Prompt 5: Who sleeps on the couch when they fight?
Headcanon: Thanks to Leonard's generally calm demeanor and rational, he and Sara don't fight often. But there are those instances where little things build then bubble over before finally there is no calming down. When that happens, after he says his piece, Len walks away to sleep on the couch. He refuses to let his anger get the best of him and become his father. But usually before the night is over, Sara crawls into whatever space is left, anger and fight forgotten in the face of the demons and nightmares only they can expel for each other.
Sara seethed. The week had been a bad one. Every day was a fight of some kind, and their last mission hadn't been much better. It was a success in the end, but Leonard had gone off and did his own thing half way through the break in and was nearly overwhelmed. He would have been if Mick hadn't been privy to the side job and sent Flame—the young Golden Retriever he'd found, adopted, and began training—with him.
They'd just gotten home, a small place he'd been willed under his grandfather's name but had actually bought during one of the trips back in time. He walked with a slight limp thanks to the mission, but instead of surfacing worry she only felt anger bubbling. Over the last few days, small squabbles broke between them. Usually Len would calm them down before they ever escalated. This time though, she was too angry—really worried deep down—that a few calm words from the man she loved wouldn't be enough to keep her from lashing out, and that's exactly what happened the moment their bedroom door shut. Len was picking up his night clothes, getting ready for his shower before bed.
"What the hell was that?! You and Mick still trying grand larceny on missions?! See what your idiocy nearly got you?! Dead!" Her turquois eyes were flashing her absolute anger.
Len sighed. In a calm voice, he tried to explain. "Sara, I wrote that part of the mission into the plan I submitted to you. You signed off on it. I was drawing some of the fire from the rest of you and dealing with another security measure. Flame came along as look out and to help find any traps while I worked. If you read the plan, you saw where I had to disable that security mechanism otherwise you would have been trapped and captured." He paused for a moment. "Did you even read the plan beyond your role, Sara?"
She growled. "I didn't think you'd run off on your own with no back up like that."'
He rolled his eyes. "I've been running heists solo since you were in elementary school, Sara. The bigger issue is that you tell all of us to follow instructions exactly so Rip and his little band of suits won't come after us again, but you won't even do all of your job. And I know it wasn't just this plan. Mick and I have run a couple of low end heists this week to let off steam, and you signed off on them as well. So, tell me, Sara. Why am I getting a lecture for my plan working perfectly, but you haven't really admitted to not doing all of your job?"
Her cheeks turned red, though he wasn't sure if it was from anger, embarrassment, or both. "You call nearly getting killed working perfectly? That Oculus must have really screwed up your brain, if so! Or were you going for a repeat performance?"
She saw the moment his walls flew up around him. The Oculus wasn't something they spoke of often. Too much pain and sadness had been wasted on it already. Neither had ever used it during a fight until that moment.
His voice was a sharp knife, cutting a cold line through her heart. "I'm thinking pretty clearly right now. And I'm going to shower and sleep on the couch before either of us do something we will regret." He turned away, calmly opened the door, and left the room. The only further indication of his anger being the way the door slammed behind him.
Sara was frozen. That was not how that conversation was supposed to go. Why did she have to let her anger get the better of her all the time? Slowly she began to get herself ready for bed, her mind in a daze. She settled into their large bed and fell into a fitful sleep. Dreams kept shocking her awake nearly every hour. The first time, she saw the Oculus explosion as it took Len from her. The next, he had been thrown to another earth with a superhero group that basically adopted him. He was taken in and loved by one of the founder's family, forgetting about the ones he'd left behind. The third, he'd appeared before Felicity, frozen and weak. Though they came back together in the end to adopt a beautiful little boy and girl and then having twins of their own. Tears formed in her eyes. All she could see in her waking was the cold hard look in Leonard's eyes as he stared at her after her harsh words. A deep ache rang in her heart along with a fear that gripped her tight. She was going to lose him. She had to do something.
With that panicked thought, she jumped up and took her blanket as she rushed to the living room. She stopped in front of his sleeping form to see his face scrunched in a nightmare. She couldn't help but thinking that the tears were because of her. She'd brought up horrible memories and now he's suffering. "Len?" Her voice was soft but cracking. "Len, please wake up. I need to talk to you. I need to apologize. I need to know I'm not going to lose you."
She knelt down beside him and slowly reached out to him. Her hand landed gently on his shoulder and gave him a soft shake. Almost instantly his eyes flashed open. She didn't jump but more tears leaked down her cheeks. His hand gently cupped her cheek. "Sara?" His voice was a loud whisper in the silence of the room.
She gripped his wrist, holding as tightly as possible. "I'm sorry, Len. I can't lose you. I want to meet the kids we may adopt and the twins we may have. I love you. Please, tell me that I haven't screwed us up, that I haven't pushed you away. Please tell me I haven't lost you because of my anger. Please, Len."
Confusion flittered across his face. "Sara, what are you talking about? Are you ok?"
"Just tell me, Len. Did I hurt you to the point of wanting to leave me?" He quickly realized she was serious.
Slowly he sat up, tugging her onto the couch with him. "I was upset, Sara, angry, yes. But I'm not going to throw us away because of one large fight. You are worth so much more to me than that. Where is this coming from, Sara?"
She curled against him as close as she could. "I had dreams. They showed me your death, you finding another family that respected you and loved you, us with a large beautiful family and happy. I want that last one, but all I could think of was how things were when we went to bed. How angry you had to be with me for hurting you, reminding you of that pain you went through. I was so scared I was going to lose you and that chance for actual happiness."
He gave a gentle sigh, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. "I love you, Sara, never forget that. We'll get our happiness, I know we will. We already have so much of it." He settled back onto the couch, bringing her alongside him. He could feel her cuddling into his chest, her face burying into his neck. "Get some sleep, assassin. Everything will be better in the morning."
She nodded against him, settling in more. Shortly after, her breathing evened out and his followed closely. They both knew this wouldn't be their last big fight, that just wasn't who they were, but they would always come out on top. They both thought the other deserved love and happiness too much to cast the other away.
AN: I'm not overly happy with this one. It's hard for me to come up with a believable situation that would have them fighting and make Len angry enough to remove himself from the situation. Besides, while I know Len can probably be infuriating, it's still hard writing someone getting extremely angry at him...
Also, about the dreams:
The second and third dreams are based off works I'm currently putting together that are not anywhere near ready to be posted. In the first of them, just imagine Leonard Snart (our Legend) being taken in by the Justice League (animated series version of characters) and the Batfamily. He does not forget his Legends crew or his people in Central City in the real version though. The third of the dreams does actually play out like that but is planned as a series of interconnected works. The children will be more introduced in the next prompt.