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"Oh, it will be a problem!"
Vandal Savage was keeping Sara as a shield, in front of him, and she couldn't get free. Even she couldn't beat a man who had had millennia to further his training.
"What do you want?" Leonard snarled.
"I want to exchange this woman's life for your Captain, Rip Hunter."
"I have a better idea," said Rip. "Her life in exchange for his."
Savage smirked, then let Sara go when Rip pushed the kid away. When Sara turned to glare at Savage, his knife came up, slashing the air in front of her. Everyone froze for a moment, then Sara fell on her knees.
"No!" screamed Leonard. He ran ahead, shooting at Savage and his minions, then dropped by Sara's side just as she crumbled to the ground.
She was clutching her throat, and blood seeped between her fingers. Leonard dropped his gun and took off his jacket, pushing it on her throat to keep pressure on her wound. Someone went on Sara's other side and picked her up. Leonard barely registered someone (Jax?) telling him to let her go - "Gideon" and "fix her" were the only words that actually made sense to him.
Somebody pulled him up to his feet and put the cold gun back in his hands. He took it and followed them in a stupor while they guided him back to the safety of the ship.
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He was still clutching the cold gun with both hands when someone - Kendra? - pulled up a chair for him to sit on in the med bay. Sara was on a bed, blue tubes entering her veins and a large bandage coverin her throat.
She was alive, barely. She had lost a lot of blood, but Firestorm had taken her to the Waverider just in time. Gideon declared that she would recover completely, but she needed to rest.
Kendra and Ray offered to take turns to watch over her in the med bay, but Leonard insisted that he wouldn't leave anyway, so they left him alone by her side.
He didn't know exactly how much time had passed. He looked at his hands, covered in Sara's blood, and slowly walked to a sink to wash it away. The cold gun was resting by the sink, its grip also stained in blood.
Her blood.
He almost lost her. She could have died, and he hadn't even had the chance to say anything to her.
He breathed in deeply, trying to keep his outward composure, and at the same time getting angry at himself for this old habit. He had always felt the need to keep his cool in any situation, because his life often depended on it, but this was different. Nobody could see him, and he didn't need to hide his feelings anyway.
He thought of Mick, in the brig. He knew what needed to be done, and looked briefly at Sara's form, resting on the bed, before asking Gideon to call someone else from the team to come watching over Sara.
He left before they arrived.
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"Do you have any suggestions as to how we might outsmart them, Mr. Rory?" asked Rip.
"Run."
While the rest of the team gathered around Rip to work out a possible course of action, Leonard slowly got up from his seat and left the main deck.
"Gideon, how is Sara?"
"Miss Lance is waking up, Mr. Snart. Her wound has now healed. I could help with your injuries as well-"
"Not now, Gideon."
As he walked through the door of the med bay, Sara sat up on the bed. "Hey," she croaked, bringing a hand to her throat.
"Don't talk," he said, walking to her bed.
"It doesn't hurt, Leonard. It just feels like I haven't spoken in… ages."
He stood in front of her, looking down at her partially ruined Canary suit. Sara followed his eyes and smiled at the state of her suit's collar. "Cisco won't be happy."
He raised a brow. "You know Cisco?"
"Actually, I don't. My sister asked him to make this suit for me, but I've never met him. Why?"
A genuine smile spread across Leonard's face. "What is it with Cisco and other people's sisters, I wonder." The white suit had actually protected Sara's throat from the brunt of Savage's blade, Leonard thought. He'd have to thank him somehow.
"What happened to your face?" Sara asked, raising a hand towards him, then stopping in mid-air.
"You know that heart-to-heart you wanted me and Mick to have?"
She nodded, waiting.
"Good news is, he doesn't really want me dead. Not as much as he wants to escape the Time Masters himself, at least. Bad news is, they apparently have more dangerous minions to send our way."
"Where's Mick now?"
"Not in the brig," he answered with a shrug.
Sara nodded again. "Good. I'm glad you two talked."
Leonard took a deep breath. "And I'm glad that you're alive," he said, looking in her eyes.
He thought that she was going to reply with a quip, but she simply smiled, looking back at him.
"You almost died," he added.
"I know, I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"No, you don't get it," Leonard growled. "You got hurt, and we almost lost you. I almost lost you."
Sara watched him carefully, observing the barely contained fear. She moved her hand back towards his face, slowly, leaving him every chance to pull away. "But you didn't. I'm here." Her palm brushed against his bruising cheek, then moved to his neck, pulling him to her.
Leonard sighed, closing his eyes and relaxing slightly under her touch. He lowered his forehead to hers, breathing in her scent.
"I'm not good at talking, or feelings," he said.
"Me neither," Sara replied, with a chuckle.
But she was alive, and she was holding him, so he kissed her, and she kissed him back.