Here we are! Last chapter and hopefully I wrapped up everything. Honestly, I wouldn't have believed it would grow this big, but I love world-building.

Sometimes an idea bounces around my head, I listen to the right music and bam! This time it was Pink's All I Know So Far. No idea why it was that. It just happened. Landslide battled with another idea for a completely different fandom I have never participated in before either, and Barry/Len won over the other vague idea.

Hope you enjoy this last chapter!

It was how Len found them a few hours later. Barry was three beers in, not feeling a buzz, while Mick was typing away. His glasses were perched on his nose and he was in his own zone, channeling his inner romance novelist.

"Hope I'm not interrupting the reading session," Snart drawled, leaning against the door jamb, arms crossed in front of his chest. There was a teasing smile in his lips.

Mick just glanced at him, scowled, then went back to typing. Barry lowered his tablet, giving him a warm smile.

"I got a peek at Mick's latest novel. Quite exciting."

"Didn't take you as the erotica type, Scarlet."

"Sentinel-Guide erotica," Barry corrected him with a grin. "Quite good."

Len pushed away from the door and sauntered over to him, glancing at the electronic copy. After reading a few lines his brows rose.

"Didn't think you were into that stuff, Mick. I thought Rebecca Silver was only writing the hetero-normal couples."

Mick grunted. "Supply and demand," he only said.

"The publishing house asked for more of the same," Barry translated. "The last novel sold so fast, you would have gotten whiplash."

"Ah." Len reached over Barry's shoulder and swiped over the screen for the next page. "Riveting," he murmured after a while.

"I think so, too," Barry commented. "Good stuff."

Len ruffled the tousled hair. "Read and learn, Sentinel."

The speedster huffed and swatted his hand away. Len smirked and left again, leaving the two Sentinels to their silent bonding.

xxXXx

There was a time Leonard Snart wouldn't have been caught dead walking into a government facility of the likes of A.R.G.U.S. Voluntarily. Not trying to rob the place blind. Not trying to steal something rare and valuable.

His eyes tracked around the airy entrance hall with its many hidden eyes and ears, the visible security in shape and form of armed personnel, and the woman in the smart, classic dress who looked very much in charge.

Lyla Michaels had met them with a neutral smile, though her eyes had examined the two men walking into her headquarters just as closely as Len had everything around him.

He could have bowed out of the whole meet-and-greet, but Len had found he was very reluctant to leave his meta Sentinel alone for now. His protective instincts rivalled those of a Sentinel right now.

"Our guests are behaving," Michaels told them as they sat in the tastefully bland but stylish office. There wasn't a personal touch in sight. "We could talk to some of them. Right now we're looking for a way to send them home."

"The breaches are closed," Barry stated.

"They could be reopened."

Len's eyes narrowed. "Sure," he drawled. "Throw another party."

"We'd be careful, Mr. Snart."

He raised provocative eyebrows. Lyla decided to ignore him.

"What we could get from our conversations with the various meta guests were are housing is that this Zoom character wasn't a born speedster."

"Who would have thought," Len deadpanned.

"He felt unnatural within the Speed Force," Barry agreed.

"He took his speed from a drug called Velocity."

Len casually folded his hands over his stomach as he slouched in the chair, but he was tense, listening attentively, storing everything away.

"He was a meta human, had some affinity for speed, but he wanted to access the Speed Force. While the drug made him faster, it also affected his brain and his mental processes."

"Insane meta human trying to kill The Flash. Nothing new there."

Barry grimaced. "Just that he came from another dimension. And he used others to achieve his goals. Those others are now trapped in our dimension."

Lyla pursed her lips. "We are working on it."

Len decided not to comment, but he knew it would be all kinds of bad to reopen the breaches. No one knew if the result was a stable portal, that it would lead to the other Earth, and maybe something else came through. From Barry's expression, he was thinking the same.

"I'll ask my team to work on a safe way, too," he finally said. "If it doesn't work, those metas might need to stay here."

"You want to start a rehabilitation program?" Lyla asked neutrally.

"Uhm… maybe?"

"These people tried to kill you. Some of them still want to kill you. There are one or two who were blackmailed or threatened to do Zoom's bidding, but you really want to let someone like King Shark out of the cell?"

Len snorted, shaking his head.

"Or Deathstorm?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Of course not," Barry argued. "But they don't belong here!"

"And releasing them back to their Earth would be preferable, yes, but unless we can safely to that, they will stay here."

Scarlet didn't look happy, but at least accepting.

"So to sum it up: Zoom was a crazy, drug-addicted bastard. We got rid of him, his henchmetas are under lock and key, and no one's going to willy-nilly open any portals," Len spoke up, meeting Lyla's eyes and holding her cool gaze.

There was a clear warning in his own eyes, the coldness rivalling that of the director of A.R.G.U.S. She inclined her head, aware of the meaning behind the words. The metas would stay in their cells.

"The advanced meta-human power dampeners in every building make sure that none of our guests have any access to their abilities."

Right, Len thought. He could feel the presence of the Speed Force and he knew one meta human who was currently within such a building and had no problem accessing his powers. Not that he would point it out to the director.

They left after some polite chit-chat and Len felt his shoulders loosen when they were finally away. He stopped his bike and Scarlet came to a stop beside him.

"You never told her you're not affected," he stated.

Barry scratched his neck, shrugging. "Need to know?"

Len laughed. "And she doesn't need to know. I agree. How come you're not affected?"

"No clue."

"Since when?"

"Since when don't I have a clue?" Barry laughed.

"That's hardly a mystery," Len deadpanned.

"Ouch. Here I thought we're partners. You have my back."

"Your clueless back, sure."

Barry was suddenly right in front of him and pulled the unresisting man into a kiss. "You like my clueless back."

"I like a lot about you." Snart couldn't really suppress the fond note in those words.

"Hm, good to hear."

"Back to the question at hand? Your immunity."

Barry shrugged. "I really don't know. It's not like I walk in and out of A.R.G.U.S. facilities all the time. It really hit me today, actually. I think I was never more aware of the Speed Force and… you… than today."

Len's expression was suddenly shrewd. "The anchor. And the shield."

"You."

"Me."

Barry kissed him again.

"It's an advantage," Len murmured. "Don't give it away."

"A.R.G.U.S. isn't the enemy," Scarlet argued.

"Friends and allies can change," he pointed out.

The younger man grimaced, but he didn't argue more. "Race you?" he taunted.

"We both know how that ends. Come find me," he purred and stepped back out of the embrace.

Barry bright smile sent warmth through him, that gooey feeling still going strong whenever they both had their guard down and were just them; private, personal, intimate.

"Don't make it too easy."

"I never do." He donned his helmet and started the engine, then tore off down the street.

The Flash overtook him, but headed for a long patrol run around the city as Len went through a list of possible places to give his Sentinel a challenge.

Barry found him, of course. Len hadn't made it easy, choosing a place he hadn't been in years, but his Sentinel's sense of his not-Guide was perfect as always.

Scarlet was perfect.

And Len enjoyed that perfection in every possible way.

Detective Joe West wasn't biased as a rule. As a police officer, he couldn't be. He could have opinions, he could think his part, could work through personal issues when it came to a case, but he couldn't be narrow-minded or even bigoted. Yes, there were those among the police force who were, who judged a book by its cover, who readily pushed someone into a handy box, or who had made up their minds before the evidence was even completely analyzed.

But Joe had always tried to keep the necessary distance and not jump to conclusions. It didn't always work, but it made him work on himself.

So when he ran into Mick Rory and Ray Palmer the first time, he took it like a pro. There had been enough reports about those two helping out Team Flash. Seeing them at the cortex wasn't that much of a surprise.

What did surprise him was how put together Rory was. The surprise turned into slight shock when Barry dropped the little tidbit about Heatwave being a Sentinel and Palmer was his bonded Guide.

"I can expect them to stick around then," he commented.

Barry shrugged. "Yeah. Kinda."

"And Rory's the bearer of the fire totem."

"Yep."

Joe ran a hand over his head. "Never a dull moment."

"On that note, Ray's water," his foster son added with a slightly cheeky smile.

He expelled a breath. "Right. So you have another Sentinel-Guide pair, this one with magical totems, and you defeated some crazy ass speedster from another Earth?"

Barry spread his arms. "My life."

Joe chuckled. "Your life." He studied his son, took in the way he stood, the way he held himself, the strength shining in those eyes. "Your life," he repeated. "And your team. People who have your back."

Barry smiled. "Yeah. All of them."

"Including your not-Guide."

The younger man met his eyes, unflinching, unwavering, reflecting that strength in every line of his body. So much had changed for Barry and so much was still changing. He had people he trusted, a whole team, crazy and wildly irregular as they were. And he had a bonded shield. Leonard Snart.

Joe smiled and drew him into a hug that Barry gladly returned. "Not sure I'll ever get used to Snart as your better half, but I'll be at the company barbecue. As are Iris and Eddie."

Barry laughed, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Harrison Wells had contacted the detective about an invitation to a barbecue, to be held at the abandoned airfield, just to be safe. It was meant to celebrate their victory over Zoom, closing the breaches, and it was also meant for the new team, as well as their families.

"Iris is making her world-famous potato salad. I'm bringing Max's sausages."

Barry groaned. "I'm so staking a claim on that!"

"We'll bring enough to feed a speedster," Joe promised with a chuckle.

It would take a while for Joe West to be completely at ease around Leonard Snart, but knowing what he was to Barry, that they were connected in a way that gave them both what the other had been missing, was already more than Joe would have thought possible.

And Iris was relentless in her own way. Knowing his daughter had coffee klatsches with a former master criminal? Joe couldn't say he had stomached that easily, but he was getting there, too.

"He loves him, Dad. Len really loves him and Barry returnes those feelings. It's real. There is no ulterior motive and deep down you know it. Len could have cut his losses and made for any other city, but he's here, with Barry, fighting with him…"

Yes, very sound arguments.

While the barbecue didn't make them tight friends or even close to what Joe had with his other son-in-law, he did drop his last reservations.

Other son-in-law. He almost groaned.

Great.

Welcome to the family then, he thought darkly. Because apparently his brain had decided to outsmart the rest of him.

Leonard Snart was now part of the family; had been for a while now.

"Epiphanies, Detective?" the very person he had been thinking about drawled as he held out a beer.

Joe took it, with less reluctance than he would have thought. He studied the other man. The smile was real, without mockery, but there was a fine tenor of sarcasm still.

"I've had them on a regular basis," he replied. "A given when it comes to this team and my son."

"Apparently."

Joe snorted. "Like you," he prodded.

Snart smirked. "Like me. And here we are, coming from very different directions, arriving at the same point in Barry's life."

"One you will apparently share for a while to come."

"Apparently."

Another piece of information that had floored Joe, especially knowing that Snart had died twice already; just lately because Zoom had broken his back and some more.

"Good," the detective finally said.

And he was pleased to see a slightly startled expression of surprise. Just for a moment, then Snart had himself under control again.

"Do I have the father's blessing?" he deadpanned.

Joe laughed, shaking his head. "You never needed it, Snart. We both know that this connection between you two has nothing to do with what I think or feel. Or thought and felt. You're the most unlikely Guide to a very unconventional Sentinel."

"Not a Guide," came the automatic reply.

"And still, you are. His shield, his anchor, the conduit for him to decompress, and according to Cisco, the Speed Force loves and adores you."

The former master criminal rolled his eyes. But there was a light there, a kind of fondness, something warm and still hard and possessive.

"Higher powers have given you their blessing, but if you want to hear it, yes, you have mine, too," Joe added.

And this time the startled surprise was there to see. More than a second, an honest and open reaction, and something Joe West wouldn't have thought he could get out of the other man.

"Barry loves you," he added. "The same way you love him. You have his back. You'll be at his side. That's what I want for my son."

Leonard cleared his throat, clearly thrown, and he quickly drank from the bottle in his hands. "Going soft in your old age?" he finally snarked.

Joe grinned. "Not as soft as you have, Snart. It's actually a good look on you."

It was his parting shot as he bee-lined for the humongous barbecue grill manned by Harrison, who was happily flipping burgers, char-broiling steaks and turning Max's tasty sausages into mouthwatering hot delights.

"Detective West is an evil man."

Barry balled up his paper napkin. "Come again?" he asked, mouth still full of steak.

Len leaned back beside his Sentinel, wondering for the umpteenth time how Barry wasn't throwing up from all the food he had been eating. Granted, it had been so much less than after exerting himself, but he still put away almost ten thousand calories, and he had been eyeing dessert.

"Your foster father. Detective Joe West."

Barry rolled his eyes. "I know who he is. What did he say?"

"A lot."

"Care to elaborate?"

He sighed and stole some fries from Barry's plate. "The summary for the class would be: I have his blessing. And he called me soft."

Barry blinked a few times, then swallowed the last of his steak before he laughed.

"You are," he snickered, leaning against Len, the contact casual and warm.

"And here I was wondering who would be sleeping on the couch tonight," he deadpanned.

Barry brushed a hand over the closest leg and squeezed it gently. "Love you, too," he murmured.

Len lifted the last of the fries off the paper plate. "Looks like Detective West finally sees it, too. Hence the blessing."

His speedster pulled him into a kiss, tasting of steak sauce.

"Get a room," a rough voice told them, though the annoyance was laced with a lot of amusement.

Len shot his former partner and still oldest friend a cool look. "Fuck off, Mick," he said evenly.

Mick just snorted. "Free country. I can sit where I want. So shove it." His plate was heaped with food and he wondered if the man was secretly a speedster. Mick sat down, legs stretched out in front of him, and dug into his food.

Barry grinned at the downright provocative gesture and Len just sighed. Rory's expression was one of food bliss, but those sharp eyes gave them a knowing look. Barry zipped off and came back with a cooler of beer, which got him an interested grunt from their resident pyrokinetic.

Len took a bottle and leaned back himself, all ease and laid-back peace. It wasn't even pretense. He felt at ease, with his former partner-in-crime and his Sentinel. Not something he would ever have thought possible, but here they were. Their team.

He grinned and watched Mick demolish his plate while Barry was eating dessert. His gaze wandered around the barbecue sight, took in the others, eating, drinking, talking, and in Raymond's case, talking Cisco's ear off about something or other. From Ramon's expression, he wasn't even bored. He was quite excited.

xXXx

The party wound down around nightfall, with Eddie and Iris leaving, followed by Joe. Everyone took home leftovers. Barry's bright grin told Len that those leftovers would be gone soon.

They fell together in bed, both pleasantly sated, with Len having a slight buzz from his beers. Barry pressed a kiss against his neck and curled in close. Len grinned. Scarlet was in a cuddly mood, which was just fine with him. He threaded his fingers through his speedster's and pulled that hand to rest on his stomach.

It was how he fell asleep, listening to his partner's soft breathing lulling him into sleep.

They didn't give themselves a name. Team Flash was the unofficial call-sign. Just like Cisco talked about 'Team Arrow' when it came to the vigilante of Star City. 'Rogues' was out of the question according to Len. Mick had only grimaced. Cisco's humorous quip that they could be the 'Justice League' had Mick demonstratively conjure a ball of fire, staring at the engineer with an impassive expression.

"Wanna run that by us again, kid?"

"It would be kind of a pun fun name?" Cisco tried.

The fireball started to lazily spin. Cisco sank back in his chair, impressed but not alarmed, almost pouting.

The fire disappeared.

Ray rolled his eyes. "What is it with Sentinels and posturing?" he muttered.

"Men," Caitlin only added, sniffing.

Mick shot them another narrow-eyed look. "You want to run around being called Justice League? Like some stupid superhero boy-group? Don't need a name. We're a team."

Len's brows shot up. "That we are," he said slowly. He had his feet up on a corner of the controls, comfortably leaning back in a chair. "A team."

"Better than the last one," Mick grunted. "Lots better."

"Which isn't too hard."

"The Legends weren't bad," Ray argued. "Still aren't that bad."

Mick gave him a withering look. "Sure," he rumbled. "I just got brainwashed and turned into a freaking robot. I don't know what else those Time Pigs did to me, aside from extending my life for their crazy-ass hunts."

The Guide looked like he wanted to argue. Ray didn't appear to be uncomfortable, being reminded of Mick's fate, or about to go on a guilt-trip. More like this was an age-old argument.

"So, no super squad name?" Cisco piped up.

"No name, no team motto, no matching outfits," Len smirked at him. "Not all of us can rock skintight red."

Barry rolled his eyes.

"Not wearing a uniform either," Mick declared.

Cisco's slightly crestfallen look must have registered because Rory gave him such a fierce scowl, the younger engineer stuttered something and just excused himself.

"He was already taking your measurements, Mick," Len told him.

"No uniform. Got it?"

"Got it," Cisco said quickly. "Just in case you change your opinion on that…"

"Not happening."

The engineer deflated, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that those design would be saved and maybe even tinkered with again.

Life fell into place somehow.

The matter of a uniform didn't come up again, but something else did. Something big, something bad.

It had come out of nowhere, spawning a lot of little drones that had complicated the matter, and Cisco suspected a meta was controlling both the drones and the metal creature.

"Well," Len drawled, hefting one of his cold guns.

Mick sized up his opponent, eyes alight with an unholy glint. "I was waiting for something to happen. Was really boring lately."

Barry shot his partner a brief look. He was in full Flash gear, electricity reflecting in his eyes, the Speed Force a tamed wild storm around him. Snart was wearing his own gear, the goggles firmly in place.

"Ready?" he asked playfully.

Len smirked. "Always," said with a lazy smile. "Go do your stuff, Scarlet. Raymond and I will look for the controller. And no, Cisco," he addressed the man at the other end of the comm line, "that's not his name."

"It so it!" Cisco proclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Kid's still too excitable," Mick rumbled as he powered up his heat gun.

Ray, in his ATOM suit, shot off in search for the elusive controller, Len following on the ground, just as Mick hit the metal thing with a high energy beam. Barry grinned and let loose, speeding through the drones to take them out one by one. Bursts of fire took out whatever he missed. He trusted in his team, be it the one in the field or their back-up to have his back, to have their backs.

It felt good.

Incredibly good.

He was so very lucky to have found his not-Guide, the man who was his conduit for the Speed Force and the anchor and shield for his powers. He was stronger now, faster, more balanced. His life was less erratic and Barry felt mentally stronger and more prepared to face all the weirdness, some even absolutely freakish, coming at him. It was a balance that had been missing. He had fought the meta of the week, had tried to get better, but there had been too many hits and misses.

He wasn't perfect or invincible, but he was… moored. Len had moored him as much as he had moored Time. It was his ability, his power.

Another drone met its maker. More fire erupted around him and Barry had to hold back a laugh. Mick looked immensely happy, melting down the drones. There was an explosion to his left, followed by the main metal creature keeling over. It was partially encased in ice and Ray was shooting at what Cisco had identified as its weak spots.

They were a team. Not just another copy of the Legends, Len had told him. So much better than time-travelling outcasts.

Because they were Team Flash.

"I love you," he told Len when they lay together that night, at the loft, enjoying the other.

Making out with Len was one of his favorite past times. Just kissing him, touching him, exploring every square inch of naked skin as he peeled off the clothes

The man was contagious; addictive.

"I know." There was the smirk Barry knew so well.

"Jerk."

"Yours."

"Hm. Yeah."

Len leaned over him, kissing him gently, careful of the fading contusions. Getting smacked into the face by a drone hadn't been fun. Barry had had worse, but the drone had been almost twice the size of the others and it had had spikes. So yes, it had… stung.

The kiss was an almost chaste contact, gentle in a way, and still it showed more than any devouring kiss would have. Barry met the blue eyes and Len's lips curled into a real smile, something more private and warm.

"I love you, Barry Allen. My Sentinel. Always my Sentinel."

Barry's smile was so wide, it pulled at the chafed skin around his cheek and chin, but he didn't care. He would never care.

He wanted this. He wanted everything. He wouldn't give anything back and would fight to keep what he had already.

Around them, unseen, the Speed Force hovered over its Sentinel and the Sentinel's anchor shield. It had no definite shape or form, was no life form, held no sentience any of the many life forms that existed throughout the multiverse could perceive, but it was very much aware, conscious of its actions, capable of action, reaction and pre-planning. It was vicious thing, powerful and eternal, endless, like Time was. It was aware of Time, felt the pulsing echoes of the other eternal concept, knew that it was as sentient and perceptive as Speed itself was.

Time Wraiths patrolled the endless dimension, sharp and ferocious, guarding the place with ruthlessness and devotion to only this one task. The Speed Force had more than one speedster anchored to it. The multiverse had given birth to many variations and forms, had those who were stronger or faster than the Sentinel, but the Sentinel was growing into a power only he could channel.

Because of his anchor shield. Because the anchor shield also provided a conduit, which was the most important aspect. It was the first time in its existence that the Speed Force had a speedster who would be able to access all of it without perishing either physically or mentally. There had been those before him, but they hadn't been able to bear the burden of a full connection.

Barry Allen would be able to do just that. Leonard Snart was the important puzzle piece in the intricate mosaic that made up The Flash, the one who siphoned the impossible forces and gave is bonded meta Sentinel access and the necessary control to use it.

In time.

Barry had that time and his anchor shield was in turn anchored in Time.

The murky black shadows of the Time Wraiths writhed around the dense cluster of Speed energy where the Sentinel and his shield were, not looking for a way to get to them but watching them, guarding them from any kind of interference.

In time the Sentinel would be able to perceive them, command them, but not just yet. He was too young still.

In time.

Satisfied, the Speed Force removed its almost physical presence from its speedster, settling into the extra dimension it occupied in the multiverse.

In time…