Chapter 22: Twenty-three Seconds

Face filled with worry and fear, the blonde didn't waste a single second to ask what was going on, practically jumping down the stairs instead.

She found Saracon lying on the floor, a weird symbol drawn around his limp body. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily, sporting a deep red stain that looked a lot like blood across his bare chest, with no visible wound.

The second thing she noticed was her fiancée sitting on the floor, her back resting against the wall, breathing as heavily as Saracon was, with her hands covered in what, she was sure now, was obviously blood.

She rushed to her side, kneeling in front of her and taking her blood stained hands in hers "Nyssa?"

The woman kept staring at her hands and started to shake when she felt the blonde's touch.

"Nyssa, babe?"

Still nothing but the shaking, and eventually some quick glances away from her hands and into those familiar bright blue eyes.

"Keep talking to her" John Constantine instructed when he noticed the movement of her eyes "She seems to be reacting to you. Her mother tried to touch her and found herself flying across the room. I got punched" he explained, rubbing the left side of his jaw.

Sara sat next to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and pulling her close at the same time she kissed and nuzzled the woman's temple. She swallowed hard and looked up at the blonde British man "What happened?"

"True to her word, she kept her family safe"

The blonde growled deep in her chest "That doesn't answer shit, so you better start getting very specific real soon if you don't want me to rip your fucking head off"

"Easy there, luv, we're all on the same side" he took a step back, holding his hands up, palms out facing her.

"The only side I'm on is hers" she said through gritted teeth "Start explaining"

He sighed and nodded "Do you remember anything from your experience?"

"Everything"

"I had to take the three of them to a similar plane where we would be able to do what had to be done without killing him. The Ashkiri don't mess around, luv; part of the heart that changed him attached itself to his own ticker" the man pointed at his own chest to illustrate what he was saying "I didn't know that could even happen. The mother, she tried, but the pain was too much for her, so your bird here told me she would do it all by herself and pushed her mother away" he explained under the other woman's gaze and pointed at Saracon "He begged her to do it and get it over with before we ran out of time, so while I was focusing on keeping them there, she ripped that bloody heart out of this bloke's chest with her bare hands and crushed it right before my eyes. It was the cursed heart and not his, but the pain was very real"

"Holy shit" Sara gasped looking down at her fiancée's bloody hands "Is she still there...?"

"No. She's here with us, safe. Just in shock, I presume. Either that or this is a side effect"

"So, basically, what you're saying is that you don't know what the fuck is going on" Sara's angry, demanding tone made him flinch and take another step back.

"Not like I have dealt with this situation before, luv"

"If something happens to her, I'm going to kill you. And I don't mean figuratively. I'm going to, very literally, kill you. Slowly"

John swallowed hard and winced again, then decided to continue, mostly to fill the dangerous, uncomfortable silence "We have no way to know what touching the thing might've caused"

"I do" Saracon whispered weakly before Sara could get up and take her fear frustration out on the other man "She saw… s-he saw everything a-and felt m-my pain"

"You need to rest, mate"

"Is—is Ny-ssa alright?" the man tried to sit up, but his arm gave and he fell back, one hand rubbing his sore chest.

"She's fine, Saracon, I've got her" Sara reassured him, and he sighed in relief at hearing her voice sound calmer, even if it was a little bit.

"Thank you, Sara" he whispered before passing out.

The blonde woman looked at John "Call Dig, Z and Mike. Tell them to get Saracon upstairs" the man nodded and walked upstairs to gather the men.

Less than a minute later, the four men were carrying a still unconscious Saracon up the stairs.

"Nyssa" Sara whispered once they were alone, kissing her temple again "Baby, it's over. Saracon is alright, so is your mom" she heard a shaky intake of breath and half smiled "It's over. You did it. Very stupid of you to do it all by yourself, but it's over now" she repeated soothingly "C'mon, babe, I'm here waiting for you. Fight whatever is keeping you from me and come back"

The brunette clenched her jaw and closed her eyes tightly shut. She was still shivering, so Sara started rubbing her back in case she was cold "I've got you, Nys. Do it for me. Fight" she kissed the woman's temple once more, letting her lips linger as she tried to hold back a sob "I know you're here and can hear me, stop ignoring your fiancée, that's not very nice of you. C'mon baby, I need you. You want me to beg? I'll beg" she felt a single tear roll down her cheek and knew any hope she had to hide her growing desperation was now gone; so she closed her eyes and let the tears flow freely while whispering into the woman's ear over and over for a few long, agonizing minutes "Please, Nyssa. I love you, baby, please"

"Sara Lance does not beg"

The unusually weak, rough voice startled her and Sara opened her eyes, staring at her fiancée who was staring back at her now with a tired half smile on her lips "She does if it brings you back"

Nyssa carefully leaned forward and kissed her softly, closing her eyes and sighing "Thank you" she whispered as she opened her eyes again.

The blonde shook her head and blinked back some more tears "Are you okay?"

She tried to smile and said in a raspy, tired voice "I have been better"

Sara chuckled and helped her fiancée wrap one of her arms over her shoulders before carefully pulling her up "Can you walk or do I have to carry you upstairs?"

"Those fools shall see me dead before they ever witness you carrying me again"

"Sara?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you please come out here?"

"What's up?" the blonde asked walking out of the bathroom and into their bedroom, towel drying her hair.

"Is there something you wish to tell me?" Nyssa asked arching one eyebrow as she held up a boxed pregnancy test.

Sara smirked hooking the towel over her shoulder and readjusting her shorts "Yeah, I wanted to see if you are that good"

"I would leave the jokes for a different time, beloved" the brunette warned her seriously "Such as one where I am not seriously considering punching you, for instance"

"You are so weak you can barely lift your arm to hold that box, I doubt you could punch me right now" the blonde chuckled and walked forward, standing between her fiancée's legs, who was sitting on the edge of their bed, and bending down to kiss her softly "It's not for me, babe" she took the box out of the woman's hand and tossed it on the bed, grabbing Nyssa's hands and placing them on her own hips "It's for Laurel, but you can't say anything"

"Is Laurel pregnant?" the woman asked in a shocked whisper.

"Guess we'll find out soon" she smiled and bent down to kiss her again "Did you truly think that was for me?" when Nyssa only shrugged, she laughed again "Babe, I would never cheat on you"

"I know that, habibti. However, it has been, what? Two, three months, since your return?"

"Three months exactly, now that I think of it"

Nyssa half smiled and arched an eyebrow as she looked up at the blonde "Perhaps you brought 'something back' from your time-traveling days. Other than yourself, I mean" she smirked and used her thumbs to rub Sara's hips "Irregular as you are, I don't believe you have had your period in the past three months"

"Huh" the blonde frowned realizing Nyssa was right "But, still—"

"Sara, I do know you" the brunette interrupted her smiling.

"Okay…?" she frowned confused "And that means…?"

"That I know Mr. Snart and nurse Carlisle could not have been the only ones you were involved with in ten years"

"Oh. Um..."

"It is alright, I know you intended to spare my feelings at the time and I appreciate that" the brunette reassured her laughing "But, like I said before, I would not expect you to be alone for ten years. In fact, I would not want you to"

Sara took a few minutes as she looked into her fiancée's eyes, finding nothing but honesty and understanding in them, then smiled "I'm not pregnant, tho"

"Are you certain? With your complexion, you could be and still not show at three months"

"Yes!" the blonde chuckled, smacking the other woman's arm "There's no way I could be pregnant"

"Alright" Nyssa nodded still smiling.

"You can't tell anyone about Laurel, she'll kill me" Sara warned her going back to their previous, safer—for her—topic "She wants to be sure before she tells Tommy"

"My lips are sealed" the brunette smiled and nodded.

"Okay" the blonde took a step back and reached for the pregnancy test, giggling excitedly as she skipped to the door "I'll go see if we're gonna be aunts!"

"Do me a favor?"

"Mm?" she paused with her hand on the doorknob.

"Put a shirt on, Sara"

The blonde looked down at her bra clad torso and turned around "Oops"

"Now?"

"No"

"What about now?"

"Sara, I swear to God…"

"Well, how long is this crap supposed to take?!"

"Two minutes"

"How long it's been?"

"Twenty-three seconds"

"Dammit!"

"I'm starting to think asking you to be here with me was the worst idea I've ever had, and I used to date Oliver"

Sara snorted and folded her arms "You wanted sisterly moral support"

"And yet, I've got you acting like a bored six year old"

"I'm just doing it so you start getting used to it"

Laurel rolled her eyes and leaned back against the wall "You're doing it 'cause you're a pain"

"Whatever!" she huffed and kept staring at the stick lying on the counter.

"Staring at it won't make time go faster"

"You don't know that"

Laurel sighed and looked at the floor "Do you think Tommy will be happy if—I mean, I don't even know—"

"Are you kidding me?" her younger sister asked smiling "Laurel, have you seen him with Damian?"

"Yeah" she answered smiling, too "It was pretty cute"

"He'll be a great dad. And I've never seen anyone as in love as that poor bastard is with you" Sara said smiling and went to stand next to her sister, wrapping one arm around her shoulders.

Laurel sighed again and nodded "Kinda like you and Nyssa?"

"Yeah, but we're like, way cooler and totally badass"

"Of course"

"Glad we got that cleared out"

Laurel's phone started beeping and both sisters looked at each other expectantly "You do it, I can't"

"I hafta touch the pee stick?!"

"Sara, please?"

"Fine!" the youngest moved to the counter, keeping her back to her sister and picking up the test, trying to figure it out "So…" she started nonchalantly "...would it be weird to have three Sara's in the family? I mean, if it turns out to be a girl…" she turned around and leaned back against the counter, facing her sister "...it is a pretty name, after all"

Laurel pushed herself off the wall "Are you saying…?"

"That I'm gonna be the coolest aunt ever? Hell yeah!" Sara said grinning.

Her older sister rushed to her side and took the test from her hands "Oh my God, I'm—I'm gonna be a mom"

"Yup!"

"Tommy and I are having a baby"

"You okay?"

Laurel looked up at her, a soft smile forming on her lips, and threw her arms around her sister's neck, hugging her tightly and giggling "I'm gonna have a baby!"

Sara chuckled and hugged her back just as tightly "Yes, you are"

"Hey, I don't know what you're doing in there, and I don't wanna know, but I really need to pee!" Tommy shouted knocking on the door "I had like five beers, so this is kinda urgent"

Laurel shoved the test in her back pocket and looked at her sister "I'll let the poor man pee before I turn his whole world upside down"

"How are you feeling?" the blonde asked as she entered their room, quietly closing the door behind her.

Nyssa looked up from her book and smiled "Like I've got my heart ripped out of my chest. This time quite literally"

Sara winced and sat on her side of the bed facing the other woman "Do you wanna talk about what happened?"

The brunette remained silent for a few long seconds contemplating her options before shaking her head "No, but thank you, beloved"

"You sure? I won't insist. If you say you don't want to, then I'll leave it at that; but I got really scared down there, babe"

"I apologize" she said sincerely "It was never my intention to frighten you"

Sara moved to sit closer to her fiancée and cupped her cheek "You don't need to apologize for anything. I'm just happy I've got you back" she said smiling softly "Maybe you should talk to Saracon about it? He told me, right before he passed out, that you experienced some stuff…?"

"Yes" Nyssa nodded shortly.

"Well…" the blonde shrugged "...maybe you can talk to each other about it. Shouldn't hurt to try, right? And he needs someone who understands what he was going through. He still looks kinda pale and shaky"

"Getting your heart ripped out of your chest by your sister might do that to you" her fiancée said smiling softly "I shall talk to him soon, thank you"

"No problem"

"Speaking of siblings…"

"Oh, yeah!" Sara exclaimed startling the other woman "Mine is totally knocked up!"

Nyssa grinned widely and sat up straighter "She is?"

"Yeah!"

"How did she take it?"

"Well, she was seriously freaking out at first, but when I told her it was positive she got happy and hugged me, so that's a good sign, right?"

The brunette shrugged and nodded "As far as pregnancy related reactions can be, I believe it was"

"I was kinda thinking…" Sara started and trailed off, nervously looking around the room.

"Mhm?"

"Now that we kinda fixed all the deal with Saracon, we're pretty good, right?" she started chewing on her lip.

The brunette frowned in confusion "I believe we always were, regardless of his state"

"Yeah, yeah…" Sara agreed with a dismissive wave of her hand "...but that had both of us kinda stressed and on edge"

"Yes"

"But not so much anymore"

Nyssa frowned in confusion, tilting her head as she stared at the nervous blonde woman sitting in front of her "Sara, where are you going with this?"

"What if we get married?" Sara asked all of a sudden, and her fiancée's confused frown deepened "We never set a date, so what if we get married? Like, now" she clarified.

The brunette gasped in shock, eyes wide open "Now?"

"Yeah…" she shrugged "...why not?"

Nyssa remained silent while contemplating it, making the blonde grow more nervous with every passing second "Here?" she asked.

"Can you honestly think of a better place?" Sara asked smiling "It's beautiful, our home—one of 'em, anyway—and half our friends and family are here already"

"Your sister will attempt to murder you due to your spontaneity"

"She'll get over it" the blonde shrugged "Sides, she has her own shit to deal with right now"

"True"

"Babe, I can't help but notice that you are avoiding answering my question and it's making me really nervous. You having second thoughts or something?"

Nyssa smiled and leaned forward, hooking her hand on the back of her fiancée's neck and pulling her closer to kiss her slowly "I want nothing more than to marry you as soon as possible, Sara Lance"