It's only hours later, pre-sunrise, that Sara is awakened by a call from Amaya. Sara gets up, gets dressed, and gets her ass to the hospital.
"What's going on?" She asks Mick, who's standing outside Lisa's room. "What happened?"
"We're conferring," Mick responds before grabbing Sara's hand and pulling her into the room with the rest of the family.
Lisa is still asleep — in a coma, Sara corrects herself. Dr. Snow is standing beside her, but she isn't doing anything. Ray is half-asleep in the chair, Martin is leaning against the wall, and Jax looks ready to fall on the floor. The family is quieter than Sara has ever seen them, and she leans back on her heels to search for the exit signs signaling her path of escape.
"Conferring?" Sara mumbles to no one in particular.
Leonard and Amaya are the only ones who look alert, whispering to each other behind their hands.
"Your fiancee's pregnant," Martin says ominously.
"So I've heard," Sara responds.
"Two months along," Dr. Snow elaborates after looking at her phone. "OB confirmed earlier tonight."
"How did you not know until now?" Sara asks, trying to skip over the fact that she has indeed created a story where Lisa is a cheater. "She's been here a week."
"It was missed during her intake exam on day one. I apologize that it was overlooked this long, but the good news is that the fetus is in good health, especially considering the fall Lisa took. At this time, OB believes this pregnancy will be successful if Lisa chooses to keep it."
"And if Lisa doesn't wake up in time to make that choice?" Leonard asks, taking a step away from Amaya and towards Dr. Snow.
"Then I believe it's your choice, Mr. Snart. You're her next of kin and health care proxy."
Leonard nods. It's short and curt and tells Sara that he has nothing else to say. To Dr. Snow — and maybe to her.
"Unless you have any other questions, I have another patient I need to see. You can let Nurse Saunders know to page me if any urgent thoughts arise."
Dr. Snow leaves the room, and Sara hopes it will fall back into silence. She's wrong.
"Sara, I know this brings up doubts about your relationship…" Amaya starts.
"I don't think —" Sara tries.
"Lisa is a good person," Mick pronounces.
"I know." Sara mumbles.
The lies are starting to taste like poison.
"Sara, if you still love her," Amaya tries, "we could set up the wedding. Here. We could have it here. We could get you a dress, find someone to officiate, and have everything ready for when she wakes up."
When, Sara hears. She's starting to lose hope Lisa will ever wake up, leaving Sara stuck in this lie forever. She stops herself when she thinks I could just tell them now.
"I need to think," Sara says, stalling, making her way out of the room. "Just give me a few minutes."
She practically runs away from them, finding comfort and solace in one of the armchairs in the waiting area. The fluorescent lights hurt her eyes, and the linoleum floors are too shiny. Or, maybe, Sara just needs to rest.
Martin joins her a few minutes later.
"What am I supposed to do?" Sara asks, the words muffled by her hands.
"I'll handle it," Martin replies. "I'm too old a friend and too old a person for them to kill."
"Okay, okay." Sara breathes out a million breaths and a million lies and stands up.
"Let's go," Martin whispers. "I'll be right behind you."
But by the time Sara returns to the hospital room, Martin is no longer there.
.
Leonard drives her home sometime after sunrise. It certainly wasn't his idea — Mick pretty much ordered him — and Sara knows it. She sits in uncomfortable silence as he drives, his eyes never leaving the road.
All she wants to do is look at him, and she lets herself. But only a split second at a time.
Parked on the curb in front of her building, Sara finds her bravery.
"Leonard, you've been really great this week," she notes.
He scoffs. "Yeah, like when I accused you of lying to everybody. Or when I accused you of having a relationship with both Thea and Oliver. Or when I announced Lisa's pregnancy in front of all your friends."
"You've had a really busy week, haven't you?" she laughs. "Look, Leonard… things are probably going to be different soon."
"Yeah," he whispers.
"I just wanted to let you know that you've become…" Sara can't say what she wants to. "A really good friend."
Leonard stares at the steering wheel. Sara opens her door, takes off her seatbelt, and gets out, careful to find her balance in the snow.
"Sara," he stops her. "I think you and Lisa are going to be great, and I'm really glad that you won't be alone anymore."
She nods sadly. "Goodbye."
"Bye."
.
Days later, sometimes after dinner, Sara finds herself at home, alone, trying on a wedding dress. It's simple, short, and off-white. Amaya had brought it over in the morning to find Sara and Thea on the couch watching some crime drama with a giant bowl of marshmallows. Thea had been gobsmacked, and Sara just tried to hide her guilt.
She'll tell them. When Lisa wakes up or Sara gives in, she'll tell them.
She just has to find a way to not lose them.
There's a knock at the door.
"Thea, I told you I don't want to talk about this!" Sara yells, heading for the door. "I'm not getting drunk with you, I'm not trying on white lingerie, and I'm not—"
Sara swings open the door to find Leonard. He's leaning against the frame, park hanging off the crook of his elbow, deep green sweater hugging him perfectly.
"Well, I don't have any liquor, I wouldn't mind seeing the lingerie —" his eyes flicker down — "and I don't know what you were going to end on."
Sara can't help but snort.
"I thought you were Thea."
"You know, I get that a lot."
"Do you want to come in?" She asks, gesturing to her messy living room.
Leonard pokes his head in before stepping over the threshold and closing the door. He takes a few steps inside, following Sara's lead, before she turns around and they stop.
"So that's the dress, huh?" He asks, eyes fixated on her torso.
She doesn't know what he's talking about until she looks down, too, and remembers. "Give me a second," she says. She takes a pair of jeans and a sweater to the bathroom and quickly changes.
When she returns, he's still standing in the middle of the living room, looking entirely out of place. He's fiddling with something wrapped in newspaper. Sara stops short a few steps away from him.
"I just wanted to give you this before the presents started to pile up," he says, holding the object out to her. She takes it gently. "I was delivering some furniture for Mick and saw this in a shop window."
She quickly tears the newspaper apart before holding the snowglobe in the palm of her hand. She scans the beautiful building inside, and she thinks she recognizes it, but she just can't —
"It's the Hanoi Opera House in—"
"Vietnam," Sara finishes, a smile growing and growing until her cheeks hurt.
"Vietnam," Leonard repeats, his eyes holding steady on hers.
"Thank you; it's really beautiful." She looks at the snowglobe and then back to Leonard. His gaze doesn't falter, blue eyes shining, dancing, twinkling even.
He takes a few steps back as he says, "And I wanted to say that I think Lisa is very lucky."
Sara tucks a hair behind her ear and repeats, "Thank you."
"I had to say that because you're going to be my sister-in-law," he jokes.
"Ha ha ha," Sara says sarcastically.
Leonard looks her up and down one last time, mumbling, "I better get going."
He's headed toward the door before she can even react, but after a moment, Sara finds her bravery and chases after him. When she steps through her doorway, she finds him only a few steps down the staircase.
"Leonard," she commands.
He stops short and turns immediately, "Yeah?" His face is covered in a mixture of surprise and wonder like he was waiting for her to stop him. She doesn't think she's ever seen his face filled with so much emotion.
"Can you give me any reason why I should marry your sister?"
Leonard sighs and looks to the ground. Sara's throat drops into her stomach, but then he looks back up. "I can't."
He holds her gaze for a mere second as her heart shatters. He smiles a sad smile and leaves her alone. Sara clutches the snowglobe to her heart, and it's a few minutes before she can force herself to go back into the apartment.
.
Sara slams a piece of paper down onto Rip's desk.
"What is this?" he asks as she tries to escape his office.
"It's a notice," she replies, turning again to leave.
"Wait a minute!" he calls. She freezes in the doorway. "This is your notice!"
"So?"
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know! Vietnam! The Philippines! Where the hell I can! I have a solid amount of savings for a city worker, and I need to see the world, Rip. You know I do."
Rip runs his hands over his face. "And what about the coma girl? Have you told her family the truth yet? You can't just leave them hanging, Sara. Are you insane?"
"Yes, Rip, I'm insane!" Sara sighs. "Everday I go, and I sit in a booth like a veal. I work every holiday, I go home to a cat, and now I've fucked my life up to the point where I need to leave and see the world as I've always wanted. Okay, sure, that makes me a raving, total lunatic."
"This notice is for next week, Sara."
"I know it's next week, Rip! But I even wish it were last week. Because you know what? That would mean that I already hurt Lisa's family, broken my own heart, and I would finally have a stamp on my passport, and it would say Vietnam!"
Sara breathes out her rage as she looks at rip with watery eyes. He looks sorry for her.
"What happened with her brother?" he asks quietly.
She fights back the tears and tells Rip, "He didn't want me."
.
Sara rushes to the hospital the next day, off-white dress in a garment bag, suitcase already half-packed at her apartment. Amaya wants to talk about wedding plans, and Sara wants to tell the truth.
She isn't surprised to find the whole family present when she arrives. She wonders if they have jobs that miss them but doesn't linger on it too long. Mick, Ray, and Jax are playing cards, Martin and Amaya are talking in the corner, and Leonard is sitting at Lisa's bedside.
Sara passes everyone else before standing across from Leonard with Lisa between them. How fucking symbolic, she thinks.
She looks down at Lisa before looking back up at Leonard, and says, "I can't marry her."
Martin groans.
"Thank God," Leonard sighs.
It catches Sara off-guard, and she almost wants to back out of the truth, but then Mick yells, "What the hell is going on!"
Sara stares at Amaya and Mick and Martin and Ray and Jax.
"I'm in love," she says.
"We know," Amaya says with a smile.
"No, not with her." Sara points over Lisa and to Leonard. "With him."
"What the hell did you do, Snart!" Mick jumps out of his chair.
"He didn't do anything!" Sara says, crying and laughing and crying. "He didn't do anything. It was me. It was all me."
She looks across the bed and at Leonard, who is smiling at her. His eyes are warmer than she's ever seen them, and she wants to see him smile for the rest of her life. But she knows she can't, so she takes in a deep breath and turns back to everyone else.
"Do you remember that day at the hospital? Of course, you remember that day at the hospital. Well," Sara's voice jumps in pitch, "there was a little mix-up. I saw Lisa gets pushed onto the tracks, and I saved her life. But when I got to the hospital, they wouldn't let me see her. So, someone told the doctor that I was her fiancee. Only, um…" Sara waves a hand in front of her eyes and takes in a deep breath. "It's not true."
Sara watches everyone's face change, and she lets the tears fall freely. "I was never engaged to Lisa."
She chances a look at Leonard, but she doesn't like what she sees, so she stares at the floor, searching for her strength. The strength that got her through her first heartbreak, coming out to her dad, and losing her family.
"Why didn't you say something?" Leonard whispers.
She looks back at him and returns, "Because I didn't know how to tell you."
She turns back to everyone else. "We never even met until that day on the tracks. It's just when we were in the hospital room, everything happened so fast, and I couldn't tell you the truth. And then I didn't want to tell you the truth. Because the truth was that… I fell in love with you."
"You fell in love with me?" Mick asks in disbelief.
"No, no. Yes! All of you." Sara laughs through her tears. "I went from being all alone to being a fiancee, a daughter, a sister, and a friend. I might have saved Lisa's life on the tracks that day, but you know what? She really saved mine. Without her, I would've never been a part of your family, and I haven't had that in a long time. And I just didn't want to let go of that. So, even though it was just for a little while, I will love you all always."
Martin is cleaning his glasses, Mick and Jax are looking at the floor, Amaya is wiping away tears, and Ray is letting his fall. Sara wants to look at Leonard so badly, but she's used all of her strength.
"I'm very sorry," she mumbles.
She lightly strokes Lisa's forearm, looking down at the beautiful woman, the woman she thought was the person of her dreams. And then she forces herself not to look at the actual person of her dreams before leaving the hospital room. Just before she can, though, a short man with tan skin and long, brown hair rushes in.
"What the hell is going on? I called Iris because Lisa hasn't called me in over a week! And I find out that my fiancee is in a coma! I was at a conference! How could no one have called me!"
"We didn't know you two were even still together!"
Sara doesn't stay to watch whatever the hell this is. She walks out of the room and runs out of the hospital.
.
When Sara gets home, she finally begins to put away her Christmas decorations. Drake is incessantly meowing from behind her, but she's fed him and cleaned his litter box, so she knows he's just looking for attention. She's found a Spotify playlist to keep her ears company, and she dances along to the rhythm.
There's a knock at the door, but she doesn't get her hopes up.
"Hey," she says to Oliver once he's revealed.
"Hey, Sara, Thea called me, and I just… I wanted to say that I'm sorry things didn't work out."
Sara nods.
"You know," he continues, "right now you should get in touch with… the child within… and explore… your feminine side."
After struggling to keep down a laugh at the words Thea, Moira, or Oliver's potential girlfriend probably coached him with, Sara pulls him in for a hug. "Thank you," she mumbles into his shoulder.
"So, how are things going with that blonde from New Year's Eve?"
Oliver smiles a smile that Sara hasn't seen since Laurel.
Sara pulls him inside so she can hear all the details.