He woke to muted sounds that he couldn't really identify yet and an uncomfortable pull in his left side. It wasn't really pain, just a dull pressure that was slowly abating.

Oh. Yeah. Right. Meta getting the better of him. Getting skewered.

Len blinked his eyes open, glad that the lights were low. He needed a moment to get a better image, but when he did, he immediately recognized the medical bay of S.T.A.R. Labs. He didn't need a render to know he was in one of the two beds available, connected to a monitor, and that someone had probably already been alerted to the change in his state of consciousness.

He was proven correct when steps approached and he was greeted by the sight of Caitlin Snow in her white coat, stopping by his side and checking the monitor readings. He face was serious, lips thin, expression pinched with worry.

She finally turned to look at him. "Welcome back," she said softly.

"That's usually my line," Len rasped, the first thing that came to mind, voice rough and dry. His mouth felt like a sandbox.

"Usually you aren't the one on the bed," she replied, but there was none of the snappiness in the words. "You gave us quite a scare."

She was really worried, Len realized. Curious.

Memories teased and they were filled with blood, pain and then nothingness.

He sat up, which launched a protest from their doctor.

"Stay! You have no business getting up!"

"I'm fine."

"You died, Snart!" she shot back, real anger and not just a little bit of fear in her voice. "You are most definitely not fine! No one is fine when they are dead! We are not fine with you dead!"

The world froze.

Len stared at her, processing the words. He had… died? Had been dead? He had…

His brain stalled. For the first time in so many years, decades really, his brain refused to work.

"W-what?" he asked, voice stuttering.

He never lost control. Ever. He had never stuttered a word. Then again, he hadn't been told he had apparently died.

Again, a hysterical part inside him screeched. He had died again! And he was back again! In his own timeline, it seemed, though the still very hysterical part pointed out that maybe he had been displaced into a timeline that was almost the same.

No, no, no! He hadn't… been dead the first time, right? The Time Stream hadn't really told him anything, but he had figured it out through time, pun intended, and logical thinking. He had been energy and he hadn't really died. Only everyone else had thought so.

"You died!" Caitlin's voice drew him out of his spiraling thoughts, the rising panic that was so unknown and hard to handle for him. "You were nearly eviscerated, went into cardiac arrest, didn't breathe, had no brain activity! Most of your blood was outside your body! You were dead!"

She was really worked up now. He had never seen her like that before, least of all over him. Maybe he had been flung into another dimension, another reality, and this was one where Caitlin Snow worried about Leonard Snart.

Len blinked, then caught movement to his left. His eyes fell on the familiar, slender form of Barry Allen. A Barry Allen who looked pale as a sheet, with dark circles under his eyes. A Barry Allen who looked, for all intents and purposes, just as dead as Caitlin had proclaimed Len had been.

Everything about Barry felt and looked wrong. The very energy was both muted and wild in one. Len could see the wildness, the whipping tendrils of eternal energy, how it lashed about and raged, while the bearer of the Speed Force was a shadow of his former self.

"Scarlet?" Snart rasped.

The Speed Force reached out and wrapped itself around him, just like the bearer of that power did. Time slowed. There was only them in the Speed Force, the energy everywhere, licking and hissing like a vicious guard dog that had no one to bite but really wanted to.

He wrapped his arms around the speedster, felt the violent tremors, sensed the upheaval without having to be an empathically inclined Guide. The shield wrapped itself around Barry, calming, reassuring, and very much assessing his general condition, which wasn't too bright to begin with. The anchor took, grounding them both, and Len heard a stuttering sigh.

And he knew. He knew he wasn't in another dimension, on another variation of Earth. This was his speedster; his meta Sentinel.

"You died, Len," Barry whispered, sounding so very shaken, so close to broken. "You were dead."

His voice was completely off. Too rough, like it should hurt with every syllable, like he was chewing glass.

The Speed Force, while still wild and raging, was a lot more under control, enveloping them in their own private little cocoon. Outside, in that vastness no one could fathom, limitless energy roared through the silence.

Len didn't feel like he had been gravely injured and died. Even the dull pull had by now disappeared. "I'm not dead," he murmured, his brain still refusing to cooperate. "How?"

"Not sure."

"Barry," he murmured.

Another sigh. "Wells mentioned a time reset. You… reset."

He looked into the green eyes, read all the pain and suffering in there, a multitude of emotions. This wasn't a joke or a prank. If it was, it was one of immense proportions.

"I reset," Len echoed, mind racing.

He felt fine. Absolutely fine. Especially now that he had his Sentinel close by. Even without an empathic bond, Len could feel himself balancing on the other man.

"Yeah."

"How?"

"No idea."

He closed his eyes, resting his head against Barry's, feeling the minute tremors everywhere. Len wasn't sure whether it was him, the shock he was in, or Barry and the Speed Force expressing itself through its speedster. Probably both. That the Speed Force was so clingy should be disturbing maybe, but he had gotten used to some eternal concept expressing itself in some form or another.

"What happened?" he finally asked, mouth dry.

"We… I… found you. The suit's sensors were going haywire. Then there were no readings." Barry's fingers dug into the flimsy shirt that covered Snart's body. "We didn't know where you were. The suit's sensors were offline. I found you."

His breath caught at the words. "Scarlet… Barry…"

Len couldn't stop the tremor in his voice, in his whole body. The Speed Force twirled and hissed around them lightning brushing past and spreading an ethereal glow. Time was of no meaning at the moment.

"You had been… attacked."

"Barry," he tried again.

His partner shook his head, steely resolve in his eyes, and he felt that steel, that fire. It was everywhere around him to see.

"Manimal must have gotten to you."

Len's memories were rather sketchy, but he thought he remembered some giant snake, then pain, then nothing. He had been looking into some strange sightings down at the railway after two dead bodies had been found, both local business owners, both killed by what had looked like wild animals. Caitlin had identified one as a polar bear, the other as a Sumatran tiger, both not really part of Central City's fauna. There had been meta particle traces, so the theory had been a shape-shifting meta, which had Cisco call the guy 'Manimal'.

"You… found me," he murmured, none of his control back yet. "Gawd, Barry…"

"No. No, I… Don't," Barry whispered sharply. "Just… don't. You're whole. You're back."

And then he kissed him. Hard.

"Don't do that again!" he demanded.

Too much. It was too much. Len hugged his speedster tightly, holding on to stop himself from drowning. Around them, the Speed Force was still forming a protective wall, encapsulating them in their private little bubble inside the other-dimensional energy. It had calmed down considerably, back to how he usually perceived it.

A mirror of Barry's very soul.

"I'll try not to," he rasped. "I didn't plan on dying today either.

It got him a thin, brittle smile. He pulled Barry into his arms, just holding him, letting himself be held in turn. His Sentinel was really at the end of his emotional rope and Len knew it would take time and more time to get them through this.

Because he had died.

Because Barry had been there as he had died while Caitlin had tried to save him.

Fuck.

Barry buried his face against Len's neck. Snart closed his eyes, just staying in the moment, letting it all wash over him, though inside he was a wreck.

Time was of no meaning. Neither was Leonard Snart's rather uncharacteristic display of open emotions and unrestrained affections.

"Almost twenty-four hours," Barry whispered.

Len blinked. "What?"

"You had already been dead for a day," Barry whispered and looked up.

Well, fuck again, he thought faintly.

"We… brought you back. You… started to heal. There was what Cisco called a miniature cluster of chronal particles around you. You had no pulse, no heartbeat, but you were healing. No open wounds, no broken bones, no… missing pieces."

Okay, now he wanted to throw up. Repeatedly.

"There isn't a scar on you," Barry added, voice thick and like he was fighting the vomit reflex himself.

Len's hands clenched into the already mistreated fabric of Barry's sweater, feeling like someone had pulled the ground out from under his feet. The Speed Force crawled closer, caressing him, curling around his limbs, his torso, his legs, just as it did with Barry.

It was grounding, in a way. Calming his rather shot nerves.

"Wells probably wants to run a ton of tests on me," he finally managed.

Barry gave him a rueful, apologetic smile. "He already did."

Len's eyes were on the time-frozen lab, on Caitlin's pale, drawn face that still showed her own worry, and he found that both Cisco and Wells had been about to walk in when Barry had snapped them into the Speed Force.

He reached for his speedster and placed a gentle kiss on the pale lips.

"Let's go back," he suggested.

Barry kissed him again, longer, almost desperate and still relaying so much more than that.

Time and speed went back to normal.

"… complete metabolic failure!" Caitlin snapped, then stared at Barry, who hadn't been there a mere nanosecond ago. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking really pissed off. It wasn't hard to figure out that he had sped in and whisked his shield into the Speed Force.

"I think what Caitlin is trying to say in her rather loud and angry way is: don't do it again. We were worried."

Len looked over at Harrison, who was watching him with mild curiosity.

"Though it did give us the unique opportunity to dive right into what makes you you, Mr. Snart."

"What happened to consent?" he deadpanned.

"You were dead," Caitlin told him coldly, though her eyes reflected different emotions. "You had no more consent to give."

Barry grimaced. The speedster wasn't exactly plastered to Len's side, but he was close, hovering, and one hand was wrapped around Len's wrist. As if he was afraid the other man might just run off.

The contact wasn't electric, but it was more than just a simple touch. He felt it, but he couldn't put it into words.

"So, what makes up little old me?" Len drawled, trying for normalcy.

Slender but so very strong fingers carded into his in a rare show of openness. They never displayed their relationship, their partnership. It was all behind closed doors, absolutely private and intimate, and Len felt another brush of the energy that resided inside his speedster.

"I'm no expert," Wells said, shrugging, "but I think your little stint in the Time Stream left you with a small alteration to your metabolism."

Cisco snorted. "Small my ass. You have a freaking reset button, Cold."

"Reset to… when?"

"I'd say to the time just after your first death," Wells answered. "We don't have the last medical data on you from the Waverider's files, but it's a good approximation. You died, you reset."

"Sounds like a metahuman ability."

"Well, Time got a hold on you." The older man smiled humorlessly. "You were shredded by the explosion and ended up in Time. My understanding of that particular environment is… zilch."

"It's an ability or a fluke?" he asked.

Wells nodded at Caitlin. The scientist was still looking furious, but she called up an image.

"That's you. Well, a good look into your cells." Harrison smirked. "I've studied countless metas while I've been on this Earth and while your cells don't contain the particles from the accelerator's explosion, they show an accumulation of energy not unlike Mr. Allen's. The samples were taken while we were working on your to keep you alive and after you revived. As well as about an hour before you woke."

Len stared at him; hard. "And?"

"Your cells are laced with a foreign energy matter not unlike the dark matter of the Speed Force. A little different, which is probably in account to your existence in the Time Stream. Chronal particles with a little twist."

"You're saying I've got… time in me?"

"Most likely. It's not something we have the necessary equipment to really determine," Caitlin said primly. "We can't even measure the Speed Force. The Time Stream isn't any better."

Len just sat there, trying to work through everything he had heard.

He had been stuck in the very fabric of Time. No longer physical but not just energy either. Human minds couldn't understand what Time really was, what the Speed Force was, what any of the energy fields out there represented. Len's mind was a little different in the way he perceived and worked time, so he had an inkling. That inkling and his conduit abilities had enabled him to come out of this little shindig with all faculties intact and memories of his time spent there.

Now he was also saturated by Time.

Like Scarlet had the Speed Force, Len had the Time Stream.

He noticed how his hands were trembling. His hands never trembled. Never! He balled those treacherous appendices into fists, willing himself to relax, take control of the situation. No openings, no cracks in his shields, no weakness.

"Len."

The soft voice had him look up. He met a pair of green eyes, filled with compassion, understanding, and a lot of very soft emotions. There was a core of steel within this softness, something that held him, anchored him, and he latched on to that strength like a drowning man.

"You with me?"

Len glanced around. There was no one, just them, in the medical area, with just the monitors and the equipment.

"It's just us. You kinda zoned," Barry said with a half-smile.

"Not a Sentinel," he muttered.

"You did a good impression of one. Len?"

A tentative touch to his wrist had him turn his hand and grab Barry's hand. It felt good to hold onto something. Someone. Barry.

Len exhaled slowly. "Damn."

"You okay?" the speedster asked.

"No," he replied truthfully.

"Neither am I."

Barry wrapped his arms around him, a violent tremor racing through the slender form.

"So… I don't die," Len murmured after a while.

"We don't know that."

"I reset, Scarlet. That's kinda along the line of not dying."

Barry cupped his face and kissed him, close-mouthed, oh-so gentle. "You died, Len. You flatlined. You were dead," he said, voice wavering. "You died."

The tension in his body was almost too much to take.

He had died. It was just about settling in. He had died… again. This time it hadn't been a trip through an extra-dimensional force. This time it had been real. He had been killed and he had… reset.

"I'll try not to make a habit of it," Len whispered, voice trembling.

Barry gave a little laugh. It sounded strangely wet and hollow. His pallor was still too ashen, too hollow and haunted. "You better not. I like having a shield. I want my anchor."

"Oh you closet romantic."

The words sounded right, but there was no sarcasm in there, no distance, no drawl. Len had never been so shaken before in his life, so terrified.

"I just found you. I can't…"

"Barry," he stopped him.

The younger man stared at him, so pale, so not himself. Still, the Speed Force was gentle and calm, not the raging fury Len might have expected. It was the conduit, the shield effect. And it was purely Barry, not the meta side. Barry was upset, was working through his emotions and the memories, the pain he felt.

"You died, Len."

He pulled him close, felt strong arms wrap around him, holding on for dear life. Len did the same in turn, face buried against Scarlet's shoulder.

"I know," he whispered. "I know."

"Please let them check you," Barry asked, voice low, but stronger now. "Let them run tests."

He pushed back and looked into his partner's turbulent eyes, saw the lightning in their depths. He could feel the emotions between them, Barry's pain and desperation, and he felt the Speed Force clinging to him, possessive and just as strong as its speedster. Small tendrils of eternal energy whispered around him.

"Okay," Snart heard himself say. "This is… fucking crazy."

"No argument from me."

There was nothing science knew about timelessness. The team went over Len's test results, his medical data, all the scans, and all they could conclude was that his cells were saturated with a similar energy as Barry's. Where Barry was constantly linked to the Speed Force, Len was connected to the Time Stream.

"I doubt it enables you to time-travel," Wells said calmly. "But apparently you regenerate even from death. It's similar to Mr. Allen's hyper-healing."

"I wasn't involved in the particle accelerator incident," Snart said flatly. "I'm not a meta human."

"No. You were blown into the Time Stream and served as its conduit as it healed itself, were you not?" Wells raised a pointed eyebrow. "You were also born with a genetic abnormality that, if it had been dominant, would have probably made you a pretty decent Guide."

Len bristled slightly, but on the outside he gave the older man a flat look. Harrison just smiled more.

"You tested nowhere near acceptable, actually so low they told you that you aren't a Guide. Or a Sentinel. You were born a conduit, Mr. Snart. You acquired everything else after your time adventures. Time energy. It's in your cells and while Barry's cells are in a state of chronic cellular regeneration, yours regenerate when triggered."

"Through death?"

"Barry regenerates all the time. His cells are always the same, though in a different way. You are the opposite. You're in a static state," Harrison said. "Time resets you when part of that gridlock is… well, broken. Like an untimely demise."

Len stared at him, still trying to understand what Wells was trying to explain to him.

"You are timeless, Leonard Snart."

"Until my time energy runs out?" he asked, mouth dry.

"If our data is correct, you are connected to the Time Stream, just like Barry is connected to the Speed Force. And just like Barry, you don't harbor the energy in your body. You are its anchor in this dimension and you channel it. And you are also bonded to your meta Sentinel as his anchor, shield and conduit. Very much equal to a Sentinel-Guide bond, but also kind of a foursome."

Harrison winked, the humor clear to hear.

Len's mind blanked a little.

There was a soft thrum and he turned, aware of something, someone, familiar close by, and found Barry watching him. The Speed Force was everywhere, mingling with its meta Sentinel, woven through its conduit. It was a low, reassuring hum, calm, level, absolutely under control. Len felt no echo from the Time Stream and it would probably have freaked him out.

"Barry."

"I think getting ice powers would have been more fitting, seeing as to who you were and are, but time is rather nifty," Barry said softly, holding the blue eyes, relaying a calmness that had Len relax and the knot ease. "I like the benefits, actually."

"Timelessness," he stated levelly.

"Yes. Time and Speed might be different forces, but they do complement each other. Like fire and ice."

"Lightning, Scarlet. You're lightning." The knot started to unravel.

Barry walked over to him and just drew the other man into an embrace. It was like a switch had been flipped and Len's body relaxed into the familiar embrace. He almost sighed.

"I don't care," he whispered fiercely. "You're my equal and opposite, Leonard Snart. My shield, my anchor, my conduit, whatever. I wouldn't care if you had meta powers or not. What I care about is you. I love you. You are my partner. Having this ability to… reset… is amazing and something I hope you never have to use again. Doesn't change anything about what we have, what I feel."

Len was very much aware that they were completely alone, that everyone had left to give them a modicum of privacy. He framed the pale face, brushing his thumbs over the soft skin.

"I love you, Barry Allen," he said sincerely. "I love you. You are my Sentinel. I'm happy to be bonded to you as your not-Guide."

Maybe Time had messed with him, had manipulated him, might even have fully triggered his conduit abilities by using him to heal itself, but Leonard Snart couldn't care less right now. For the first time in his life he didn't care about being manipulated, about possible strings and leashes, because this… this meant he would always be with Barry. He would be with the most important person in his life, the one he was emotionally tied to on such deep levels, he was very much aware of how final and unbreakable their connection was.

Barry's eyes were brimming with emotions. A million and one emotions. He was wide open, just like Len felt. The words were like a vow.

"I cannot bond," he whispered, voice wavering but still filled with teasing.

"And I'm not a Guide," Len replied with the words he had spoken so often before. His lips twitched into a smile. "But it doesn't matter, does it?"

"No. It never did."

"And somehow it feels like Time played me," Snart added with a little snort. "Put me in your path after screwing with my undetectable potential."

"That would suggest Time is sentient."

Len watched the curl and twist of the Speed energy around them and raised an eyebrow. Barry grimaced.

"We have no idea what Time and Speed are, Scarlet," Snart finally said. "Vast, eternal energy, concepts the human mind cannot ever understand or handle. I don't believe in destined soulmates and all that crap, but Sentinels and Guides can find each other and match up. Meta Sentinels connected to the Speed Force and shield-conduit-anchors with a penchant for Time apparently can, too."

Barry chuckled, looking a little amused. "Now you are connected to Time."

"Hm, yes. Something not even the Time Masters were able to predict or they would have taken me out of the equation early on. Their bad."

He was silenced with a kiss that relayed everything and more.

"I don't care how we got to this point in our lives, how it works, why it happened," Scarlet told him, voice firm. "We can make this work."

"We already have."

"It also means you're not going to throw yourself into harm's way," Barry added, eyes unrelenting and hard. "I don't want to see you die again!"

"Can't make the promise of not dying, Scarlet. What I can promise is that I won't just throw my life away because I can beat death."

Barry drew him into a hard hug. Len held him, holding on in turn.

It would take a while for him to work through everything, the revelations, the changes… dying again.

"Len?"

"I'm okay."

"You better well are."

"Threats always work so well."

Barry laughed softly, meeting his eyes. "We'll be okay."

"Yes, we will be."

Len's smile was real; a little wan still but real.

Barry cupped his face and kissed him; more than just a peck. It relayed everything he felt. It was warm, deep, slow, speaking of emotions the younger man was still working through.

They would be okay. He knew they would.

Caitlin wasn't all too pleased with their decision to leave S.T.A.R. Labs to have a lot more privacy in Barry's loft home.

"What if there's a relapse?" she demanded.

"Relapse," Len echoed flatly. "You mean I might spontaneously die again?"

Her lips thinned and she shot him a dark look. Caitlin's eyes switched to Barry. "Call if something happens."

"Like dying?" Len taunted.

"Yes, like you dying again!" she snapped, eyes displaying more emotions than ever before. "We have no idea what happened to you and how Time influences your body!"

"I'm very much aware of that, Caitlin," he told her quietly. "And I'm honored that you worry this much about me, but I'm okay. You drew enough blood that I feel slightly anemic. I don't want to know about other bodily fluids."

Caitlin grimaced.

"You scanned every inch of me. Several times," Snart went on. "You know I'm fine. You know I reset. Barry and I are leaving."

"And in case of an emergency, Mr. Allen is quite capable of getting Mr. Snart to us for treatment," Harrison piped up, smiling amiably, even in the face of Caitlin's very impressive glare.

"If anything changes, and I mean anything, I want to see you back here, ASAP!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Her glare was fearsome.

Len felt himself relaxed as they walked into the loft apartment. Scarlet wrapped him into a hug and Snart went with it, holding on to the younger man as they stood in the middle of the open concept room.

"I think we should order in," he murmured after some time.

Barry chuckled, soft and low. "Sounds like a plan."

Neither man let go, just holding on, and Len almost laughed as the Speed Force curled around them.