I'll be the watcher, of the eternal flame ...

xxx

It doesn't take long for word to travel around the team that two of them will be staying with the Waverider, will continue working with Hunter, and will, as Stein puts it, continue spreading their own unique brand of chaos across time.

What surprises them both is just how pleased those teammates are about it.

Both individually, of course, because they're still not really talking about it, or anything else, for that matter.

Xxx

"So does this mean what I think it might mean?"

They might be in the middle of one last sparring session, but that's not stopping Kendra from the leading questions. Sara rolls her eyes and blocks a blow, spinning and holding up a hand to indicate a break.

"It means absolutely nothing," she informs her friend indistinctly while mopping her face with a towel. "It means we'll continue to be teammates. Just a smaller team."

"Mmhmm." The other woman takes a drink of water. "So will you be co-captains? Are you taking over the captain's quarters? Does it have a nice, big bed?"

"Kendra!" But they're both laughing. The other woman was probably the first to twig to the fact that there was an undercurrent between two of her teammates. She's been waiting for them to do something about it ever since.

"Well, I essentially suggested that potential for that myself, and he hasn't spoken to me since, so I'm not holding my breath."

There's sympathy in Kendra's eyes, but Sara doesn't want it. So she changes the subject. "I'm going to miss you."

She really will. She'll miss all of them. They've become a team and a family, one that almost certainly understands her better than her blood family does.

Kendra smiles back at her, recognizing the distraction but willing to let it go for now.

"Well, you'll just have to come visit."

Xxx

"So you're going to be learning how to fly this tin can?" Jax looks affectionately around himself at the ship's walls and ceiling and adds, "No offense, Gideon!"

"None is taken, Mr. Jackson."

Leonard Snart has never been chatty, and he's not much for listening to chatter either, but sometime over the course of the past two years, he's discovered he doesn't really mind the kid hanging around and talking at him.

Occasionally, he might even reply.

They were neither of them born with a silver spoon, after all. And there have been bonds forged here, on this ship and off it. The kid is a good teammate. One of his crew.

For a few more hours, anyway.

"So I'm told." He's not really a man who keeps a lot of things ... the results of all his meticulously planned heists were more to be turned into cash and other resources, not to mention the sheer thrill of the game ... but he's taking the opportunity to sort through the sparse contents of his room, both to winnow what's there and to see if there's anything he really wants to pick up during this stop, now that he knows it's just a stop.

Books, he thinks. They're one of his few indulgences. Some decent liquor, maybe.

There's something else he's thinking of. Maybe. Just considering.

He's picked up a few ... bits and pieces ... through time, just to keep his hand in and, if he admits it, to annoy Hunter. He rolls a pair of admittedly spectacular emerald earrings through his fingers before speaking again.

"Your mom wear jewelry?"

"Some. Not much; she likes the nice stuff and we ..." He shuts up as the other man turns and tosses him the earrings, catching them through pure reflex.

"Whoa. She would love these. But ... um ... am I accepting stolen property here?"

It is, of course, but fairly innocent for all that. He's always been one to prefer fleecing those who have too much rather than those who have too little. "Of a sort. I can promise you they weren't missed ... much."

"Where ... did they come from?"

He shrugs. Not that he cares, but the kid's tone is more of curiosity than censure, so he'll answer. "1920s stop. Tycoon with more money than god."

The man had been slime, ogling Sara ... and Kendra ... in their flapper dresses like they'd been delivered to the party just for him. Liberating some of the wealth in that glittering Jazz Age hole made him feel just the tiniest bit better about not icing the bastard.

"I remember him." Jax stares at the earrings for a few more moments before pocketing them. "Thanks, man. She'll love 'em."

Emeralds for an emerald, he thinks to himself. As far as he knows, Jax never told anyone about that trip.

He's already given Stein a magnificent sapphire ring for his wife and presented Kendra with a necklace of topaz and tiger's eye. (To his slight discomfort and great amusement, she hugged him.) He's saving a set of rubies for Hunter's Miranda when he thinks it will annoy the other man most. Thinking of which, he still plans to give Ray those pink diamonds for whatever poor woman might be in his future but he needs to find a way to do it that won't make him look soft.

Nothing had seemed quite right for Sara. Not as a "goodbye" gift. Now, he's realizing that stolen goods ... no matter how appropriate ... aren't going to be what he wants to do there.

"So ... you're going to come back to visit, right? It's going to be weird, not seeing everyone all the time." The kid realizes he's tiptoeing close to sentiment. "Well, I'm sure Gray and I will be around; I'm going back to school. Ray and Kendra plan to stick close, I think. Won't be the same without you and Sara, though. And Rip too, I guess, but he's not really from around here anyway."

Somehow, he's gone from being begged to leave Central City to being asked to visit. He smiles, just a little. "Guess we'll see."

A new voice chimes in. "We'll have to do a reunion or something every year!"

And right on cue. He raises his voice without turning to look at the newcomer. "The kid is allowed to hang around and bother me, Raymond; you are not."

He senses rather than sees the other man pause right on the verge of the open door, then carefully slide his foot back to the other side. Two years of intimidation result in that; two years of teamwork, however grudging, ensure he stays there anyway.

He sighs to himself, and turns.

The Boy Scout still has that eager puppy look, even after all this time. And he can't quite bring himself to kick that particular puppy right now.

He glares, though. He gets only a smile in return.

"So, it's really cool you're going to be staying with the ship now. And Sara too. Um ... so are you the captain, or is she?"

It doesn't deserve a response. He manages a withering look, though.

"Does this mean you two are, uh, a thing?"

Behind him, Jax chokes.

This also doesn't deserve a response, at least not one beyond another disdainful look, but the words explode out of him instead. "What the hell is this, high school?"

Somewhat to his surprise, the other man folds his arms and gives him a level stare. "I don't know; you're the one who's been flirting with her the past two years without doing anything about it. You tell me."

Hmm. He's observed before that the Boy Scout does have some nerve. Hell of a time to show it, though.

"So, what is this, the big brother, 'what are your intentions' talk?" It's all cutting very close to the quick now, down where things hurt, so he reverts to sneer and sarcasm and the comfort thereof.

Somewhat to his surprise, Ray snorts. "I think she'd have killed you months ago if she wasn't A-OK with any 'intentions.' I just think, well ...," and now he looks uncomfortable, "... look, some things you can't plan for, right? Sometimes you have to take chances, or you lose people.

"Look, the two of you are awesome together; we've all seen it. Be a shame if you never took that chance."

There'd been a fiancée once, he knows. And the whole thing with Kendra. Chances taken. Because of that, he doesn't snap back, doesn't speak to hurt. Doesn't speak at all. Just turns away, busies himself with the tidying up.

After a moment, Jax rises and leaves with a quiet "See ya."

When he turns around again, they're gone.