Ahh this is the quickest update I've had in so long. I haven't slept in thirty six hours but that's okay! Hope you enjoy this!
The day Nate bailed on bringing Avery to the amusement park, Sara thought she'd be furious at him forever, but time passed. Life moved forwards. Avery started preschool again, Leonard began to work full-time at Central City Picture News — the same place Iris worked — and things got busy again at the precinct for Sara. None of them had the time or energy to waste on being mad at Nate. The situation eventually moved to the back-burner, but it wasn't gone entirely.
Nate had called Sara the night he was supposed to take Avery for the day. He apologized for flaking and offered to take her later that week.
"I forgot to call out of work," was the excuse he gave Sara the morning of the second attempt, "My boss says they really need me in today."
That time, Sara made Nate tell Avery himself that he couldn't make it, and it marked the last time Sara told her when her father arranged to visit with her. She wanted to spare her the disappointment.
It paid off because Sara tried three more times to organize plans with Nate, even offering to drive Avery to Star City rather than having him make the trip to Central, but it always fell through.
This day, the day before Sara and Leonard's wedding, marked exactly three weeks since they had last heard from him.
"Mama," Avery said, climbing up onto their bed early that morning, "I'm hungry."
"You're hungry?" Sara asked quietly, pulling Avery into her arms, "What d'you want to eat?"
"Daddy's waffles," she whispered, a cheeky smile on her face.
Sara leaned forward, her forehead touching Avery's.
"You want Daddy to get up and make us waffles?" she whispered back. Avery nodded. They both looked over to Leonard.
"I'm still sleeping," he grumbled. Avery giggled.
"Y'know Ave," Sara said, pointedly raising her voice to a normal level, "This is the last morning with Daddy before the wedding, because the bride and groom aren't supposed to see each other. So tonight Daddy's leaving and spending the night somewhere else, so it'll just be you and me for breakfast tomorrow…by ourselves."
"Alright, alright," Leonard muttered, feigning annoyance as he swung his legs out of bed and headed for the kitchen.
"Avery?" Sara asked a minute later, "Do you miss your dad?"
"Why?" Avery asked, looking up at her.
"What do you mean, why?"
"He's in there," Avery pointed in the direction of the kitchen where they could faintly hear Leonard starting breakfast. Sara couldn't keep a smile from etching its way across her face.
"What about…Nate?" she tried again, "Do you miss him?"
"No," Avery replied, shaking her head.
Sara and Avery stayed in bed for a few more minutes. Avery had started her second year of preschool a little over a month ago, and although it was a relief to have her back in school for most of the day, her absence was giving Sara a bit of separation anxiety, although she wasn't sure if that was the best word for it. Whatever it was, Sara wanted to snuggle with her daughter while Avery would still let her.
"Hey," Sara said, "Let's go help Dad with breakfast."
Avery nodded.
"Nice of you to join me," Leonard said as they entered the kitchen.
"We wanna help," Avery chirped, pulling herself up onto a stool at the kitchen island, "Can I stir?"
Leonard nodded, handing her the metal spatula.
"So when do you think we should leave?" Sara asked him, referring to the forty five minute drive to where their wedding would be taking place.
"Technically we don't have to be there until tonight, but I think Iris and Cisco would appreciate us getting there a little bit earlier than last minute," he replied.
"Well, if anyone, it would be me," Sara joked as she pulled three ceramic plates out of the cupboard.
"Done," Avery said, pushing the bowl of now mixed waffle batter towards Leonard.
"Come help me set the table, Ave," Sara said, opening the silverware drawer.
Not too long later, the table was set and Leonard was lifting the last steaming waffle off of the iron.
Just as Avery was climbing into her chair at the dining table, the front door opened and Cisco and Lisa entered the apartment.
"We smelled breakfast," Lisa smirked.
"Chef's out," Leonard said immediately, walking out of the kitchen.
"Oh c'mon," Sara rolled her eyes in exasperation as she began to spoon more batter onto the waffle iron.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," Avery whined.
"Just a few more minutes," Sara told her.
A few minutes later, as promised, all five of them were sitting around the dining table eating breakfast.
"So you guys're getting married in twenty four hours," Cisco said through a mouthful of waffles, "That must be freaky to think about."
"Freaky isn't exactly the word I would use," Lisa said, giving her boyfriend a pointed look, "but it must be exciting thinking about how close it is."
"Mommy," Avery said before either Sara or Leonard could answer, "When you and Daddy get married, does that mean Lisa's my aunt because she's Daddy's sister? 'Cos Auntie Laurel is your sister."
They were all silent for a moment.
"That..somehow never crossed my mind," Sara admitted, "Yeah, Lisa's gonna be your aunt when we get married. Good catch, Ave."
"Aww, I'm gonna get a niece without having to change any diapers," Lisa said, "Nice going, Len."
"You're welcome," he replied.
There were a few minutes of quiet while they all ate breakfast, occasionally interrupted by Avery's ramblings about school and princesses and ballet.
"So when are you guys planning on heading up?" Lisa asked a few minutes later.
"Whenever," Sara shrugged nonchalantly, mostly to get a rise out of Cisco. She glanced up from her plate to see if it had worked.
It did.
"What do you mean 'whenever'?" he asked, his expression as close to a glare as Cisco could ever get, "You do realize this is your wedding we're talking about, right?"
"Chill, Ramon —" Leonard said.
"Was that a cold pun?" he asked.
"—she's kidding."
"We're heading out in a few hours," Sara finished, a smirk on her lips.
"I still don't get how you guys are able to be so relaxed about this," Cisco replied, shaking his head, "It's not even my wedding and I'm way more stressed out about it than either of you. Like, don't you realize how many things could go wrong?"
"First of all," Leonard said, setting his fork down on his plate, "You're more stressed about it because you're the one who planned the whole thing. Second, the only thing I care about is being married to Sara. Once that happens, the cake could explode or the dance floor could catch on fire and I wouldn't care."
"I would care!" Cisco exclaimed.
"Like I said," Leonard replied, his eyebrows raised.
"Whatever, man," he said, raising his hands in surrender, "Just don't let Iris or Felicity hear what you guys are saying."
"We wouldn't dare," Sara smirked.
A few hours later, Leonard, Sara, and Avery were on their way up to the Central City mountains.
Although Cisco and Iris had planned the majority of the wedding festivities, they had given Leonard and Sara the final call on a few of the details, one of the more important being the venue.
Both Leonard and Sara knew that a church ceremony wasn't the way they wanted to go, and not too much later, they decided they wanted an outdoor wedding.
"It'll be October so nobody will be sweltering in the heat," Sara had said when she discussed it with Leonard, Iris, and Cisco, " and we won't have to worry about Ave and her friends breaking something in a fancy reception place."
After that decision had been made, they still had to choose a venue. It was hard to find somewhere they could all deem acceptable in the middle of a city, but then Leonard had an idea.
"Hey, what if we used the cabin up in the mountains," he had suggested.
"Really?" Sara asked. She'd be lying if she said the thought had never crossed her mind, but she'd just figured Leonard wouldn't want that many people knowing about the cabin.
"Yeah," he had nodded, "We can use the house to get ready, and there's that field that we can use for the ceremony and the reception."
"The mountains'll look gorgeous in the fall," Sara nodded in agreement.
After that, they ran it by Iris and Cisco, who were, by this point, actually their wedding planners (Sara still couldn't believe it) and then it was official.
Now, less than twenty four hours until their wedding, they were making the drive up to the cabin up in the Central City mountains, the cabin where their relationship first began.
"It looks exactly the same!" Sara exclaimed when they arrived, "Well, except for all that."
She gestured out into the field where everything for the wedding ceremony and reception was almost completely set up.
"Woah!" Avery said, leaning forward against the straps on her carseat.
"And look, Avie," Sara said, pointing towards where the reception would be held, "There's gonna be fairy lights everywhere, just like the ones on your bed, and cool lanterns and stuff, and they're gonna look like stars when it starts to get dark."
"Cool!"
"Dare I say you're actually getting excited about this?" Leonard asked, leaning against the passenger side door as Sara unbuckled Avery and lifted her out of the car.
"You say that like you aren't," she smirked back.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied.
"Two weeks ago you wanted to know what color my bridesmaids' dresses are so the groomsmen's ties could match," she reminded him.
"I was asking for Cisco," Leonard argued as they walked up the wooden stars onto the front porch.
"Yeah," Sara said, her hand on the doorknob, "Sure."
She pulled the front door open and they were instantly met with a chorus of greetings, applause, and a wolf-whistle that sounded suspiciously like Lisa.
They looked over the balcony to see all of their friends gathered in the living room. Iris, Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin were all sitting on the leather couch. Lisa sat cross-legged on the rug, her back against Cisco's legs. Felicity, Sara's maid of honor, was sitting in an upholstered armchair. Food, drinks, and a stack of board games and movies were scattered around the coffee table.
"You made it!" Felicity exclaimed as Sara, Leonard, and Avery walked down the stairs into the open living area.
"We did," Sara replied, "What's going on?"
"Well, we figured a fancy rehearsal dinner wasn't really your style," Cisco explained, "But we didn't want to do nothing, so we have games and movies and cards —"
"And there's pizza on the way," Iris cut in, "and we have snacks and booze — we're gonna break out the really good stuff after Avery goes to bed. We just thought we could all, you know, hang out and just have a nice time together the night before your wedding."
"Aww, guys, you didn't have to do this," Sara said, smiling fondly at everyone.
"Yeah, you really didn't have to," Leonard said as stoically as he could muster.
"Cut it out, Len," she said, jokingly hitting his arm, "No one's buying it anymore."
"Yeah, Snart, we know you love us," Caitlin added teasingly.
"We're gonna play games?" Avery asked excitedly.
"Yup," Felicity said, "Do you wanna pick the first one?"
"Yeah!"
She ended up picking The Game of Life, which is exactly what Sara thought would happen.
"That's her favorite," she said when Avery pointed to the colorful cardboard box.
They ended up playing in teams of one and two, " 'cos there's only six cars," Avery explained. They took a break in the middle for pizza before returning to the game (Sara and Leonard won by a landslide, mostly because they were having Avery steal money for them).
"Can we play another game?" Avery asked.
"It's almost your bedtime," Sara replied, "but if you go brush your teeth and get your PJ's on super fast, we can."
Avery looked over the pile of games, her eyes landing on the deck of cards.
"Can we play go-fish?" she asked.
"Ooh, yeah, I love go-fish," Iris said.
"Sounds good. Go get ready for bed, Avie, so we can play," Sara said.
Avery ended up completely demolishing everybody in both rounds of go-fish they played.
"You let her win," Cisco grumbled at Leonard when Sara left to put Avery to bed, "You never let any of us win when we used to all play hearts at the lab."
"Well, you aren't four years old and just learning how to play."
"Still."
Sara returned a few minutes later.
"Len, she wants you to say goodnight to her," she said.
He nodded, getting to his feet.
As he started towards the hallway of bedrooms, he heard Felicity say, "That's so cute, I think I'm gonna cry."
Avery was in the same bedroom she had slept in when they were here several months ago. She was tucked underneath the quilt with her bunny blanket next to her.
"You wanted me to come say goodnight, Avery?" he asked.
"Uh-huh," she replied. Leonard sat on the edge of the bed.
"You know I'm not gonna be here when you wake up tomorrow, right?" he told her. She nodded solemnly, "So have fun helping your mom get ready tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Goodnight, Ave," he said, leaning over to kiss the top of her head.
"Night-night."
Leonard stood and headed for the door.
"Bye, Daddy," she said, her voice quiet. Leonard smiled.
"Sleep good, Avery."
When Leonard returned, they all continued drinking and playing board games.
After a game of Clue where Leonard sacrificed a win to accuse Barry of being the killer, Caitlin suggested a round of Trivial Pursuit. Iris and Sara backed out for the reason of it being, as Sara said, the most boring game ever invented.
"There's stuff to make margaritas in the kitchen," Lisa told them as Cisco started to set up the game.
"Hell yeah," Sara said, getting up from her spot on the couch next to Leonard to follow Iris.
When they were in the kitchen, they pulled together everything they'd need for margaritas.
"Shit, this is nice tequila," Iris said, turning a glass bottle over to look at the label.
"I'm pretty sure Felicity stole that from Oliver's collection."
"Oliver drinks tequila?"
"He probably won't notice it's gone."
Iris started to pour the ingredients into a steel cocktail shaker.
"Hard to believe your wedding is tomorrow," Iris said, "You nervous?"
"Not really," Sara shrugged, "I'm just ready to be married to him."
Iris smiled.
"You guys are sweet," she said.
"Just start pouring,"she smirked, "Len wants to play poker after this, and just to warn you, he cheats, a lot."
"Yeah, I kind of figured."
They all finally wrapped up the party just before one in the morning.
"So this is the longest we'll go without seeing each other basically since we met," Sara told Leonard, aware she was only exaggerating slightly.
Leonard, Cisco, and Barry were about to leave for another cabin (this one not owned by Leonard) a few minutes up the road, where they would be staying for the night and getting ready for the wedding the next morning.
"Think you'll survive?" Leonard asked her, smirking.
"I think I'll be okay," she replied, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Sara stood on her toes to kiss him, her arms twining around his neck. His hand traveled down her spine, resting on the small of her back.
"Hey, break it up guys," Cisco said, "It's past midnight, which is already breaking the wedding rules. What you're doing right now is basically illegal."
Sara pulled away from Leonard.
"Alright, Cisco, we get it," she said. She met Leonard's eyes, "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
Sara got to sleep in the morning of her wedding day. She woke up briefly around six when her door opened and she heard the sound of little feet pitter-pattering against wood floor, but then either Felicity or Iris (she couldn't tell who by their hushed whisper) ushered Avery out. She ended up finally getting out of bed at a little past ten.
"Here comes the bride!" Felicity said in a sing-song voice when Sara walked into the kitchen, "Look, Avery and I made omelets."
"Avery made omelets?" Sara asked skeptically as she sat down at the island.
"Well, I made omelets," she corrected, "But Avery poured everyone orange juice and she didn't spill any, right Avery?"
"Uh-huh!" Avery said proudly.
"Where is everyone?" Sara asked as she started to eat.
"Lisa is helping Cisco put the finishing touches on everything outside," Felicity replied, "Like, the flowers and all the other stuff that couldn't be outside all night. Then she's dropping off the guys' boutonnières and bringing all the other flowers, like for our hair and your bouquet and Ave's basket, over. Iris is showing the band and food people where to set up."
"They're here already?"
"Yep. You slept a lot later than we thought you would."
"Yeah, thanks for that," Sara said gratefully, "Was it you or Iris who got Ave out?"
"That was me," Felicity said, "As your maid of honor it's my job to make sure you're well rested for your wedding day."
"I appreciate it, Lis," Sara said, "But aren't you technically a matron of honor, because you're married?"
"Yeah, but matron makes me sound, like, fifty-two years old."
"That's oddly specific."
Lisa and Iris returned to the cabin not too long later, and Sara's mother, Dinah, followed shortly after them. She had brought an old photo album with her, and they all sat on the leather couch and flipped through the pages.
"I've always thought you look just like Avery in this picture," Dinah said, pointing to a old photograph of Sara when she was four. It was taken on Halloween, and Sara was dressed as cat, in a black shirt and tutu, whiskers drawn on her cheeks with black face paint, and a headband with fuzzy cat ears in her messy blonde hair.
"I forgot my hair was that curly!" Sara exclaimed.
"Yes, well, Avery gets that from you," Dinah said.
Avery had been rather subdued all morning. Sara figured it was just from all the excitement of the wedding, a lot of which she couldn't really understand yet, but she found out the true reason not too long after she put her down for a nap.
Sara stopped in front of Avery's door when she heard a sniffling noise from inside. She pushed it open to see Avery curled up underneath the quilt, tears running down her cheeks.
"What's wrong Avie," Sara said calmly as she crossed the room and scooped her into her arms, sitting on the bed with Avery in her lap.
"I miss Daddy," she choked out through her tears, "I wan' him to come back."
Sara furrowed her eyebrows.
"What do you mean, 'come back'?" she asked.
" 'Cos he left."
"He left?"
"Yesterday you said that was the last breakfast with Daddy because you can't see each other and then yesterday he said bye before I went to bed and today he's not here anymore."
"Oh," Sara said, suddenly realizing why Avery was so upset, "Avie, Daddy's not gone forever. There's just a tradition that when two people get married, they don't see each other until the ceremony. That way it's more special."
"Really?" Avery asked, wiping away the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand.
"Aww, honey did you really think he wasn't coming back?" Sara asked. She felt a nod as she held Avery closer, "No, honey, he's not gone. He's at another house like this one just a few minutes away with Barry and Cisco."
"He is?"
"Yes, he is," Sara nodded, "Trust me, he can't get away from us that easy."
After a moment, Avery looked up at her.
"You promise he's coming back?" she asked.
"Yes, I promise," Sara replied. She thought for a second, "Hey, do you want to go see him?" Avery nodded. "And do you promise you'll take a nap after?" She nodded again, "Okay. Let's go."
She set Avery down and waited for her as she slid on her sandals before heading out of the room and towards the stairs.
Halfway up, they were stopped by Iris and Felicity.
"Where do you think you're going?" Felicity asked.
"Ave really needs to see Len right now, right Ave?" She looked down at Avery who was swiping at her still puffy eyes.
"Aww, what happened?" Iris asked, sympathy on both her and Felicity's faces.
"She got a little confused about Len spending the night away," Sara explained, "She thought he was leaving forever, and I think she needs to make sure he's really still here. I'm just gonna bring her over there for a few minutes."
"Uh, you're not supposed to see each other, remember?" Felicity asked somewhat accusingly.
"Well I wasn't planning on it, but she can't exactly walk over there herself," Sara shrugged.
"Why don't I bring her," Iris suggested, "I have to ask Barry about something anyway."
"Perfect," Felicity said before Sara could respond, "And while that's happening, Sara, you need to start getting ready.
"The ceremony doesn't start for another three hours."
"Exactly," Felicity replied, grabbing her arm and pulling her back down the stairs, "Let's go."
As Iris and Avery were making their way over to the other cabin, Barry was pushing open the door to Leonard's room.
"Hey," he said. Leonard looked up from his book, "I just wanted to see how you're doing. Make sure you didn't try to leave or anything."
"Do you really think—"
"That was mostly a joke."
"Right," Leonard said. After a moment, he asked, "How's the game."
There was a football game playing on the TV in the living room, but given that Leonard had zero interest in sports, he'd opted to sit and read — something he hadn't gotten to do much of recently, as Avery had taken to asking if he could read his book out loud to her, no matter what it was, which then led to reading at least one chapter of Narnia (they were nearing the end now, which meant they could watch the movie soon, something Avery had been long awaiting).
"Not bad," Barry replied. He took a deep breath, looking nervously around the room.
"If you want to say something, say it," Leonard said, closing his book and putting it on a side table before getting to his feet.
"I just," he hesitated, "I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you — don't roll your eyes, I mean it! When I first met you —"
"When you first met me, I was hurting and killing and stealing from people and then I met Sara and she made me a better person and I don't do any of those things anymore," Leonard interrupted, "Spare me."
"No, what I mean is —"
He was cut off again by a light knock on the wooden doorframe. They both looked over to see Iris standing in the doorway with Avery.
"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Iris said, "Miss Avery wanted to come say hi to you, Snart."
She gave Avery a little nudge forwards.
"Barry, why don't we wait in the other room," Iris suggested. He nodded and followed her into the hallway.
"Your mom told me you're upset about something," Leonard said.
Sara had texted him five minutes ago: Ave thought ur leaving forever. She's pretty upset. Iris bringing her over btw.
Avery nodded. There was a hint of nervousness in her eyes that Leonard hadn't seen in a long time, not since when she hid behind Sara's legs in the doorway of her then-new apartment the day Leonard met them for the first time.
"Mommy said yesterday you were gonna not see us," Avery said.
"And you thought that meant forever?" he asked, crouching down to her height.
She nodded. Before he could say anything else, her eyes had filled with tears, her chin trembling.
As Avery started to cry, Leonard pulled her into a hug, his arms around her shoulders, one hand on the back of her head.
"Ave, don't cry," he said, aware at that point it would be like telling a fire, "don't burn".
Sara had told him how Avery didn't seem to remember much of who Nate Heywood was and what he did, but Leonard was beginning to think her recollection was better than she was letting on.
"I'm never gonna leave you," he murmured into her hair, "or your mom. You know that, right?"
She nodded.
He waited another few moments as her tears began to peter out.
"You ready to go back?" he asked.
Avery didn't respond, her grip tightening on his shoulders.
"C'mon Ave, your mom needs you to take a nap so you can have fun later, okay?"
"Okay," she whispered, her voice muffled.
"I love you, Avie."
"I love you too, Daddy," she said, finally pulling away.
They both looked to the door at the sound of a throat being cleared. They saw Barry leaning against the doorframe, a smile on his face.
"Avery, Iris is waiting for you in the living room," he said.
She nodded and left the room.
"This is what I'm talking about, man," Barry said, "That little girl loves you so much that she needed to come over here to make sure you hadn't left. The Leonard Snart I met three years ago wouldn't have done that. Do you remember when Felicity Smoak tricked you into backing down with a vacuum she pretended was an advanced cold gun?"
"For the record, I knew that was fake," Leonard said over him.
"Felicity Smoak is the maid of honor at your wedding now. Is that not unbelievable to you?" Barry's expression changed from inspired optimism to vague disbelief, "Wait, isn't it weird that you met her so long ago and she was your future wife's best friend the whole time? Isn't that crazy? I didn't even think about tha—"
"Barry," Leonard interrupted, "You were saying?"
"Right, right. Think about Cisco. Almost three years ago, you kidnapped him and his brother, and now he's dating your sister and he planned your whole freaking wedding! He's one of your groomsmen!"
"What's your point to all of this?" he asked, "Unless it's to drag up all the shitty things I did three years ago."
"My point," Barry continued, "Is that all of those changes didn't just happen randomly, and not just because of Sara and Avery, because it's been longer than that. It's because of you. You're a better person than you were when we first met, and I'm proud of you, and I'm really grateful you let me be your best man."
He had a point. Leonard didn't particularly enjoy looking at the person he was several years ago. The fact that he worked with the Legion of Doom, something he couldn't even believe now, was bad enough, but what was worse was thinking back to the things he'd done to the Flash and his team. It was difficult to imagine how they had become people he worked with and later befriended; they may be a forgiving group, but not that forgiving. It was truly a testament to the person he became — a better person, like Barry said.
It seemed fitting that Barry was his best man. He had seen Leonard become a person capable of being loved by Sara Lance, because it went unspoken, but understood by both of them, that Sara would not have even given the time of day to the man Leonard was not more than two years ago. His groomsmen were part of that journey as well: Joe West, the cop who had given him far too many chances than he deserved and the first father Leonard saw who actually gave a damn about his kids, even the ones that weren't his own, and Cisco, who Leonard was starting to (begrudgingly) accept would probably be part of his family soon — not that he'd ever tell him that.
Unlikely as it was, these people trusted him to become a better version of himself, and the fact that they were here, on his wedding day, showed him that he had done that.
Over in the other cabin, Sara was beginning to wish she hadn't complained about starting to get ready so soon, because two and a half hours later, she wasn't complaining anymore. It looked like it was actually going to take the full three hours to get everyone ready.
Her hair had taken the longest. She had opted to leave it down, rather than pin it up like Felicity had for her wedding. It was loosely curled, and half was pulled up into a twisted braid. Laced into the braid were small peach roses and stems of burgundy heather.
As much as Sara had complained about having a wedding — at first almost serious, and then mostly just to annoy Cisco — she was enjoying herself. So much of her time with Leonard, what with Malcolm Merlyn, her crazy family, and then Nate, had been difficult, to say the least. It was nice to know they had a day that was free of drama, conflict, or potential death, a day that could be perfect.
"Hey," Felicity said, her voice uncharacteristically calm, "You ready to put on your dress?"
Sara nodded. She followed Felicity into the first bedroom, where a tall mirror and a bust holding her wedding dress was set up.
A few minutes later, Felicity was fastening the last button in the lace fabric.
"You're all set," she said. Sara turned to face her, "Oh my God, you're the most beautiful person in the world. I'm gonna cry."
"Now you know how I felt at your wedding," Sara replied, feeling her chest tighten and pinpricks in her eyes, the telltale sign that tears, uncharacteristic as they were, were on their way.
"Don't even say that," Felicity said, pulling Sara into a tight hug.
"Please don't start crying, guys," Iris said, "We definitely don't have time to redo your makeup."
"I'm not crying," Felicity said tearily as she pulled away from Sara.
"Hey."
Sara looked towards the new voice and saw her sister standing in the doorway.
"Laurel," she said, "Hi."
"Hey Felicity," Iris said, "Let's go make sure all the flowers are ready. Right now. Please."
"Yeah, yeah, good idea," Felicity nodded quickly. They both left the room, a bit more hurriedly than Sara thought they intended.
"Mom told me where I could find you," Laurel said, "Wow, you look beautiful."
"Thanks," Sara replied.
Laurel stepped further into the room, closer to her sister.
"I wanted to say sorry," she said, "for Nate."
"Didn't you do that at Felicity's wedding?" Sara asked.
"Uh, yeah, but I don't think it was a very good apology."
"Well, I think your exact words were 'I'm sorry I guess' so…" she trailed off.
"Well, I wanted to apologize for real. When Nate called me a few months ago and asked where he could find you, I didn't even think about anything before I told him. I should have asked you first or told you after or something, I dunno," Laurel said, "It was selfish of me to not consider what it would mean for you, and for Len. I just thought it would be nice for Nate to know how amazing his daughter is, and —" she stopped herself, shaking her head, "But it's not about what I thought. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."
Sara gave her a half-smile.
"It's okay. Thank you for apologizing, but it's okay. It's…" she hesitated, "…resolving itself."
"I'm sorry," Laurel repeated.
"It's okay," Sara told her, "and hey, I'm sorry for being bitchier about it than I probably should have been."
"I accidentally tried to shift your entire family dynamic!" Laurel exclaimed, "You're allowed to be bitchy!"
They both laughed.
Sara stepped forwards and hugged her sister. Laurel immediately reciprocated the gesture.
"I'm so happy for you," Laurel said as she pulled away, "but I should probably go now. I don't think there's much time left until the ceremony starts, and you probably need to keep getting ready."
Sara nodded, blinking away the tears in her eyes. She walked with Laurel out of the bedroom and into the living area. Laurel waved at everyone before she walked up the stairs and out the front door.
"That looked like it went well," Felicity commented.
"It did," Sara nodded.
"Well, there's about twenty minutes until we have to go," she said, "You should get Ave ready now."
Sara nodded.
Avery was in another bedroom, lying on her stomach on the woven rug and looking at a picture book. She looked up when Sara walked in.
"Mama, you look like a princess!" she gasped, jumping to her feet.
"Thanks Avie!" she smiled, "You ready to get dressed?"
"Yes!" Avery exclaimed.
Avery had been anxiously waiting to put her flower girl dress on, but out of everyone, she'd had to wait the longest to get ready. Sara knew that most of the things Avery did, she ended up wearing somehow. She wanted to prevent something happening to the dress for as long as possible.
It was a fairly simple dress, a lightweight cotton fabric of a light blue color. The cream colored hem, resting just above her knees in the front, dropped lower in the back not unlike a train, nearly brushing against the floor as she walked.
Placed on top of her hair (falling in neat curls for once, thanks to the genius hairstylist Iris had brought in) was a crown of the same flowers in Sara's bouquet. On her feet were cream sandals with a strap around her ankles.
"You look beautiful, baby," Sara said, hugging her from behind as Avery looked at herself in the tall mirror with a look of wonder on her face, "All you need is your basket."
She took her hand and led her out into the main living area, where Iris, Felicity, and Dinah were waiting for them.
"Where's Lisa?" Sara asked.
"She went over to the boy's cabin to tell them it's time to go," Iris answered, "She'll be back in a few minutes so we can head over."
At that moment, Lisa was opening the door to the other cabin and walking inside.
Everyone was ready. The groomsmen were all in dark grey vests over white dress shirts rolled up to the elbow. They wore burgundy ties, with stems of heather, the same as in Sara's hair, pinned to their vests.
Her brother was dressed like his groomsmen, except he wore a dark grey suit jacket over his vest. His tie was a pale peach color, and the flowers on his boutonnière were the same as in Sara's bouquet and Avery's crown.
"Hey," Lisa said, walking into the living room.
"Woah," Cisco said, "You look amazing."
"Thanks, babe," she smirked, "You clean up nice too." She looked to the rest of the room, "You guys ready to go?"
A chorus of affirmations followed.
"You ready?" Lisa asked her brother, her voice lowered.
"Yes," he said. Lisa smiled, "You do look beautiful."
Sara's bridesmaids were dressed in lace, asymmetrical dresses of a deep burgundy color. Narrow spaghetti straps widened into an open back and deep v-neck. Lisa's long brown hair was curled, a peach colored rose pinned into a braid at the back.
"Thanks," she replied, "Just wait 'til you see your wife."
"She's not my wife yet," he said, although unable to conceal a smile as the word left his lips.
"I'm really happy for you," Lisa said, "You know that, right?"
"Yes," he sighed in exasperation.
"I mean it," she continued, "I know all this — a wedding and a wife and a daughter — is something you didn't really see happening for you, but it is, and you're the happiest I've literally ever seen you. You love those two girls so much."
"I do."
"I love you, Len," she said, hugging him.
"I love you too, Lis," he replied.
She took a step back.
"C'mon, let's go get you married."
Less than ten minutes later, Sara, Avery, and the rest of the wedding party were gathered behind a gauzy curtain shielding them from the guests. The sky was a bright blue, the air was warm, a cool breeze brushing over them.
"You ready?"
Sara turned to see her father.
"Yeah," she nodded, a smile on her face.
With all the preparations, the visit from her sister, and dealing with Avery, her father was the one person she hadn't gotten the chance to talk to today.
"Hey, look, I know I've said this before, but I'm sorry if I gave you and Leonard a hard time in the beginning," Quentin said, "I was just trying to look out for you, but now I get that I don't need to do that. You are strong and smart and you don't need me to take care of you. I can tell that you love him and you're happy, and I'm sorry I tried to, y'know, get in the way of that."
Sara stepped forward to hug her dad.
"This has just been a whole day of Lance family apologies," Sara said, chuckling.
"You talked to Laurel?"
"I did," she nodded.
"And you guys are gonna be okay?"
"I think we are."
"Good to hear," he said.
"One minute, everyone," Iris said.
"Gimme a second, dad, I wanna talk to Avery before this starts," Sara said as she started to turn away.
"Are you ready, Avie?" Sara asked, crouching down to hug her daughter from behind, her arms wrapping around Avery's middle.
"Uh-huh," she chirped, although Sara caught a hint of nervousness in her voice.
"You remember what we practiced?" she asked, "How to do the petals and not go too fast? And you remember to stand next to Felicity once you get up to the archway?"
Avery nodded.
"You're gonna do great," Sara said, kissing Avery's cheek, "I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mommy," she replied.
From behind the curtain, Sara heard the officiant say, "All rise," and the music start to play.
"You ready to get married?" Felicity asked as Sara straightened.
"Ready."
"All rise," the officiant said.
Leonard watched from the side as all the wedding guests got to their feet. He could see Caitlin and Harry in the front row. On the other side of the aisle stood Donna Smoak next to the empty chair that would soon belong to Quentin.
He took a moment to look at the ceremony Cisco and Iris had put together. He had been a little nervous about entrusting them with the task of pulling together his and Sara's wedding, but he had to admit, they did a really good job.
They had laid down planks of light wood on the grass to give a stable surface to the dark wooden chairs. A narrow, white carpet ran down the aisle, bordered on either side by a trail of the same peach-colored rose petals that were in Avery's basket. The alter was a step above the rest of the floor, framed by a wooden arch covered in a white, gauzy fabric that fluttered in the autumn breeze.
Leonard's attention was brought back to the ceremony when the music began to play. He felt a pang in his heart at the sound of the first note on the cello being played.
Leonard and Sara had both laughed at Cisco when he had suggested that the traditional wedding march would play during the ceremony. Cisco had quickly admitted it didn't quite suit them, but he had then asked what song they did want, and they had no answer for him. Then, a few weeks later, Avery's ballet school held an evening for parents to sit in on a class and see how their kids were doing. It was then, in one of the final exercises they watched, that they heard Pachelbel's Canon in D major.
He remembered Sara's hand squeezing his.
"Did we just hear our wedding song?" Sara asked him in a low voice when the routine was finished.
"I think we did," he murmured back.
And now here he was, on his wedding day, listening to Pachelbel's Canon in D major as the curtains behind the rows of seats parted.
Dinah Lance started her walk down the aisle, a small, proud smile on her face.
Leonard waited until Dinah was standing in front of her chair before he made his own walk to the alter, passing in front of one section of chairs before coming to a stop beside the officiant. He felt heads turning towards him, but he ignored them. Dinah met his eyes and gave him a small nod.
Iris and Joe then passed through the curtain, walking arm-in-arm. They parted when they reached the step up to the alter. Leonard caught Joe saying to his daughter, "practice, for when I walk you down the aisle at your wedding".
When they had separated, Leonard could see Lisa and Cisco walking down the aisle behind them. Lisa met his eyes, a wide smile on her face. Cisco kissed her cheek before they separated, going to stand next to Joe and Iris.
After them came their best man and maid of honor. Felicity and Barry both wore beaming smiles as they walked towards Leonard.
There was a pause after Barry and Felicity parted at the alter, but moments later, Avery stepped through the curtain.
She looked very small from such a distance, barely taller than the chairs their guests sat in. He watched with a smile on his face as she slowly made her way down the aisle, tossing rose petals onto the carpet around her as she went.
She made it about three-quarters of the way down the aisle before she noticed Leonard. She let the basket fall to the ground as she ran the rest of the distance to him, jumping into his arms.
There was a chorus of "awws" from the guests as he lifted her up, swaying her side to side. He planted a kiss on her cheek before gently setting her on the ground. She moved to stand just in front of Felicity.
The burgundy curtain behind the rows of seats parted for a final time, and Leonard was met with the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.
Yeah, so that was the mushiest chapter I've written, I think, but that's okay. Only one chapter left, and then the promised alternate ending.