A mere few hours later, soon after sunrise, Sara haphazardly tries to tidy the living room after calling herself a taxi. Leonard arriving last night and being wary of her presence — and existence — only made her regret coming to this holiday party, no matter how much fun she had, no matter how much love she felt, no matter how much it filled the hole in her heart left behind by a family she lost far too soon.
After trying and failing to neatly fold the throw blanket she slept under, Sara tiptoes her way out of the living room and into the hallway. The floorboard creaks under her weight, but Sara is confident no one else is awake this early after last night's festivities. With her father's jacket tucked under her arm and her hand reaching for the handle of the front door, Sara is startled by a "Good morning," thrown her way from the staircase behind her.
Sara gasps, turning around quickly.
"Oh, God," she squeaks, finding herself looking at somebody she has never seen before. "You scared me."
The man on the stairs is tall and lean, obvious even while he's sitting. His close-cropped hair is graying ever so slightly, and he's clad in dark jeans and a black sweater. She can tell there are years between them, even between him and Lisa. There's something about him, though, that stops her from figuring out how many. At first, his eyes scan the paper in his left hand as he holds a coffee in his right. When he looks at Sara, she is mesmerized by his piercing blue irises. They look just like Lisa's; so, biological brother it is.
"Sorry," he drawls, before taking a long sip from his mug.
"Um…" Sara is frozen in place. "Good morning, Leonard."
Leonard puts the paper down and says, "I guess I don't remember meeting you."
"Probably because we've never met," Sara supplies.
"That might have something to do with it."
"Um…" Sara bounces on the balls of her feet. "Have you been to see Lisa?"
"Went there straight from the airport," Leonard responds, eyes never leaving Sara's face. "That's why I missed all the fun last night."
Leonard gestures to the near-empty bottle of Ray's eggnog still sitting on the coffee table, surrounded by plastic cups of various Christmas colors.
They both grow quiet, Leonard eyeing Sara, and Sara eyeing anything but Leonard as she fiddles with her scarf. The home around her is eclectically decorated, full of items that are obviously either bought by Mick or Amaya. Their styles clash just like they outwardly do. Yet last night, Sara watched as they did anything but.
A horn honks on the street, bringing Sara out of her haze.
"Oh! Cab." Sara points to the door behind her. "I have to go because I… have to go. It was really nice to meet you, Leonard. So, bye."
She opens the front door quickly, but Leonard interrupts her exit.
"Sara."
Head spinning and wondering why Leonard hasn't simply called her a liar, Sara turns around to find Leonard mere steps from her.
"Ok, look," she begins, ready to out herself and end this mess. It's something about those eyes; Lisa's smile drew her in, but damn if those eyes didn't keep her hooked. "I know that I…"
"Hey," Leonard says softly. "Welcome to the family."
"Oh, thank you."
Sara turns on her foot, shuts the door behind her, and runs to her cab.
.
Sara sits cross-legged on her bed after meeting Thea for an early breakfast. Lisa's belongings from the hospital surround her, and Sara tries to get to know the mysterious woman through the items. Her wallet doesn't have many cards but is breaking at the seams because of how much cash there is. A small photo of two kids, probably Lisa and Leonard, sits safely in a plastic holder attached to the leather. She's smiling, he's not, and his arm is wrapped around her shoulders like he's keeping her safe.
A can of cat food falls out of a brown bag when Sara picks it up. She fiddles with the metal for a second before realizing this means a hungry cat is sitting in an apartment somewhere in Central City. She quickly jumps out of bed and throws her father's jacket over the raggedy jeans and sweater she changed into after getting home earlier.
Outside the building, Sara greets a few neighbors before noticing Oliver and Thea on the sidewalk, the hood of Thea's car propped open as Oliver looks inside and Thea annoys him with a story. Not wanting to get caught up by the youngest Queen for a second time today, Sara rushes past. Because of this, she doesn't notice the same black four-door that was parked outside Mick and Amaya's this morning pulling up just behind Oliver and Thea.
.
Intimidated by the sheer height of Lisa's apartment complex, Sara waits until there is a commotion at the front desk before sneaking into the building and making a dash toward the elevator. The ID in her wallet gave her full address, including her apartment number, thankfully. It's a newer building, with floor-to-ceiling windows and modern accents on the outer walls. Sara likes older architecture; she likes crown molding and hardwood. She even likes the tiny closets in her apartment that only fit her clothes.
She takes the elevator up nine floors, head bobbing to the soft jazz flowing from the speakers. Once the doors open, a long hallway stretches in both directions, and Sara turns left and follows the twists and turns until she finds Lisa's door.
The inside of the apartment is just as luxurious as the building made Sara expect. The walls and floors are dark like the furniture, and Sara sees that Lisa turned the kitchen island into a bar. It's the complete opposite of Sara's tiny apartment full of thrifted furniture in various colors.
Sara shakes the paper bag with the can of cat food while calling for the probably hungry feline. And while calling Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, she doesn't hear the apartment door open and shut. She stops in the kitchen and opens the can, hoping to lure the cat with the scent of food. She takes the open can with her as she continues to search.
And then she bangs the kitchen's swing door into somebody's face.
Leonard, to his credit, stays on his feet, holding his nose as Sara carefully finishes opening the door to reveal him.
"I'm so sorry," she intones.
"Nice shot," he drawls, entering the kitchen.
"I'll get you some ice." Sara quickly runs to the freezer, noticing an abundance of Baskin Robbins sitting inside, and grabs ice cubes in her bare hands. "I'm sorry; I wasn't expecting anybody."
"How'd you get in here?" Leonard questions, now leaning against the counter.
"Oh, uh —" Sara thoughtlessly deposits the ice into his hands — "key."
"Key? Huh." Leonard throws the ice into the sink. "You stay here a lot."
"Gotta feed the cat."
"Cat? Lisa doesn't have a cat."
Sara stops, eyes widening as she looks at Leonard. And then, behind her, a cat mews. She accepts yet another stroke of luck corroborating her ridiculous lies and picks up the cat.
"Oh, hello, honey —" She turns away from Leonard to read the cat's name tag. "Copernicus. Hello, Copernicus. You must be so hungry."
Hopeful she's even pronouncing the cat's name correctly, she places the pet onto the bar with his food as the phone rings.
"Are you gonna get that?" Leonard asks.
"Oh, no," Sara responds, refusing to further test her luck as she strokes Copernicus, "I'm gonna let the machine get it."
Leonard would love to test her luck, apparently, moving to answer the phone.
"Hello?" He greets, looking out into the fog.
Leonard pulls the phone away from his ear and turns around.
"It's for you," he drawls.
Sara likes the sound of his voice, she thinks, as she smiles and walks to the phone.
After a short but polite conversation, Sara tells Leonard the hospital would like them to come and donate blood. Apparently, it's customary for friends and family.
"Let's go together," Leonard suggests.
Finally comfortable, Sara actually takes a moment to notice Leonard. And what she notices is a man who definitely does not trust her.
.
At the hospital, Leonard and Sara sit in hospital beds next to one another. Leonard was thankfully quiet through most of the tedious process that is getting blood drawn, and Sara tries not to make a face as the nurse has trouble finding her vein. It's not the nurse's fault; everyone always has trouble finding Sara's vein. It means she's always left with an unpleasant bruise for a few days.
"Hey, Mick and Amaya will want your picture for the mantle," Leonard says, cutting through the silence as a nurse lays some gauze over the inside of his elbow.
"Of me?"
"No, of you and Lisa."
"I'm not that photogenic," Sara tells him with a laugh.
"I doubt that," he responds, these words quieter than the rest.
"Alright," Sara's nurse interrupts, "now I want you to sit here and sip this, or you'll get woozy."
Sara takes the small paper cup.
"When did you start seeing Lisa?" Leonard asks.
"September 17th," Sara recites, remembering the very first day Lisa dropped a token in front of her. It was cold, windy, and raining, but Lisa looked magnificent. A light in a dull crowd.
"Three months," Leonard muses. "That's quick."
"You have no idea."
Sara downs the contents of her paper cup like a shot of whiskey.
"That's fast," Leonard calls. "That's a fast engagement."
Sara walks away from the nurse and Leonard and out of the room. She can hear the nurse calling after her and Leonard trying to follow her, but she ignores them as she makes her way to see Lisa.
.
Leonard is right on Sara's heels as she makes it to Lisa's room, and upon entry, she hears Ray say, "Maybe she'd like us to sing to her."
Martin and Jax groan.
"Maybe Sara knows her favorite song," Leonard suggests from behind her.
"The Daria theme song," Mick barks like the question was meant for him.
"'You're Standing On My Neck' by Splendora," Sara supplies, thankful that Daria was a show she tried to watch religiously when Quentin wasn't taking the girls on some new adventure.
But this doesn't seem to satiate Leonard.
"Which one of the Powerpuff Girls is Lisa's favorite?" he asks.
"Buttercup," Sara answers cautiously.
"Ha!" Leonard instantly exclaims, but then looks annoyed. "She's everybody's favorite."
"Well, I like Bubbles," Ray says to no one in particular.
Sara notices that he, Mick, and Martin are playing cards.
"Favorite ice cream?"
"Baskin Robbins."
"Favorite baseball team?"
"What is going on?" Amaya stands from the seat at Lisa's bedside. "Why are you asking her all these questions?"
"Don't ask me," Leonard drones. "Ask her girlfriend."
"That's not funny, man," Jax moves to grab Lisa's hand.
Leonard lays a delicate hand on Amaya's shoulder.
"No, not this girlfriend —" Leonard turns to Sara — "Thea Queen."
Sara snorts. "Thea?"
"That's right. Thea Dearden Queen. She said that you were intimate."
"Thea's my friend, Leonard," Sara scoffs. "Probably my only friend. She was messing with you."
"She's seemed pretty serious to me."
Ray starts pacing, for some reason, as Leonard and Sara continue to argue.
"Look, I work the night shift at the station," Sara says, desperate to explain. "It's not common, but I've had a guy or two follow me home after. Moira, Thea's mother and the owner of my building, told Thea and Oliver to check in on me if they see me walking home. They've both pretended to be my partner at one point or another. She probably thought you were a creep."
"Right, like anyone would think that," Leonard counters.
Jax snorts.
"Anyway." Leonard glares at Jax. "Thea said she owned the building."
"Thea's barely twenty! And I just said she lied to you."
"Look!" Ray exclaims, stopping his pacing just beside Leonard and Sara. "If Sara wants to prove that she's with Lisa, she'll prove it."
The room grows quiet, and Leonard raises his eyebrows at Sara in triumph. Sara stands still, alone, with all eyes on her. Martin coughs.
"Lisa… Lisa has a scar next to her belly button!" Sara shouts, remembering her conversation with Iris the other day.
The family all look to one another for an answer, but everyone, including Leonard, comes up short.
"No way," he says.
"Way," Sara taunts back. "About a month ago, she was with her coworker Iris on-site taking photos for a story, and there was an accident involving a pencil."
Amaya moves to check but realizes she'll have to lift Lisa's gown and expose Lisa below the stomach as well.
"Alright boys, please turn around to give Lisa some privacy."
Leonard holds Sara's gaze as the rest turn away.