big life change recently - I found a new job and moved (alone, except for my dog) across the country! It's been a really busy time, but I promise I haven't forgotten about this story. I hope you enjoy this interlude between parts, following up on what happened to Leonard after Sara left him in the nineties. I'm finishing up the next full chapter now, and it should be posted soon, so look out for that! Thanks so much again for all your support. If you're still reading this and interested in what happens next, please let me know! It gives me more motivation to finish this work, which I started over a year ago. Hard to believe what I thought would be about 5 chapters turned into this! Stay tuned for more.

Interlude

Starling City – July 15, 1996

"Lance? There's someone here to see you. Name's Snart. Says he knows a friend of yours."

Quentin looked up from his paperwork, setting his pen down with a sigh. The week had just started, and he was already ready for it to be over. Stuck in the office all week, with a record high heat wave and broken AC – he was welcoming any distractions at this point, even an unusual one like this.

"Yeah," he nodded. "My pal Rick down at CCPD. Thanks, I'll get him."

The young man waiting for him outside the main offices was just a kid really. He was hunched over, arms resting on his knees, making his whole body bounce a little as he anxiously tapped his feet. He had a desperate air about him, the look of a man grasping at straws. Understandably, since Quentin really didn't know what he could hope to gain by coming here.

"Leonard?" he asked, standing before him. The kid nodded, and Quentin shook his hand. "Officer Lance. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for someone," he said, meeting Quentin's eyes. Despite his obvious nerves, Quentin saw a heap of fierce determination there, and felt a grudging admiration for it. "Maybe you can help me find her."

When Rick had told him about Snart, he hadn't expected such a…well, such a good looking guy. Snart seemed like the kind who'd have girls falling all over him. He had that troubled bad boy look he knew from his own daughters' magazines was popular these days. He wouldn't have expected someone like that to need to chase down anyone, let alone spend three months looking for her.

And yet, Quentin watched him spend the week pouring over their missing persons reports and bookings records, making calls to outpost offices to follow up on leads, only to hang up the phone each time in disappointment.

Kid was still there at 8 p.m. the next Monday, going over the same records he'd already reviewed at least three times. The station offices had long since quieted, and the sky outside was beginning to darken, but Leonard showed no signs of leaving.

Quentin watched as he scratched something out on his pad of paper, only to drop both pen and pad to the side, covering his face with his hands. Slumped down on the floor with a ring of useless documents surrounding him, the kid was the picture of defeat.

That was when Quentin made his own call.

"Hey honey," he said into the phone. "I'm gonna be late tonight. Tuck in Laurel and Sara for me, and tell them I love them. Love you, too."

Leonard looked up as Quentin approached, dropping his hands to his lap and resting his head back against the wall behind him.

"Sorry I'm still in your way," he said. "I suppose you're coming to tell me to get out of here?"

"Nah," Quentin replied. "You hungry?"

By the time the Chinese arrived, Quentin had moved Leonard and his investigation over to a table and chairs where he could join him.

"How do you know Rick?" Leonard asked, once they were settled in with their food.

"Our daughters go to the same summer camp in the country," Quentin said, between bites. "This year we're taking a fishing trip between dropping the girls off and picking them up."

Leonard hummed, nodding. "My sister, Lisa, wanted to go to that camp," he said. "Maybe next year."

Quentin paused, assessing the kid. He knew who he was – Rick had told him everything. Deadbeat dad who abused his whole family in between jail stints. To think a man like that had ever worn the blue. Mom had skipped town the last time Lewis Snart made bail, and hadn't even told her kids where she was going. Abandoned her own kids – that was how much she didn't want her husband to know where she was.

And then there was Leonard himself. In and out of juvie his whole life. It was understandable, given the circumstances. It'd probably felt safer than home. Now he was skirting just barely on this side of the law, taking care of his baby sister all alone. From what he'd heard, Leonard was doing a pretty good job of it, too. Quentin couldn't help but think of Laurel and Sara, about the same age as Leonard's Lisa.

He could see why Rick had helped him. It was why he felt compelled to help the kid now, too.

"Tell me about this girl you're looking for," he said, gesturing at Leonard's pile of papers and records.

"She's not just any girl."

Quentin chucked. "I can tell by how hard you're trying to find her." He paused, taking a bite before asking, "What happened?"

Rick hadn't told Quentin much before Leonard arrived, and he found himself more and more amazed as he recounted his story. Kid was a hero, that was for damn sure. And, unfortunately, an idiot.

"Let me get this straight," Quentin said when Leonard finished. "You meet this girl by helping her stop a gang of armed robbers – risking your life and saving a handful of hostages in the process – and then you spend half a day in lockup together. Never seen her before or since, but you've been looking for her the past three months."

"That's right."

"I hate to say this Len, but ever think the girl just doesn't want to be found?"

Leonard shook his head. "That's not it," he argued. "She was running from something. Not me," he added, casting Quentin a sidelong glance. "I think she's mixed up in something bad. Maybe she fell in with the wrong crowd. Maybe she owes someone money, or maybe someone's blackmailing her. I don't know. But I could tell she needs help. And if I can, I'm going to give it to her."

Quentin chewed and swallowed, thinking over Leonard's words.

"Let's say you're right," he started. "If you find this girl, you're going to get caught in the crosshairs of whatever she's involved in. It could be dangerous. It could get you killed. Is she really worth that?"

"Yes."

Leonard's response was instant and unwavering.

"Why?" Quentin couldn't help asking. "You spent a day with her. How is she worth dying for?"

"Feels like I've known her my whole life," Leonard said. "I know that sounds cliché, but it's true. From the moment I saw her, I felt this draw to her. Red string of fate, maybe. Never believed in anything like that before, but… I've got to find her. I can't stop until I do."

"And if you find her?" Quentin prodded.

"When I find her," Leonard corrected.

"If you find her," Quentin repeated, emphasis on the if. "What if she doesn't want anything to do with you?"

"Then I'll leave her alone," Leonard allowed. "But that's not going to happen."

"Maybe she's not interested in you."

Leonard smirked, the little smile lighting up his face in a way Quentin hadn't seen since he'd met him.

"Oh, she's interested."

Quentin rolled his eyes at the bravado of youth.

"Fine, let's say she's interested," Quentin said. Truth be told, one look at Leonard's pretty face had him believing it too. "What're you going to do?"

"I'm going to make sure she knows she's not alone," Leonard said. "And then I'm going to prove it to her."

Romantic, Quentin had to admit. Still stupid, but romantic. He looked Leonard over, chewing and thinking. The kid had never had a real father. No one to teach him how to be a man. And yet, he seemed to understand things a lot of men didn't, and that impressed Quentin. Of course, he didn't know everything, and Quentin couldn't help the need to give him a little fatherly advice.

"Well, fair warning," Quentin said, balling up a napkin and shooting it at the trashcan. He missed. "She's probably gonna be mad at you for something."

Leonard frowned. "Why?"

Quentin stood up to retrieve the napkin, stretching out the kinks in his back. He was getting too old to spend all day in a chair.

"Woman always are," he replied, cryptically. "Trust me, I've got three of them at home. Piece of advice?" He sat back down with a sigh. "Don't kiss her 'til she forgives you."

Leonard chuckled, a true smile spreading across his face for the first time.

"And what if she won't?" he teased.

"Then kiss her until she forgives you," Quentin said, sagely.

Leonard let out a bark of a laugh at that, and Quentin joined in. He couldn't help but like the kid; he was clever and determined. Quentin couldn't help thinking that if something ever happened to one of his little girls someday, he'd feel better knowing they had a guy like that who cared enough to find them and do something about it.

"Alright," Quentin said, when they'd both finally stopped laughing. "What're your leads? You know much that can help us?"

"She's from Starling, or so she said," Leonard started. "That's why I'm here. Her dad was or maybe still is a cop," he added.

"Hmm," Quentin mused. "That would narrow it down. Name?"

"Sara."

His expression turned soft as he said it, more than just a hint of affection in his tone.

"Might be a fake name," Quentin pointed out.

Leonard frowned, but shook his head. "She gave the name 'Kendra Saunders' when she was booked. If she'd wanted to use a fake name with me, she would've said the same."

"Huh," Quentin said. "You know, I have a daughter named Sara." Leonard perked at that. "But she's about 20 years too young to be the girl you're looking for."

Leonard deflated as Quentin got up and walked to his desk, grabbing a photo of his daughters.

"Laurel and Sara," he said, pointing to each girl in turn.

"Cute," Leonard said. "Not who I'm looking for obviously." He paused, looking at Quentin for a moment before handing the photo back. "They're lucky to have a dad like you."

Quentin nodded, swallowing back a sudden lump in his throat.

Leonard reached into his jacket and pulled out a photo of his own.

"This is the woman I'm looking for."

Quentin examined the Polaroid, glancing back up at Leonard as he did. He definitely believed the kid now when he said this girl was interested in him; that much was evident.

The photo was of the two of them, both with hands cuffed behind their backs, leaning into one another and each smirking at the other. The push me-pull me attraction was clear, with the girl looking like she was torn between kissing or killing Leonard in that very moment. Her face was turned just slightly toward the camera, enough to tell what she looked like, even though she had eyes only for the man – Leonard, kid that he was, did look more like a man the way she was looking at him – before her.

"She's lovely," Quentin said, handing the photo back. "Clearly a whole heap of trouble, but lovely. And," he added, thinking, "she does look a little like my Sara."

Leonard smiled, tucking the photo safely back inside his jacket.

"Where'd you get that picture, anyway?" Quentin asked.

"Rick pulled it out of evidence for me. Thought it was romantic. I'm glad he did – not that the police needed them anyway after we were exonerated, but all the evidence about her, including the rest of the photos, disappeared after that."

"Disappeared?"

"Yeah. No idea how or who took them, but there's no trace of Sara left on any photos, video or paperwork at the station. She's like a ghost," Leonard explained. "And someone went to great lengths to make her that way."

"I'm starting to think you're right about her being in trouble," Quentin said, stomach dropping at the new piece of information.

Leonard nodded. "What else can we do?" he asked, a pleading in his tone that made Quentin wish he had any answers at all.

"We'll figure something out," he said, and prayed to god it was true. "What else do you know?"

They stayed up late into the evening, talking and brainstorming any new leads they could chase. By the time they finally left, the streets were quiet, and the moon was high in the sky.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay the night with us?" Quentin asked again, feeling guilty at the thought of the kid sleeping at some sleazy motel.

"Yes," Leonard said. "I don't want to inconvenience you or your family. Really, you've done enough already." He paused before adding, "Thank you."

Quentin nodded, watching Leonard turn away and wishing again there was more he could do.

"Hey Len," he said, suddenly.

Leonard turned, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?"

"This girl, Sara, whoever she is?" he paused, nodding. "She's lucky. If you find her, just remember that."

Leonard smiled, softly, and nodded back at him.

"When I find her, I'll be the lucky one," he said. "And I will find her," he added. "I will."

Somehow, Quentin believed him.