Snart didn't know how he would've expected Sara to react to the news, but he certainly didn't expect this. The news of her sister's death had just reached the Waverider and when it did everyone turned to Sara. She looked shocked; her mouth hanging open and body frozen.
"Sara," Rip had said to her, taking half a step forward until she held out an arm for him to stop.
"Stay away from me," She said it in a low and commanding voice, and then she was gone.
She disappeared from the bridge and shut herself in her room, no one had heard from her in hours. In fact no one heard much of anyone for hours. Ray and Kendra were the only other two to have known Laurel and they were being relatively quiet. Jax and Stein seemed to be busying themselves by going on with their own hobbies, Jax reading the ship's owners manual and Stein in his room working on a puzzle, both grieving the woman they had never known. Mick was down in the brig, by choice mind you; he said that he liked the silence of the room. Len had been down in the cargo bay, tinkering with his gun, when finally he'd had enough and went marching up to Rip's office.
"Did you know?" He asked from the doorway, prompting the Captain to glance up at him.
"What?" He asked; Len leveled a glared with him.
"Did. You. Know?" He demanded again, his voice actually colder than usual.
Rip's eyes flitted around, and he ran his tongue over his lips for a moment before answering Snart's question.
"No," he admitted, "I didn't do much research into any of your families records, but I am searching records on the defeat of Damian Darhk before…" He trailed off, seemingly not wanting to admit what he was looking for.
"Before what?" Len snapped and Rip sighed,
"Before I traveled back in time," he admitted, Len didn't say anything, but he understood. Rip knew Sara would need to know if she was supposed to be there that night, if she was suppose to stop it.
After that Len left Rip to his work and made his way to the barracks, stopping outside of Sara's door. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he really should do this or not. It wasn't a hard decision, and he soon found himself knocking on the cool metal of the door.
"Sara?" He called,
"It's open," he just barely heard her call back. With a sigh he pressed his hand to the button that allowed the door to slide open and once it did he saw a sight that nearly broke him.
Sara was lying on her bed, on her side with her back to him. Her body was perfectly still but he knew better than to think she was trying to sleep. She wasn't making a sound, so if she was crying it wasn't out loud. He didn't suspect she was crying though, it seemed that she was taking a break from that. He could tell easily, however, that she had been crying at one point. Her blonde hair was messy with static and her blankets were hanging carelessly halfway off her bed. As he walked deeper into the room he noticed a knife embedded in the metal wall, one he was sure had only come to rest there recently. For a moment it crossed his mind that having left a very emotional ex-assassin alone in a room with who knows how many weapons probably hadn't been the teams best idea. Oh well, live and learn.
He was silent as he approached her bed, wondering if she was going to roll over and tell him to get out.
She didn't.
She listened as his heavy footsteps grew progressively closer, she didn't flinch when he stopped right next to the bed or even when he lowered himself to the edge of the mattress and sat down. They both remained quiet for what felt like an eternity, each counting the seconds as they slowly ticked by.
"How do you feel?" Leonard finally broke the silence, and god Sara wished he hadn't.
She didn't want him to see her weak, but when he spoke he ripped her out of the numb haze of her mind and threw her back into reality.
Laurel's dead.
Her big sister, the one who always protected her, the one who brought HER back from the dead, is gone.
Slowly she felt her face pinch and turn red as she began to curl in on herself, breath hitching in her throat with a squeak as she tried to suppress the tears coming to cloud her eyes. What she didn't expect was what Snart did after he heard the sound, though she was beyond grateful for it. Gently, he slipped his hands under her arms and pulled her up into a sitting position while carefully maneuvering himself to sit behind her. He let her slump against him and kept one arm firmly around her as she brought her knees up and curled into a ball in his lap. Pressing her face and one hand again his chest she let out a loud sob and let the latest onslaught of tears begin. He wrapped his other arm around her while she sobbed, rubbing her back up and down in a soothing manner. He never told her to shush, never asked her to calm down, never told her that everything was going to be ok. He just never said anything, and for that she could only be grateful. He held her and let her fall apart in his arms, let her cry and scream into his chest. At some point she found herself gripping fistfuls of his shirt, and he didn't even flinch when she was sure she had clawed at his skin by mistake.
Eventually, as she calmed down and the sobs turned to hiccups, Sara somehow came to have wrapped her arms around Leonard's torso, hugging him firmly while his hand that wasn't resting securely on her back gently raked it's way through her now messy blonde hair. They stayed there like that for a long time, neither of them saying a word. If Sara was being honest with herself, she liked this. She had never had this, ever. Even when she was a kid and she was crying she cried alone. Her parents would leave her to her own devices and wait until she had cried herself out before one of them came in and said or did anything. She had been fine like that, grateful even. She liked being alone when at her worst because it meant that she didn't have to worry about what anyone thought. But this was nice, having someone hold her. Having Len here to tether her to the earth while she broke, and for him to simply allow her to spill the contents of her broken heart was an incredibly welcome feeling.
"Sara?" A gentle knock on the door and Kendra's voice broke the silence.
Len looked down at Sara in his arms, silently asking her if she wanted him to get the door and tell Kendra to leave her alone. But Sara shook her head and slowly pushed herself away from him. She got off the bed and with a deep breath began wiping away the tears still in her eyes as she approached the door. She hesitated only for a moment before opening the door.
"Hey," she said quietly,
"Hey," Kendra replied, almost equally as quiet. It was then that she looked past Sara and noticed Snart sitting on the bed. "Um, dinner's almost ready." She informed the blonde woman, unsure if she would be joining the rest of the team for dinner or not.
"Thanks," Sara said with a nod, with one last glance directed at Snart Kendra nodded and left them there.
"You can stay in here if you want," He told her, rising off the bed. He had heard it in her voice when she thanked Kendra, she was going to force herself to go down and sit with everyone else like everything was fine.
"I don't," she said sternly, turning around to face him. She didn't want to sit in here and cry; she wanted life to go on. She wanted to go sit at the table and listen to Ray and Stein argue over the laws of physics, she wanted to grow nauseous at the sight of Ray and Kendra holding hands under the table. She wanted to watch Rip get on Mick's case for his lack of table manners and Mick respond by either putting his feet up on the table or burping in the Captain's face, at which point the rest of the team would intervene and tell them both to stop aggravating each other. She wanted to feel some semblance of normalcy, like her entire world hadn't just come crashing down around her.
Len nodded, understanding that she didn't want him to argue.
"I'll meet you there," he said, pushing past her and leaving before she would argue, not that she would. Neither of them wanted to say it but she was going to need a few minutes alone before she came out in order to put her emotionless mask back on.
When Len arrived to the ship's kitchen for supper everyone, who was either moving around the kitchen or sitting somewhere, looked up to see if he had Sara with him.
"Don't do that when she comes in," he warned, "I don't think Sara exactly wants to be reminded right now that we all feel bad for her." He continued,
"Mr. Snart has a point, in the face of grief we should all try and act natural." Stein agreed and Len rolled his eyes at the notion.
"This should go over well," he muttered, wondering why he even opened his mouth to begin with.
But he would just have to trust that the Waverider crew could actually act natural, or that Sara won't have the energy to care when they can't. The second one was easily the more viable option, and when Sara entered and they still on some degree all stared at her it became the one that they went with. She ignored them for the most part, just glanced around for a brief moment before claiming her usual seat at the counter.
After that dinner went almost as normal, the usual threats and arguments were still thrown around, but there was no denying the numb sadness that was undercutting the whole meal. Mick was the first to leave, all that time at the vanishing point must have given him some sensitivity, because he could tell Sara wanted to go but didn't want to be the first. Kendra and Ray walked out not long after him; Sara followed them.
Len waited for Jax and Stein to be gone, which didn't take too long considering unlike the old man Jax can take a hint. He dragged his partner out of there with some excuse about needing his help with their splicer or something; Len didn't pay much attention to the made up reason.
"So how's it look?" He asked Rip, his voice nonchalant.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Snart, I checked into the timeline of what happened that night before I recruited Sara but the Canary still died. Some things are just meant to happen." He explained and Len sighed; admittedly disappointed by the news but nowhere near as much as Sara will be.
He almost believed it too, almost walked away, but then the exact words Rip had used processed.
"Which Canary?" He asked, not looking at the captain, not able too.
"What?"
"Which Canary?" He demanded again, this time turning his head and looking Rip dead in the eye. The faltering gaze of the other man was all he needed to confirm his suspicion, no matter how much he wished it could've disproved it. "We need to tell her," he said it simply, as if doing so didn't feel like driving a knife through his heart.
"She'll want to go back," Rip warned, "She will want to save her sister, and she will be willing to die in order to do it."
"I know," Len's voice was quieter than he had wanted it to be, but if Rip noticed he didn't let on. "But that's not our decision to make," his voice was stronger this time, more commanding. "So here's what's going to happen; I'm going to calmly explain to Sara that her sister can be saved, BUT that it most likely means someone else will die in her place. If she asks I'll tell her there's a good chance it could be her. If she decides she wants to risk it and go back then that's exactly what we're going to do, if not then we'll go along with the mission and make sure we make it back for her sister's funeral." He said, not leaving much room for the captain to argue, if he left any that is. He then walked out of the kitchen and began heading back towards the barracks, hoping desperately that Sara won't decide to go back even though he knows better.
She decided to go back, of course, Len knew that she would. Rip had his rules for the sudden mission, that in order to avoid messing with time any more than they already are by coming back the team was to wait until all of Team Arrow was inside the prison before they made themselves known.
"Damian Darhk isn't entirely unlike Vandal Savage," Rip began, giving the team a quick run down of the plan. "Whereas Savage is immortal, Darhk has spent much of his life practicing sorcery and it has not only prolonged his life but has also made him very powerful. Waiting until the last minute to get in there will not only give you all the best chance of walking away unharmed but will also mean Darhk might not sense you until it's too late." He explained, "Now obviously we are here to save Laurel Lance, that being said if you can manage to get your hands on Darhk's idol we might be able to take him down once and for all which I think goes without saying will avoid many casualties in the future." He continued,
"Not that I'm against preventing future casualties but, what ever happened to your policy of leaving well enough alone?" Stein questioned, recalling how it was very recently that he was fighting Rip tooth and nail to give the tuberculosis medicine to a very ill boy in the old west.
"I suppose you all are starting to rub off on me," Rip replied, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
When the team arrived at the prison the alarms were already going off and police cars were already pulling up.
"How are we supposed to get in without all those cops stopping us?" Jax questioned,
"Snart and I have busted out of more than enough prisons with more than enough guards, we can bust into one just fine. Not to mention that Sara here is an assassin, the rest of you can fly so as long as someone carries Rip we'll be fine." Mick said, the others looked at him for a brief second, still getting used to this more plan making version of Mick as opposed to the man who had enjoyed setting things on fire just for the hell of it (which he still does but not as frequently).
"Ok, so if I take Rip-"
"Actually I think you should stay out here as lookout," Rip cut Kendra off, causing her to glare at him in surprise. "It's nothing personal but Darhk gains power from stealing the life force from those who he kills, and god forbid something happen to any of us in there we'd be in deep trouble if he murdered the one with 207 life forces store up." He defended and Kendra had to accept that.
"Would that work as a way of defeating Savage?" Len inquired, it might make Darhk more powerful but it also might work to their advantage, assuming they could ever trick Darhk and Savage into fighting each other.
"Hey guys, things are getting pretty heated down there with the cops." Jax interrupted the conversation, drawing the attention of the rest of the group to an argument that was ensuing between a cop and a civilian just as the civilian punched the cop and knocked him out.
"Ouch," Len commented,
"It's a distraction for Oliver," Sara seemed very sure of the statement.
"How can you be sure?" Ray asked,
"Because I can't think of another reason my dad would knock that guy out," She replied,
"Your father's being restrained," Len pointed out but Sara just nodded.
"He'll be fine," she said.
"Are we too late?" Ray questioned once all of them, minus Kendra, made it into the prison and they found a trail of bodies leading down the corridor.
Before anyone could answer him the sound of fighting from far down the corridor caught their attention.
"This way," Sara all but growled, she was gone before Rip could tell her to be careful.
The sound of fighting had stopped before Sara reached it and so now she was running without being sure of where she was going. She vaguely was aware of the sound of at least one of her teammates far behind her, but she wasn't paying that any attention. All she was focused on was getting to Laurel. She couldn't be too late; she wouldn't let that happen. As if as answering her prayers she heard the voice that she knew just had to belong to Damian Darhk coming from a doorway at the bottom of a staircase that she was fast approaching. She all but threw herself down the stairs at the sound of it, nearly jumping every single step; she had to make it.
"I want you to tell him-" she cut Darhk off, launching the sharp end of her Bo Staff expertly into the man's side and he fell over from the impact, effectively releasing her friends from the magical hold he had on them.
"Sara?" Laurel asked in shock when she saw her sister standing in the side doorway of the room.
"Look out!" Sara screamed in response, Laurel spun around just in time to block an attack from Malcolm and his sword.
A fight quickly ensued between who remained of Darhk's men and the combined Arrow and Legends team, the latter of whom had finally caught up to Sara. During the chaos of which Andy Diggle made a play for the idol, only to be stopped by an unfamiliar man with a gun capable of shooting ice.
"I don't know who you are," he drawled before freezing Andy's hands, "But I'm sure I don't want you to have this." He finished, taking the idol from the other man. "We've got what we came fo-" Len was cut off, but not by words. He was cut off by the searing pain of a sword stabbing through his back and coming out the other side.
"LEONARD!" Sara screamed; her voice filled with an emotion that she didn't even know she still had in her after the pit. As the sword pulled out Snart fell to his knees, revealing it was Malcolm standing behind him.
Malcolm grabbed the idol as Snart dropped it and ran out of there with Andy not far behind him, but no one bothered to follow. By now Snart had flopped onto his side and Sara was hitting her knees beside him, not even bothering to wipe away the tears that were beginning to pour out her eyes.
Just as Sara hit the floor Ray approached with Mick and the two quickly loaded Snart into Ray's arms, he didn't have to tell the others where they were going, they all knew.
"So this is your time machine?" Laurel asked, strolling into the med bay of the Waverider. Sara hadn't stuck around after the fight, in fact when they all headed out of the prison she took off sprinting the first chance she got, leaving her remaining teammates to explain to Team Arrow what had just happened.
For the most part it was all so surreal to Laurel, she was supposed to have died tonight. It truly could've been her last mission. But it wasn't, her sister had made sure of that.
But at what cost?
One of the Legends had been stabbed in her place, and according to Rip Hunter it was worse than the stab she was intended to take. He was here in their med bay, just barely alive thanks to the futuristic technology but even with that it was still a gamble on whether he'd survive or not. According to the ship's AI, which had initially freaked John out, if Snart made it through the night then they could expect him to recover. Sara was by his side, holding his hand; she didn't even look up at her sister's words.
"Rip says you're going to be staying for a few days, while he recovers." She said; Sara still didn't look up from the thumb she was brushing over his knuckles.
"It was supposed to be me," the younger blonde finally said, this had Laurel confused.
"Sara, your team told me-" Finally Sara turned in her seat, looking up at her big sister with serious eyes.
"It was supposed to be me," she said again, "Originally. But then Rip decided to take down Savage and recruited me months before tonight ever happened, taking me out of the equation." She explained; Laurel took a minute to process the new information.
"So without you there…"
"It fell to you," Sara confirmed,
"When you came back…" Laurel trailed off; she was about one word away from accusing her sister of having a death wish.
"I was prepared to," she confirmed, "I knew it would probably end that way, but I guess I just hoped that maybe no one would have to die tonight." She said, looking back at Len with more sorrow than Laurel had ever seen on her sister's face; and that's saying something.
"No one did," she said in her strict tone
"Not yet," Sara argued so Laurel did the only thing she saw she could at this point; she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Sara.
"Who is he?" She asked after a moment of silence between the two.
"Leonard Snart," Sara replied with a heavy sigh.
"No, I mean who is he to you?" She specified; Sara fell quiet again, as if she were thinking over the answer. When she didn't answer and Laurel realized that she probably wasn't going to she decided that now would probably be a good time to go bail their father out of his holding cell. "Well whoever he is, tell him I said thank you." She said as she stood up, Sara just smirked.
"Rip tell you it was him who talked him into coming back?" She asked, Laurel hoped the surprise didn't show on her face because no, Rip hadn't told her that it was Leonard Snart who had talked him into coming back to save her.
"No," she said, bending down and giving Sara a sisterly kiss to the forehead. "Tell him thank you for saving my baby sister," she said, her hand lingering on Sara's cheek for a brief moment as she smiled. "It's been a while since I've seen that sparkle in your eyes."
Len groaned as the pain started to register with him. His eyelids were heavy but he forced them open anyway.
"Hurts too much to be dead," he mentally observed and put that down as a plus, or at least not a total negative.
With his eyes now open Len took note that he was in the med bay of the Waverider. He also took note of the feeling of a heavy weight on his chest. When he glanced down he expected to see, well honestly he had no idea what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn't the sight of Sara Lance with her arms folded on top of his chest and her head resting in them while she slept. She looked so peaceful, despite the fact that he couldn't see her face. He didn't want to wake her, but that didn't matter, because she woke anyway.
She raised her head slowly, her eyes blinking away sleep and a bleary smile spread across her face as she woke up.
"Thank god," she said under her breath, Len smirked.
"You're not getting rid of me that easy Canary," He quipped, slightly surprised by how croaky his voice sounded.
Sara heard it too and seemed just as taken back, she started to push out of her chair to get up, presumably to get him some water, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"Later," he said, ignoring how his arm felt heavy as pure lead when he moved it.
With a nod Sara sat back down and he coughed in order to get as much strength as he could back to his voice by doing so. When he released her wrist he didn't take his hand back, she didn't give him the chance too. Instead she took it in both of hers and began playing absently with his fingers.
"How long-"
"Three days," she answered before he could finish the question, "almost four." She continued, "We're still in Star City 2016, Jax and Stein left yesterday with Mick on field trip to Central City. They need to explain to Jax's mom where he's been." She explained and despite the searing pain in his side Len had to snicker upon hearing that.
"I bet that'll go over well," he said and Sara laughed,
"Mick's bringing Lisa back," she informed him, "to see you," she continued, Len nodded.
"Last respects?" He asked and she huffed a laugh,
"You've been getting better, Gideon said you should be able to leave the med bay about two days after waking up. He just thought you'd like to see her," she explained and he nodded in acceptance of the answer.
"I suppose he conveniently left out the part where she'll kick my ass for letting myself get stabbed?" He asked with sarcasm, causing them both to laugh.
"Laurel says thank you," She informed him,
"What for?" He asked, "You stabbed Darhk, who I'm assuming is just fine if he's anything like Savage." He pointed out and Sara nodded.
"Both true," she admitted, "She meant for saving me," she said it somberly, and he knew how she meant it.
"I was watching you, you weren't anywhere near-"
"Snart." She cut him off sternly; she knew he understood that isn't how he saved her. He let out a sigh at the confirmation that this conversation couldn't be avoided. He also reclaimed his hand from her grip, but only so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders and gently guide her back to her resting place on his chest. She followed his lead without a word, and for a long while there wasn't a word spoken between the two. For a while they were content to just lie there, Len running his hand through Sara's hair while she played with a loose thread on the hem of his shirt. He briefly considered asking who had changed his shirt, knowing the loose t-shirt was not what he had been wearing last, but he decided against it. He knew it had probably been Mick anyway.
"Three days, you've seen much of your family?" He finally inquired but she shook her head against him.
"I've been here," she admitted, "They stopped by a few times, my dad and Mick dragged me out of here the other day and so I went to lunch with my dad, but that's it." She confessed.
Len quirked an eyebrow at this, knowing that if Mick was involved with dragging her out then she meant she had literally been hauled out kicking and screaming. Briefly the question of why flitted across his mind but it was pointless, he knew the answer. He knew that if their roles were reversed Mick would've had to knock him out to get him to leave for five minutes; he just couldn't believe she seemed to feel the same.
"So how bad did we screw the timeline?" He finally asked, it was a way to change the topic and frankly he really wanted to know.
"Don't know," Sara replied with a shrug, "But supposedly Darhk and Savage have been tracked to being in the same building in 2018." She continued, turning to look at him as he rolled his eyes.
"So, bad?" He groaned, knowing the answer.
"Looks like it," she replied with a hint of a smile, he gave a sigh.
"It was worth it," he said and she nodded.
"Thank you," she murmured, her mouth still hidden behind her arm.
"You already said that," he said, with a smile she slowly sat up strait in her seat.
"That was from my sister," she reminded, leaning closer to his face. "This is from me," she said, but she didn't do anything; so he did.
Cupping her cheek with one hand he pulled her down closer to him and captured her lips with his. She went willingly, kissing him back passionately enough to emit a small moan from him.
"Was that the pain talking?" She whispered, as they broke apart for air.
"No," he replied
"Just checking," she said with a small smile before kissing him again. He pulled her closer to him, taking his other hand and letting it rest on her hip. In return she placed both her hands on the sides of his face, deepening the kiss. It wasn't long before they reached that point where they were either going to have to stop or Sara would end up on the bed, and much to Len's distain she chose to pull away.
"You're a tease Canary," he all but pouted, their foreheads still pressed together.
"Not usually," she promised, "But you have been in a coma for three days thanks to an injury that should've killed you, would've if we didn't have Gideon." She reminded him.
"I see, so how long until you'll let me have fun?" He asked and Sara chuckled, he reveled in the feeling of her hot breath hitting his face. "As soon as Gideon clears you for missions I'll take you off probation," she promised him.
"How long will that be?" He asked, not entirely sure he wanted the answer and for more reasons than one.
"Only about a month," Sara guessed, Len hummed in thought.
"I can live with that," he decided before briefly capturing Sara's lips one last time. "But only if you don't get on my case about doing that," he bargained and she smiled.
"Deal," she agreed before kissing him again.
Considering Darhk and Savage were now a team two years into the future this could arguably be viewed as the teams biggest blunder yet. But if you ask, they'll say it was the best call they ever made.