Greenworld
Morning - early morning - on Greenworld. He was lying in bed looking up at the woven rushes used on the inside of their bedroom. Reluctant as he was to leave the warmth, he sat up, making enough noise to rouse Sara, who'd been half-dozing in a chair.
She jerked awake, then leaned over towards him, pressing a hand against his chest.
''Stay put'' there was a tense note in her voice that he didn't often hear.
'''I feel fine''. He caught hold of her hand. ''Those must have been super-charged nanobots''.
''I gave you two doses'' she admitted.
''And now you're the one who needs to sleep''.
With a bit of fine tuning - he was getting better at that - he was accessing the sleep centre of her brain without her becoming consciously aware of it.
Her eyelids drooped for a moment. ''I guess you're right. But are you sure -''
''Yes''. He needed her to sleep, so he didn't have to keep feeding her these 'not-truths'. -
She let him help her into bed, suddenly realising that she was more tired than she's realised. In fact, she'd barely even dozed last night. Her thoughts veering between watching Leonard and what had nearly happened on Mars. out.
The EMP generator was gone, swallowed up in the depths of the sun. Just thinking about the device gave her the horrors - memories from the old timeline floated to the surface. Leonard and she had been trapped in the hold on the Waverider, slowly freezing, not knowing if Ray and Kendra would be able to save them. And someone on Earth 1 had meant to do that to every single person Mars, Daxomite and human alike. To use EMP and leave them to die in dead ships, in the dark and with the temperature falling.
'X
Carter and Kendra were sitting in the window seat in the living room. Like Nora, they were watching Ray, who was prowling around the room. He was trying to get over the thought that something he'd had a hand in designing - Joanne's EMP gun - to been part of the inspiration for the device planted on the ship heading for Mars.
They all did a double take when Leonard walked into the room, looking so much himself.
''I'm fine'' he assured them. ''But Sara's out for the count. She barely slept at all last night''.
As soon as everyone seemed reassured that he really was OK, Leonard headed for the kitchen in search of breakfast.
Ray was plainly putting his bad mood aside for now. But now I'm on edge, Nora thought, and it has something to do with Leonard. Something's changing in him and not in a good way. He was the only one who'd experienced Saffron's memories of the nightmare future directly, but it was not that. Her precognitive ability was warning her that something bad was coming and he was somehow in the centre of it. For once, she couldn't turn to Ray for advice. She needed to talk to John Constantine.
X
She couldn't believe he was doing this.
Alarm bells had rung when she nipped into the quarters she shared with Ray and saw him there. Before she could react, he'd taken a firm grip on her mind and made her sit down.
Her temper flared and she would have used it to give him a dark-magic generated headache. If he'd let her. She hadn't realised until that point how powerful he actually was.
''Sory, Nora, but I can't let you get in the way''. He didn't like doing this to another Legend.
When she went back to join Ray on the beach five minutes later, she had the vague feeling that something had been bothering her, but she couldn't remember what it was.
X
She said hesitantly ''So, I guess you're my Dad.''
''Yes.''
She was unsettled by the idea - all these years of having someone else as a father - which he still was really. He'd taught her to swim, helped with her homework, all the rest. This man was a stranger.
But she knew that she did share one thing with him.
Just as hesitantly she asked ''Do you - sometimes - know what other people are thinking?''
She was talking about the way he used to be.
''It's a form of psychic ability. It comes down through my mother - your grandmother. You know when people are thinking about you. Especially if they're someone you should worry about. You can also pick up on strong thoughts, strong emotions.''''
She nodded. She remembered an incident two years ago when she'd warned her friends about a gang of older boys who were coming their way. She'd kept them out of what could have turned nasty. Some of her friends had liked her better for that - one or two had thought she was a freak. That had hurt and her parents - not really understanding her ability - hadn't been able to help much.
''Having a danger sense isn't a bad thing'' he said. ''But sometimes you do need to keep it to yourself.''
''Is there a bad side to it?'' she'd thought of how it could be used to hurt other people. When there was nasty gossip about her, she'd been tempted to say what she happened to know about some of the people who started it. So far, she'd managed not to.
''There's a guy called Rip Hunter. He had an aunt who used her ability in a bad way. I did too, when I needed to keep a couple of steps ahead of the cops.''
She nodded. Aunt Dinah - Mum really - something else she was going to have to process - had told her a lot about the real past.
''And you shut it off, these days?'' she'd heard the adults in her family in her family talking about that. ''Because of something that happened with the timeline?''
He told about that from his perspective. ''People's thoughts leak - it's noisy and - let's face it, so much of what they think is trivial, boring, or it's all about their problems.''
She was slightly shocked by the last bit. The idea had been hovering in her mind that she could go into some kind of counselling. Use her ability to help people who were finding life difficult.
''Anyway, enough about this. Tell me more about yourself - I've got a lot of catching up to do.''
X
That evening, they were sitting outside. He was telling her about his talk with Saffron, when Evelyn appeared on the path leading through the dunes.
''I talked to Ava'' she reported. ''To John and the Director as well. Things aren't looking very good at their end. The Director asked if you'd come back and help them.''