***Det. West POV***
Joe hurried into the ER with Barry right behind him. When he had gotten the call from dispatch that the missing security guard had been left at the hospital, he could not contain his surprise. Why would Snart take the woman from the foundry where she was being held, keep her for a day and a half, only to leave her at the hospital? It was completely out of character for the man. There were just too many unanswered questions in this case for the Detective's comfort, questions that he hoped that Miss. Alexander would be able to answer.
The two men walked up to the triage desk and spoke to the nurse sitting there.
"I am Detective West," Joe introduced himself, showing the nurse his badge then gestured to Barry, "This is CSI Allen. We got a call stating that Mary Alexander had been found here."
"Yes, the missing security guard that was on the news," the nurse responded, "Wait here, I will be right back."
She then left the waiting room, only to return a minute later.
"The doctor is still in with her and will be out to speak with you in a moment," she told them, "However, our head of security has the recordings from our security cameras that your precinct requested ready."
"I'll go get those," Barry said and then turned to follow a guard that the nurse had waved over.
It was about thirty minutes later; Barry had returned with the copies of the security camera recordings, when the doctor finally came out.
"Detective West?" the doctor asked as she shook their hands, "I am Dr. Rebekah Lewis."
She was a short woman with medium length black hair and green eyes.
"It's good to meet you Dr. Lewis," Barry answered, "Though I wish it were under better circumstances."
"How's Miss. Alexander?" Joe asked.
"She is resting right now," Dr. Lewis answered, leading the men into a room to the side so they could talk, "She will be alright after a while. Though after hearing what she had been through, I was expecting worse."
"What do you mean?" Joe asked.
"Well, I was expecting the infection to be much worse than it is," Dr. Lewis replied, "Especially with a deep, open, gunshot wound that I expected have been untreated for nearly four days."
Joe and Barry looked at each other in confusion.
"What are you saying?" Barry asked.
"I am saying that whomever she was with tended to that wound," she answered briskly, "And, though rather crudely, they seemed to have known what they were doing."
"So you're saying that she owes the person who tended to her and then brought her here her life?" Barry asked incredulously, while Joe looked equally shocked.
"Or at the very least he or she is reason Miss. Alexander will keep her arm," Dr. Lewis answered with a nod.
"Thank you, Doctor," Joe responded, "Please let us know when she wakes." Dr. Lewis nodded before leaving the room.
***Two days later***
Joe walked up the stairs at the precinct and entered Barry's lab, where the young CSI was bent over his computer still studying the recordings from the hospital.
"Hey, Bear," Joe called out, "Tell me you got something."
Something in Joe's tone caused Barry to look away from the screen in front of him.
"I take it that Miss. Alexander couldn't tell you much," Barry replied, seeing the confused look on his adoptive father's face.
"Not really," Joe said with a sigh, thinking about what the security guard had told him when he had questioned her at the hospital a little while ago, "And what she was able to tell me just does not make sense with what we know about Snart."
"Well I am afraid the cameras were any more help either," Barry answered, sending the video from his computer screen to the big screen so Joe could see it too," This is the best view of Snart that we got."
The two men watched as Snart came out of a camera blind spot carrying Mary Alexander, who was wearing Snart's too big parka. They watched as the thief placed her with surprising gentleness on the ground leaning against a pillar, before leaving after looking down at her for a second.
"After this it looked like he went and parked in the parking lot and watched as she was taken inside," Barry said, pausing the video after the nurses had hurried Mary inside, "It appears that he left just after we arrived."
"This does not make sense," Joe sighed, looking down at the notes he had taken at the hospital, "Why would Snart suddenly change his behavior?"
"What did Miss. Alexander tell you?" Barry asked.
Joe handed him his notebook and Barry's brows rose up to his hairline.
"Well, it looks like some leopards do change their spots," Barry said, a smug smile spreading across his face.
"Maybe," Joe conceded, "You still have Cisco looking for him?"
"Yep," Barry replied as he shutdown his computer, "I was just about to run over and see if he had anything."
"Let me know," Joe said, getting up as Barry headed for the door, "I have to go brief the District Attorney. Looks like Snart gets a free pass this time."
***Barry POV***
Barry stood outside a slightly rundown looking pub on the outskirts of Central City. It had taken Cisco three days, using Felicity's facial recognition program, to finally track Snart down. According to the camera outside the pub's door, Snart had entered about an hour ago and had not left yet. Barry smiled slightly, thinking about the conversation to come and looked down at the folded up newspaper in his hand. He had been waiting for when he would get the chance to get one up on Leonard Snart and now that the time was here, he was going to enjoy it fully.
"Oh yeah," Barry thought smugly to himself, a huge grin splitting his face, "I am so going to enjoy this."
On that thought, Barry opened the door and entered the pub, spotting the person he was looking for in the far back corner.
***Snart POV***
Leonard sat in the far back corner of an out of the way pub, wanting to be left alone and glaring at anyone that dared to come within five feet of him. To say he was in a bad mood was be an epic understatement. After he had left Mary at the hospital, he had gone back to the warehouse and began to clean up, intending to move on to one of his other hideouts in the morning. Four days later, he had been relaxing in one of the rundown apartments that he had kept up when Lisa had called to say that her and Mick were back in town and they had made arrangements to meet in the morning at a house where they commonly stayed on the other side of town.
When he had arrived that morning his day had gone in the proverbial toilet. He should have known that something was up when he had walked in to Lisa's cackling laughter and Mick had turned to mockingly smirk at him.
"Well, well Lenny," Lisa had drawled out, walking over to put an arm around her brother's shoulders, "It looks like you were busy while we were gone."
Lisa had a huge smile on her face, looking like a cat that had gotten the canary.
"You're not turning hero on us," Mick sneered slightly, "Are you Snart?"
"What are you two clowns talking about," Leonard drawled.
"Oh, just this," Lisa answered, tossing a newspaper at him before walking away to perch lightly on the edge of the couch.
Leonard looked at the headline; clenching his jaw against a groan that almost worked it was out.
"You got a new girlfriend that I don't know about?" Lisa asked, eyeing her brother like she had been handed the best gift in the world.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Leonard snapped, turning to walk away.
"Oh really!" Lisa said mockingly, rubbing her hands together and Leonard knew his day was officially shot.
The rest of the day went much the same way, even with his multiple warnings for Lisa to drop the subject. He should have known that she wouldn't. His sister was like a cat with a mouse, she would play with it until it was dead. By five o'clock in the evening, what was dead was the precious little patience Leonard had. Finally he got sick of Lisa's constant taunting and Mick's silent laughter that he got up, grabbed his jacket, and stormed out.
"If Mick and Lisa hadn't decided to leave town on the same weekend," he had thought as he got on his motorcycle, "I would not have been forced to hire those two idiots and none of this would have ever happened!"
Now here he sat, picking at the meal he had ordered and prayed that everyone within a ten mile radius would have the common sense to LEAVE HIM ALONE! Unfortunately that was not to be; as he looked up when the door to the pub opened he realized his night was going to get worse. For in walked none other than Barry Allen. Leonard sighed and leaned back, watching as the young hero made his way over.
"Well you look happy," Barry said as he sat down with a big smile on his face.
"Whatever you have to say, Allen," Leonard snarled, "Say it quickly and leave!"
"Wanting to be alone are we?" Barry asked sarcastically, the smug smile never leaving his face.
"Well, I am not here for the soggy fries and mediocre service," Leonard quipped, "What do you want?"
"Just enjoying this moment," Barry answered.
"And what moment would that be?" Leonard drawled, his look turning into a verifiable death glare as he could guess what the kid was about to say.
"The moment I get to say "I told you so,"" Barry answered, his smile growing ever bigger, "I told you there was good…"
Barry stopped when Leonard upholstered his cold gun, placing the barrel on the table pointed at him.
"Finish that sentence," Leonard snarled lowly, "I dare you!"
"You know most people are happy when they get declared a hero and the District Attorney declines to prosecute," Barry quipped, rising to his feet obviously deciding not to push his luck.
"I'm no hero!" Leonard snapped his irritation overflowing.
"Well you may not think so," Barry said, "But there is someone who thinks you are."
He then tossed the newspaper he was holding down flat in front of Leonard before leaving.
Leonard looked down at the newspaper, seeing it was the same one that Lisa had taunted him with this morning, the front page headline reading
MISSING SECURITY GUARD FOUND, IDENTIFIES LEONARD SNART AS RESCUER!
Leonard stared at the picture accompanying the headline. Mary sat in a hospital bad, her arm held in a black brace bound to her torso and surrounded by her smiling family. Leonard could not help the small smile that played across his face at the sight of his parka laid across her lap. Under the headline was a quote from Mary. It read:
"I know many people will think it strange to hear Leonard Snart called a hero, but he saved my life. I don't know if he will ever read this or if I will ever see him again. If I ever get the chance there is one thing I would like to say to him. I would like the chance to tell him Thank You."