Closure - for @catchacold

[bringstheheat]

Leave it to someone like Snart to find a way to escape even death.

Two weeks ago the Waverider had been frantically messaged by STAR Labs. Ramon, the kid who had come up with the gun that Mick wore and the cold gun he hadn't been able to bring himself to touch in the last month, had news on Snart. He wasn't dead, but trapped somehow in the timestream. The explosion must have blown him clear, throwing him into time itself.

He should have known.

The argument to return to STAR Labs in 2016 was startlingly brief. Even Hunter didn't object, which came as something of a surprise.

So home they went, where it took another week of arguing and work to try and find a way to punch into time itself to drag Lenny's ass home. Even when they pulled him out it was another week of Len laying comatose in the medical bay before he started to show any signs of waking up. Mick was always there, watching him and honestly deliberating if he was going to knock him on his ass one more time for pulling that last stupid stunt.

Whatever. Mick would decide when Snart woke up.

Comments

sorry for how late this is, work killed me a little

[catchacold]

There was little awareness throughout the process, but not none. The first time it had hit him was when his timeline changed, shifted. 2013, intertwined with Mick's, as so often.

You're a hero to me.

It was part of their story now, but it just meant that Mick was still missing the obvious. Len hadn't needed this or anything else to make him do what he'd done, to be ready to step in at the opportune moment. It wasn't about him being a hero. Mick had been a hero to Len from the moment they met.

What had happened on the Waverider had tested them more than anything that had come before, but even with betrayal from both sides, even with broken trust and so much jagged edges causing pain, the bond was still there and they'd been mending. Len knew he wouldn't make it out, because he realised that there was only one reason for why he'd not have gone back to pick up Mick, before they could turn him into Chronos. Since he evidently hadn't, something must have happened. That it was to save Mick? All the better. Fitting end.

Only it wasn't the end. There was 2013 and there was everything in every time and then there was Ramon and that brought awareness again. Exhaustion and sleep finally and when Leonard opened his eyes after all that time and all of time, he barely knew who he was, never mind when he was.

He sat up too quickly, which meant he needed his hands behind him on the bed to brace himself. His eyes looked around wildly, unsure what to expect, because this wasn't it. Finally he noticed Mick and the mix of emotions hit him like a brick. He didn't want to look away from him, unsure what was real.

"Not how I pictured Hell."

At least he could still wisecrack.

No worries, I'm just starting to dig through my inbox

[bringstheheat]

Mick isn't sure how he'll react until Snart finally moves. No one else is at STAR. Well, except for Wells who's likely lurking down in one of Ramon's workshops.

He moves quickly, ready to catch him if he drops back.

A huff and rolled eyes greet his snark. "Asshole. You aren't dead. You're home." He can cover his relief with their usual snarling at one another.

[catchacold]

In all honesty, Leonard's arms might be trembling the tiniest bit, but that just means that he'll ignore that in favour of continuously holding himself up and pretending not to be weak, which is part of his life's philosophy neatly summarised.

"Doubt that. I've never called any place this clean 'home'." He looks around, eyes narrowed, mostly because his vision is still blurry. "I should be dead."

[bringstheheat]

"Central City," he clarifies with a growl. Mick won't support Snart as he sits there, he knows the gesture will only be shaken off or argued with. Let the stubborn bastard fall if that's what he wants.

"Flash and his team helped us pull you out of the time stream about a week ago. We've been here ever since waiting for your ass to wake up." The wear likely shows on the big man, heavy shadows under his eyes and stubble starting to grow in thick. He wouldn't leave Len for long - normally long enough to grab a quick shower and eat whatever food was shoved at him without really tasting it.

"You got lucky."

[catchacold]

Under different circumstances, Leonard might have held himself up in spite of any discomfort, but as it is... This is Mick. This is Mick and supposedly he ought to be dead. There's no need for any show of not being affected and so he does let himself fall back onto the bed, his eyes on the other while his mind not only catches on to Mick's words but also gets a hold of what memories he has. A confusing mess and nothing he can fully grasp at, which he hates. Len's used to remembering things very clearly.

"Not going as planned." But then, when the plan had been dying, he couldn't really complain, could he? "What about the team? Savage?"

[bringstheheat]

Mick snorts. Not going as planned was something of a colossal fucking understatement.

"They're fine. Carter and Kendra took off, rest of us haven't left STAR since we drug your sorry ass back. Savage is dead. Took us splitting into groups to take 'im out." And it had been damned satisfying to beat him half to death before lighting him on fire - all for his partner. For his best friend. The other half of him. The touchstone that Mick had thought he'd lost.

Not that he'll ever say any of that. It wasn't what they did.

"It's done. Over. Well, except for the lack of anyone to manage the timeline now that we blew it all to hell and back."

[catchacold]

A lot of information to take in right out of a coma, but Len has asked for it and he has the brain for it too, even if he has to frown a little while trying to make sense of it all.

"You ask me, the Time Master's haven't been doing the best job of it all anyway." And as he'd made pretty clear, he'd rather have no control at all. He's silent for a while, just looking at Mick and thinking, so many lines of thought to follow up on, mixed in with the sweet temptation of just going back to sleep. Instead he finally speaks up again.

"I figured that's why I never came to pick you up where I left you. Knew I'd not make it." Because he'd have always come for him.