I'll be the guard dog, of all your fever dreams ...

xxx

By the time they land, all the goodbyes have been said. There have been hugs, and handshakes, and promises to visit, and ceremonial shots and toasts. ("To Carter!" "To Mick!") In the end, all that's left are seven people going back to lives or on to new lives. The pieces of a team that saved the world. Sara has to blink a tear or two out of her eyes as she stands there in the field, as the Waverider flickers out of sight, shielded, behind her. Once more chapter done.

Hunter is staying until tomorrow morning, giving her or Snart, he says, a chance to take care of any needed or wanted items, any business in this time. Then they'll be off to the TimeMasters and the Vanishing Point, and new chapters in their lives. Turn the page.

She halfway thinks she saw a flicker in his eyes between her and Snart as he mentions dealing with any "business" ... and she's halfway considered dragging the infuriating "crook" to a hotel and kicking his feet out from under him, for a conversation, of course ... but by the time she's ready to leave, he's nowhere in sight.

Aggravating ass.

She wishes it was Star City they've stopped in, but she'll make do. She finds a quiet corner of a park, somewhere without eavesdroppers, and calls her sister, just to let her know that she's back, briefly ... and what she's planning to do next.

It could have gone bettr.

"Just so I understand," Laurel says slowly, "you're flying off to be a bounty hunter. On a spaceship. While shacking up with a supervillain."

Sisters. "Well, yes to the first. But it's a time ship. And he's ... sort of reformed. And there's not exactly any 'shacking' going on right now. And, wait a minute, that's none of your business anyway!"

She hears her sister sigh. "This is what you want?"

"Yes. This is ... needed," she says, choosing her words carefully. "This is a good thing. This is what I want."

Laurel sighs again. "Then you should do it. I'd like a chance to meet this guy, though."

There's really no response to that, and she gets off the phone soon afterward.

She has less than 24 hours. Might as well make use of it.

xxx

He takes off almost immediately.

He's said his goodbyes; there's no reason for lingering. He has things to do, messages to send.

He has a plan. He almost always has a plan.

Central City's finest jeweler has a shop not far away. He strolls in, gives the place a thorough once-over, smiles at the clerk, and walks back out.

He's brought the smaller model ... just developed over the past year ... of the cold gun with him, under his coat; he silently considers the time of day and shrugs; someone will notice. Standing outside, he primes it for one moment, two, three, then shuts it down again.

One, two, three, four ...

It doesn't take long for that infuriating scarlet streak to appear.

The kid skids to a stop, eyes flicking between him and the store. He smirks. "Still don't trust me around gemstones, eh, Alllen? I'm hurt."

"Cisco marked the gun's signature here; figured it wasn't worth taking chances, especially since we didn't know you were back in town." The kid gives him a reserved look.

He answers the unspoken question. "Did we win? Yeah. Against this guy ... these guys ... anyway. Can't tell you all's sunshine and roses in the future, but there are a few less things to worry about." Abruptly, he changes the subject. "Any sign of my sister?"

Barry Allen shakes his head. "Not since ..."

... since you ratted her out, most of her gang was arrested, and she left town, he finishes in his head, tiredly. He actually already knows Lisa's in another city, probably working another heist, although not where. Although they're speaking again to some extent, she doesn't really confide in him now. "Just checking."

The kid is eyeing him with trepidation. "And you? Are you back for good?"

"Relax, kid. That's what I ... summoned ... you out here for." He smirks a little about how predictably that worked out. "Heading back out. Job with the TimeMasters. Figured you should know 'Team Flash' doesn't have to worry about 'Captain Cold' anymore."

"You all right with that?" The kid actually looks concerned.

"It's a living." He's not telling Barry Allen his reasons for the decision. Abruptly, he decides this conversation is over. "Take care of my city."

He takes three paces away, then, on a whim, a mere whim, ducks back into the store. Within a few moments, Allen, who could never leave well enough alone, follows him, out of costume now.

He spares the kid a glare, then returns to his perusal of the glass cases.

"What are you doing?" Allen asks in a stage whisper. The clerk is watching them both with alarm. He catches her eye, rolls his eyes dramatically, the picture of any exasperated friend. She relaxes, a hair.

"Shopping."

"You?"

"Yes, Allen, me." He pointedly ignores the other man, hoping he'll leave. Predictably, he doesn't.

"What are you looking for?"

"None of your business." But his tone is absent. This is the best jeweler in the city, although he's never pulled anything here; he prefers ... preferred ... to get his hands on the raw materials rather than finished merchandise, and there are better ways to do that. The items for sale are extremely high quality, his practiced eye tells him that, but nothing he sees seems quite right.

"So ... are you going to be traveling with someone?"

He doesn't dignify it with an answer, although he mentally chalks up a point to the kid for making the connection.

A ring, he finds inappropriate for a martial artist. (And he shies from what's implied there, anyway.) Earrings don't seem quite right. A necklace is somehow what he's been picturing, but the solitaires and hearts and other designs he's seeing don't fit.

"Is it Sara Lance?"

Double points. He thinks he might have twitched, but otherwise does not react, pretending the all-too-perceptive pest isn't there.

A few moments later, the kid actually taps him on the arm.

The glare he delivers actually makes A take a step or two back, but doesn't keep him from grinning from ear to ear and pointing into the next case. Ignoring isn't working, so he actually deigns to look.

And there it is: a white gold filigree snowflake about as big as his smallest fingernail, glittering with blue and white diamonds, strung on a delicate chain.

He doesn't even bother to pretend it's not perfect, just wordlessly purchases it, gives the grinning Barry Allen one last glare and heads off on his next errand.

Smug son of a bitch.

xxx

Barry has returned to work, still grinning to himself, then grabbed dinner and strolled into Star Labs before the next part of a very strange day begins.

His phone rings.

"Barry? This is Laurel Lance," says the voice on the other end. "I understand my sister is in your city today. I am ... concerned ... about her. And what do you know about Leonard Snart?"

He chokes on his coffee.

"Um. Yeah, I know she's here. And I sort of know Snart. Much as anyone does here, I guess."

"She's going off somewhere with him, and I don't like it," comes the terse response. "Isn't he a criminal? I don't want to see her hurt."

He resists the urge to tell the woman on the other end of the call that her baby sister is one of the scariest people he's ever known, well able to take care of herself. He knows, too, that's not really the kind of "hurt" she's talking about.

"Well. Yeah, he was. But he's been off with this group fighting Savage, and he tells me they won ..."

"You talked to him? Today?" Her voice is very intense. "What do you think?"

He takes a deep breath, well aware of the irony here as he tries to defend the man Cisco had dubbed Captain Cold.

"Laurel," he says carefully, "I ... think that maybe he's in love with your sister. And if he is, I think he'd die before he'd hurt her. I can tell you he's been ... a problem ... for us in the past, but I really think he's trying to do something better. And I think she might be part of the reason for that."

He can hear Cisco and Caitlin making choking noises in the background.

Silence on the phone. Then he hears Laurel let out a long sigh.

"I think you might be right," she says finally. "And I think maybe she's fallen for him as well. So ... what can we do to give this a push? Because I also get the impression they're being a little stupid about it."

Slowly, he smiles again. "I might have a few ideas."