Sara would never admit it but she was actually really scared after what happened in the Middle Ages. Sure the mission in 2166 had distracted her for a while, and it did turn out to be nothing in the end, but it still reminded her that something she has no control over could happen at any moment. She can do everything right for once in her life and it still could amount to nothing; and that is what had her so worried.
With all these thoughts coursing through her head as she tried to fall asleep it's no wonder she woke up with a scream in the middle of the night. She sat up clutching her blankets to her chest, panting heavily and soaked in sweat from the horror of the nightmare she'd just had. There had been so much blood, all of it streaming down her legs and she had been sobbing so hard as it soaked through and stained her White Canary pants with a permanent reminder of what she lost. Quickly, Sara discarded her blankets and stripped off her sweatpants, pulling her underwear down just enough to see that they were clean.
"Of course they're clean," she thought to herself as she let out a sigh of relief; it was just a dream.
"Gideon?" She panted,
"Yes Miss Lance?" Gideon's overly chipper voice came in reply.
"Is Leonard awake?" She asked, regretting it the moment that she did.
"My sensors indicate that Mr. Snart is currently asleep in his quarters, should I wake him and let him know that you are asking for him?" She questioned and Sara's heart sank a little at hearing that.
"No," She said quickly, she wanted Leonard but at the same time she didn't want to bother him. "No," She assured the AI as she slowly lie back down in her bed, although she didn't bother putting her pants back on or untangling her blanket.
"Mission… almost accomplished," Mick slurred the next morning, walking out of Rip's study with a bottle that he had so clearly already taken more than a few sips from.
"That bottle of scotch was given to me as a gift," Rip protested, though it lacked his usual energy.
"We should be toasting to Savage's death," Sara pointed out as Mick handed the bottle to his partner.
Snart raised the bottle to his lips, noticed that the blonde at his feet was purposely distracting herself from the sight of the bottle by picking at her nails, and lowered it without taking a sip. He instead set it on the table for anyone else who wanted it, figuring that if it's half his fault that Sara can't drink for nine months then the least he can do is not drink in front of her.
"But with Carter still brainwashed, we suddenly need Savage alive." He said, speaking if only to keep people from commenting on his choice to put the bottle down. "Which is a problem because as long as he's alive and breathing, Savage is a threat to everyone on this ship." He continued and Mick nodded his agreement.
"Besides, Carter reincarnates. Which is more than I can say about any of us," The pyromaniac pointed out and Snart nodded his agreement, glad to have his old friend backing him up.
"So what?" Kendra demanded, "We just kill Savage and leave Carter a brainless drone?"
"Yes," Mick answered, the look she gave him was nothing short of disgust.
"Sorry we're late," Ray said as he and Jax entered the bridge and unknowingly halted what could've been a very violent argument before it began. "But we found something."
What they found was technology from Savage's giant robot, future technology, as in technology from beyond 2166.
"Savage has been engaging in the exact activities that the Time Counsel was created to prevent!" Rip exclaimed with the giddiness of a young child after he heard the news.
"So that means they'll finally sign off on undoing everything he's done," Sara said as she got to her feet and leaned over the table to get a better look at the robot tech.
"Except we have one small problem," Mick announced, effectively bringing down the excitement of the group who were all starting to think that things just might be finally looking up for them. "The Time Counsel is on the very edge of the timeline, and this bucket of bolts is barely holding together." He reminded them all but Rip simply shook his head and clapped his hands together.
"Gideon!" He exclaimed, "What's the status of the time drive?" He asked the AI,
"Stable Captain," Gideon replied,
"Set a coarse for the Time Counsel," he instructed her before turning to his crew, "Tonight, Vandal Savage faces justice for his crimes."
"Better hope that work you and Palmer did in the brig holds," Snart said as he brushed up in the doorway on the Waverider's kitchen where Mick was currently rifling through the empty refrigerator.
"It'll hold," his more or less partner assured before close the fridge with a frown. "As long as the ship does that is." He remarked; the Waverider had been shaking on and off practically ever since they started heading for the vanishing point.
"And if it doesn't?" Snart questioned and Mick shrugged,
"We crash somewhere in the timeline, probably with no chances of ever getting out, so we hope it's not during the zombie apocalypse and no matter where it is we try not to let Savage kill us." He replied, briefly Len wanted to ask if he were speaking seriously and at some point a zombie apocalypse actually does occur but in the end he decided to just leave it be. "I never did say congratulations by the way." Mick said awkwardly and to be honest Len didn't really know what to say.
He was still trying to get his head around this news that he was apparently going to be a father, and to Sara's baby no less. It was no secret between himself and Mick that he has feelings for the assassin, though he'd never actually confessed it to his friend. Still, the other man knew and had probably known the baby was his partner's before Sara told him (and Len knows that Mick knew before the announcement on the bridge, he was way too smug for it to be the first he heard of it.)
"Thanks," he said in his usual drawl. Mick looked like me might have been about to say something else, to fill the awkward silence if for no other reason, when the ship rocked exceptionally hard and caused both men to grab hold of the nearest solid object in order to maintain their balance.
"Seriously, why did we sign on with Rip?" Snart asked as the rocking finally settled and so the two of them took off marching towards the bridge to check out what exactly is going on.
"I'm remembering what Mr. Snart said about Savage's presence on this ship being a danger to us all." Stein quoted just as the two criminals reached the entryway to the bridge.
"And I was right, now what's going on?" Snart said, getting the attention of the captain and the professor, and already holding his gun.
"It appears that the time drive is in need of repairs but Mr. Jackson is on his way down to the temporal core now to make them." Rip assured the two, not missing how Mick's eyes went wide with concern.
"And Savage?" Snart asked before Mick could voice his own question.
Rip seemed to shrink in on himself a little bit at Leonard's question, prompting the ice-wielding crook to hold his gun a little tighter.
"Rip?" He demanded,
"I sent our resident assassin to check on him," Rip admitted in a small voice, taking note on how Leonard clenched his jaw upon hearing that. "The brig is secure Mr. Snart, and Sara can handle herself." He reminded Len but it did nothing to stop the sneer that formed on his face before her turned on his heel and walked out.
Seeing that Snart's business with Rip was taken care of for now, Mick stepped forward and looked at the captain with an expression that warned of hell to pay if he had done what the pyromaniac was thinking he did.
"Now, what kind of repairs?" He all but growled,
Sara was just marching out of the brig when she bumped right into Snart.
"Sorry," she apologized
"How's Savage?" He asked, his voice making it clear that he doesn't exactly approve of her being the one to have checked on the prisoner.
"Secure," she replied and he nodded.
"How are you?" He asked and to be honest she wasn't sure if she wanted to kiss him or punch him for worrying so much.
"Fine," she replied before pushing past him, "I'm gonna go talk to Rip, and then I'm gonna take a nap." She called over her shoulder when she felt his eyes still on her.
"Sara," he called but she turned on her heel and looked back at him.
"Snart, I'm just tired." she all but snapped, and it was true. She hadn't slept at all last night thanks to a combination of anxiety from Vandal Savage, the most dangerous man in history, being on board and the nightmares that had come from the previous mission. Normally she could go days without sleep and be just fine, but for whatever reason (and she was fairly certain the baby had a lot to do with it) she was just exhausted and so she decided it'd be better to sleep now while things are calm rather than wait until something bad inevitably happens and she'd have to stay awake for whatever reason. But first she needed to report back to Rip, and more importantly she needed to make some things clear with him.
Snart nodded his understanding, knowing that if he wanted to have a conversation about this particularly fragile subject then he should wait until there is the least percent chance Sara will bite his head off for one wrong word.
"The timeline remains unchanged," Sara made it to Rip's study just in time, no pun intended, to see him check the status of his family again.
"Were you expecting something different?" She asked from the doorway,
"I trust Savage is still secure in the brig?" He asked solemnly, avoiding her question.
"He is, and he says that you'll sell us out in a heartbeat to save your family?" She asked it more than said it, and when he didn't reply she made her way into the room. "Look I get it," she informed him, "I get what you're going through-"
"Oh please!" Rip scoffed in obvious offence to her statement, "How could you possibly know what it is that I'm feeling?" He demanded and she stared him dead in the eye.
"Because yesterday I thought I lost my child," she reminded him, his gaze faltered just a bit at her words. "I don't think I've ever felt about anyone the way you feel about Miranda, so no, I probably can't understand that. But in those moments where I thought my child was dead, I would've given anything to get it back." She said and now Rip's hard gaze fell almost completely, but it turned to one that sounded almost like dread.
"I guess that answers my question," he said and Sara nodded, knowing what it was that he wasn't going to bother asking.
"Snart and I are still working on the details, but I'm having this baby." She deadpanned before meeting Rip's eyes once again. "Look, I signed onto this mission after finding out you lied to us, and I know that Savage is right and you would sell us out in a heartbeat to save your family. But just keep in mind that if it comes down to it, I'm willing to do the same thing to save mine." She warned him before turning on her heel and walking out, now on her way to take that nap.
He didn't tell her about the mission Jax should be completing at any moment.
"We need to get out of here," Mick growled as he came trudging into Snart's room with Jax trailing right behind him.
"Should I even ask?" Snart replied; he was currently sitting on his bed tightening a screw on his cold gun.
"Rip sent me to fix the busted time drive, but conveniently left out the detail that fixing it sends out a radioactive blast that would've killed me!" Jax exclaimed and Len stopped what he was doing mid action, his grip tightening on the screwdriver as his eyes flicked up to Mick who nodded.
"If I'd never been Chronos, he could've gotten away with it and no one would've been the wiser." He said, that prompted Len to holster his gun and get up.
"Kid, grab the nerd twins. Mick, grab Kendra and if she's managed to unlock his brain get Carter while you're at it. I'll get Sara and then we're taking the jump ship out of here." He instructed and while Mick nodded Jax look at him in shock.
"Wait, we're just gonna abandon Rip? And leave him on board with Savage?" He demanded and Len sighed.
"Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do kid, and in this case, unless you want to be sent on another suicide mission, you gotta know when to walk away." He said before moving past him and Mick and heading for Sara's room.
She was sitting on the bed in the med bay, sobbing.
Snart was next to her; he looked pale and horrified by the situation. She looked down and the inseams on her white leather pants had been tainted with a dark red. She couldn't feel it, she rarely ever feels within her dreams, but she knew that it was running down her legs.
Then, suddenly, Kendra appeared.
She was holding something and there were tears in her eyes as well. Snart looked away and Sara should've followed his example, because Kendra was holding a body.
It was a little, blood covered body that the blonde just knew wasn't breathing, and she screamed out a loud sob. She screamed, she cried as she fought against Snart putting his hands on her shoulders as she shook.
"Sara!" He shouted her name, "Sara!" He shouted it again; all the while she was still shaking. Then she realized that she wasn't shaking, he was shaking her. "Sara!" He called her name again and this time she looked at him, but his image became blurry as he fell out of focus.
"Sara!" Snart exclaimed for a fourth time, sitting on the edge of her bed and shaking her a little harsher than he would've liked to.
When he'd come in he'd found her asleep, tossing and turning and whimpering. He'd tried waking her gently, but she'd only started thrashing more and he was running out of patience.
"What is she dreaming about Gideon?" He finally asked the AI, he didn't want to cross a boundary line and violate Sara's privacy but it was clear that whatever nightmare she's having has a pretty good grip on her.
"It appears that Miss Lance is still suffering some trauma from her episode of slight vaginal bleeding yesterday and is currently having a dream about experiencing some sort of a cross between a miscarriage and a stillbirth." Gideon replied and although he didn't know it Snart now looked as horrified as his counterpart in Sara's dream.
"Sara! Sara wake up! Sara!" He nearly shouted, now shaking her desperately. It was now that her eyes finally flew open and she gasped for breath, all while shooting into a sitting position and locking her arms tightly around his neck.
At first Snart was taken back by this action, especially once she started sobbing into his shoulder. But he wrapped his arms around her and held her firmly against him, giving her time to wake up and process that both she and the baby are okay before he spoke.
"If you EVER have a dream like that again-" He began to whisper in her ear but she cut him off.
"I did last night," she admitted through a sob, he tightened his hold.
"I don't care where we are, what I'm doing, or how long it's been since I last slept. I want you to wake me up and tell me," he told her sternly and she nodded against him in agreement. "Alright," he said soothingly, holding her for another few minutes until she calmed and then finally pulled away.
"Ugh, I think I've cried more in the past three days than I have in my entire life." She joked with a sniffle as she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand.
"You can blame the pregnancy hormones," He chuckled with a smirk before his face became serious again.
"Rip sent the kid to fix something, conveniently forgot to mention it would kill him." He confessed and Sara's eyes went wide, "Relax, Mick stopped him before he could go through with it." He said but Sara's face was still shocked.
Everything she had told Rip was true, she did know that he would sell them all out to save his family if it came down to it. But selling them out and sending them off to die are two different things.
"We're taking the jump ship," Snart informed her, "I know I can't force you to come-"
"I'm in," she cut him off quick, causing him to look skeptically at her. She responded to this skepticism not with words, but by reaching over and taking his hand and then guiding it to rest upon her still flat belly. Surprised by her actions, Len's eyes flicked to where she had placed his hand, then up at her face. "As much as I want to help Rip, I am NOT going to lose my family in the process of saving his." She explained, giving Len's hand a gentle and reassuring squeeze.
Twenty minutes ago she had explained to Rip that if the time came, just like he would to her, she would turn her back on him in order to save her child.
Now the time had come.