Weeks later, Sara, Thea, and Oliver are sitting at her dining table feasting on the too much Chinese food they ordered and catching up after Sara's three-week trip. She's been back for a few days; she's already gotten Drake back from Moira's, set up her new schedule with Rip, and decorated her shelves with the beautiful decorations she bought from Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.
It was, so far, the greatest three weeks of her life. She returned feeling refreshed and renewed, giddy that she can finally show off her new stamps in her passport. She likes to imagine that it feels heavier in her pocket, but she knows the ink doesn't add much if anything.
Thea's already detailed the hilarious proposal Roy planned and almost messed up. Oliver has described in less-than-great detail how amazing Felicity is — Sara plans to see for herself, anyway. And Sara is relaying her favorite story from Thailand when there's a knock on the door.
"Your mother?" she asks.
"Mom's at lunch with Roy," Thea responds. "She's teasing him about not asking her permission."
Sara shrugs and gets up. She knows who she hopes it is, but she pushes down the feeling as she opens the door.
"You look well," Martin says from the hallway.
Sara narrows her eyes but smiles nonetheless.
"I'll handle it," Sara mocks. "I'm too old a friend and too old a person for them to kill."
Martin laughs. Just before Sara had left for Vietnam — she was literally at the gate waiting to board — Martin had called and apologized for his disappearing act. He said he chickened out and thought that maybe he could convince Lisa to love Sara once the former had woken from her coma. They haven't seen each other since Sara left the hospital, but she'd called him when she'd returned hoping to see him again. She knew he was the only one she could count on to still love her.
"This is Martin," Sara says, gesturing for the older gentlemen to follow her inside. "And Martin, this is Thea and Oliver. I was just telling them about my trip."
Martin smiles and joins them at the table. Sara pulls a stool from her bedroom that she uses as a nightstand and awkwardly pulls it to sit beside her friends. She looks around as she talks, taking in her own makeshift family. She can't wait for Felicity and Roy and Moira to join them later tonight for drinks and movies. She hopes Martin will stay, too.
.
A few days after that, Martin takes her out to lunch just before she's due for work. They both skillfully avoid the topic of Lisa and Leonard, but Martin does update Sara on the rest of the family. Jax just moved into his own place after saving up from his job at the auto shop, and Ray is actually extremely rich but lonely, so he stays with Mick and Amaya. Martin is hopeful about the handsome Nate whom Ray met recently at a coffee shop.
Martin is still living next door. His daughter Clarissa is almost finished with her Ph.D. and plans on moving back to Central City with her boyfriend. He says Sara is going to love Clarissa, and he thinks they'll be great friends.
Mick is thinking about selling his business, and Amaya is thinking about starting her own. She's always made her own jewelry and has gotten a lot of compliments and requests for her African-inspired pieces.
Sara smiles the entire subway ride to work and feels content sitting back to back with Thea in their shared booth. Thea is wistfully staring at her engagement ring and Sara is trying to find the perfect play to get them through their shift when a token is slipped Sara's way. She looks up at the sound of metal on metal and her heart stops when she sees the woman on the other side of the glass.
"Lisa," Sara breathes.
Martin had only brought up Lisa to say that she'd woken up, decided to carry on her pregnancy, and is actually engaged to Cisco, the short, long-haired man who had busted into her hospital room to demand answers. Lisa was going to tell her family on Christmas when she knew she could get everyone together. Cisco had proposed weeks before, but Lisa was still working on her own issues and repairing her relationship with her family. Sara was just happy she didn't harm Lisa's life with her lies.
"You must be Sara," Lisa responds. "We have some chatting to do."
.
Sara walks slowly to meet Lisa the following morning. Lisa looks stunning sitting, waiting for Sara outside some fancy brunch place downtown. Her leather pants and long jacket make her look like something out of a magazine.
They order food and coffee and sit in silence for a few moments. Lisa looks like she's trying to find the right word, and Sara doesn't want to take them from her.
"Look, honestly, I don't care about the lying," Lisa finally says. "You told the truth in the end, and I'm fine. Cisco and I are very happy."
"Then, what did you want to talk about?" Sara asks slowly.
"I want to talk about Leonard."
"What about Leonard?" Sara forces out.
"He won't talk about you, but I've heard everything from everyone else. You said you loved him before you admitted the truth. And from the way he leaves the room every time someone says they miss you, I know he loves you, too. But he's mad at you."
"They miss me?" Sara asks. "I thought your family would never want to see me again."
"They pretend they don't for my or Leonard's sake, honestly, I don't know which," Lisa sighs. "But they know Martin is in contact with you. They ask him for updates to make sure you're okay. I told them they should just reach out, that you must think they hate you, but they're stubborn and scared that you don't want to see them. Especially Mick."
"I didn't think Mick was scared of anything."
"Yeah, well, the man is terrified of feelings," Lisa laughs. "Amaya has helped some, but there's only so much she can do."
"So…" Sara shifts in her seat. "What about Leonard?"
"As I said, he loves you, but he's mad at you. Leonard doesn't trust people; we —" Lisa stops to look around as if someone might be listening. "We went through a lot as kids. We didn't exactly have parents who loved us or took care of us. And Leonard's a lot older than me, so he did most of the caring."
A lot older, Sara takes in. She'd been wondering. She's not sure how Lisa defines the term, but it tells Sara more about Leonard's age than she knew before.
"Leonard had to be my brother and my parent, but that meant there was nobody to be his. I turned out okay because of him. I have a healthier relationship with love and all that. But Leonard… you broke his trust and maybe his heart."
"What do you want me to say?" Sara asks, tears forming. "He knows I love him, and he knows why I did what I did. I explained everything as best I could at the hospital, but I knew it probably wouldn't be enough. But I tried. I tried."
"Just—" Lisa stops to pull a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. She jots something down before handing it to Sara. "Look, that's his address. He's been spending more time alone lately, so you can find him there most of the time. Just try something, Sara. Because he can't."
Sara doesn't say anything, just takes in the address, memorizes it, and laminates in her mind her safekeeping.
"When did you fall in love with my brother?" Lisa asks with a smile as she watches Sara carefully.
Sara stops breathing for a second as her mind flashes back to everything. The lingering glances and touches and words. She has been trying to distract herself from this exact topic for almost a month, and she's been (mostly) successful. Sure, she sees him in almost every person she passes on the street. She compares him to everyone who stops by her booth. She thought of him every time she bought a trinket or decoration in Vietnam. In the end, she couldn't stop herself from buying him something. It sits in a small box at the back of her closet, gathering dust.
"It was while you were sleeping."
.
"Just tell him you love him!" Thea shouts, exasperated.
"I already did!" Sara shouts back.
They're at Thea's apartment with Roy, Oliver, and Felicity. The four had just returned from a double-date when Sara intruded with her own love problems. Thea has been the most vocal, telling Sara the same thing over and over.
"If I may," Felicity steps in. "I know you already told him, but you followed it up with a pretty messed-up confession to his entire family. The feeling of knowing you love him probably got all mixed up with the feeling of finding out your secret. Remind him of the woman he fell for. The circumstances of your meeting were a lie, sure, but you're still the same Sara."
Oliver gives Felicity the sweetest smile as he lets his hand glide over her back.
"And," Oliver says softly, "you're going to regret it if you don't try again. I know what that feels like."
He says the last part looking at Sara intensely, willing her to read his mind or something. But Sara doesn't need to; she knows he's talking about Laurel. They were broken up when she died, and Sara knows that Oliver regrets not getting to tell Laurel he loved her. That he would do anything to become the man that she needed him to be.
"Fine," Sara sighs. "I'll try again."
"Thank God," Thea collapses onto her sofa and into Roy's arm.
.
Sara has always been a courageous person. She learned it first from her father, traveling the surrounding states. Then, she learned it from Laurel. She watched Laurel forge her own path in life and seek stability not afforded to her in her youth.
And then, six years ago, Sara had to be the most courageous she'd ever been. She had to plan a funeral for two, drop out of college, find a job to pay her way, and live alone for the first time in her life. She'd never been without Quentin, and Laurel had never been more than a stone's throw away. But she did it. She survived what she previously thought unsurvivable.
Now, standing outside Leonard's apartment door, Sara gathered her courage and knocked.
She listens to his shuffling, murmuring, and finally, the turning of the knob. He opens the door just a smidge, blue eyes concealed by the still-latched gold chain as he looks her up and down.
"Hi," she squeaks. "Can I, um… Can I come in?"
He doesn't say anything before he closes the door. Her heart pounds so hard it actually hurts, and then she hears the unlatching of the chain. It's seconds until he swings open the door and she can view him in all his glory, but it feels longer.
"Come in." His eyes are hard.
She steps in cautiously, taking in his home and letting it speak for him. He's got a similar, modern style to Lisa, an apartment full of boxy furniture in dark colors. But where her apartment was cubic, cold, and expensive, his is industrial, warm, and inviting. Dark wood furniture is accented by black metal, what looks like a million books, and deep navy fabrics like a throw blanket or rug. All the lights give off a faint yellow glow, and Sara can see something cooking on the stove.
The apartment opens in the kitchen, which leads into the living room. There are doors all along the right side of the apartment, 4 in total, and Sara wonders where they all lead. She knows Leonard lives alone, according to Lisa.
Sara startles at the sound of the door closing behind her and turns around to face Leonard.
"What are you doing here?" he asks.
"I love you," she blurts.
He turns to the countertop and drums his fingers against the black granite.
"You said that at the hospital," he tells her.
"I know."
"And then you disappeared."
Sara takes her hands out of her pockets and wrings them. Her heart speeds up at the sound of his voice, the hurt in that last phrase, and a few pieces come together. She thought he'd hate her when he found out she was lying, but it probably didn't help that she left and never tried to call. She thought if he loved her that he would reach out. Was the ball still in her court?
"I thought you hated me, Leonard. And I couldn't stand the thought of hurting you and your family. I didn't think you'd want to talk to me after everything."
"I didn't," he concedes. "At least for a few days. But then Lisa woke up, and of course, Ray immediately told her everything. She was confused, but then she laughed. And she apologized for being so distant that we could believe any old person off the street was her fiancee."
"It's not her fault that I lied."
"No," Leonard shakes his head. His fingers keep on drumming. "It's not her fault. But, when she woke up and the craziness died down, all I wanted to do was tell you she was okay. I wanted to tell you she was going forward with the pregnancy. I wanted to tell you that she and Cisco were engaged and happy. I wanted to tell you everything, but you weren't there."
"I was in Vietnam," Sara says, sticking a hand into her bag and feeling the small box she tucked inside. "And then Thailand, and then the Philippines."
"Martin said."
"I didn't know if I was ever going to see you again…" she stops to pull the box out of her bag and holds it out to him. "I brought this home for you anyway."
He eyes the box for a moment before taking it from her. He unfolds the lid and pulls out a miniature version of the snow globe he had given to her all those weeks ago. The Hanoi Opera House stands in all its glory, blanketed in glowing, white dust. Leonard breathes in deeply before placing it on the counter.
"Is this why you came?" he asks.
"No. I came to remind you that I love you."
"And you did that."
"And I did that," Sara steps towards him and fights a smile when he doesn't step away. "So now I'm going to tell you that I'll never lie to you again if you give me a chance. If you ask me how you look and I hate your pants, I'll tell you. If you ask me if I ate the last slice of pizza, I'll tell you that I did and that I don't regret it. And if you ask me if I still love when we have a stupid fight, I'll tell you, yes, I love you. I'll love you when I'm mad at you. I'll love you when I'm not. And I'll love you even if you tell me to leave and never come back.
"I'll love you forever, Leonard."
He takes a step forward.
"You lied to me," he says.
Another step.
"I know," she responds.
Another step.
"But you won't do it again."
One more step. He's right in front of her, towering over her as he does, blue eyes fixed on blue eyes, and his hand comes up to cup her cheek, his thumb drawing circles on her chin.
"I won't do it again," she breathes.
He leans down, snaking an arm around her waist, and dips her back as he crashes his lips onto her. It's quick and rough and desperate. It's a finally kiss. A not another second kiss.
Sara kisses him back immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck, trying to pull him impossibly closer, needing more, more, more.
When they finally part, their breaths are heavy, chests heaving, and Sara can't look anywhere but at Leonard's mouth. It's bitten red, slightly swollen, and parted. She takes him by the collar, leading him backward toward the couch, and says, "I'm going to need that to happen again."
He smirks, wicked and beautiful, and lets her.
And all Sara can think is, Thank God my father was right.
Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan.