Fic: We've Met Before (On Opposite Sides Of A Phony Cold Gun) Chapter 2
TITLE: We’ve Met Before (On Opposite Sides Of A Phony Cold Gun)
FANDOM: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Flash
CHARACTERS: Felicity Smoak, Quentin Lance, Cisco Ramon, Leonard Snart
SPOILERS: Canon compliant through the 2016 season finales for “Arrow” and Legends of Tomorrow.” Divergent from the season finale of “The Flash.”
Chapter summart: Leonard and Felicity have a heart to heart. (And yes, Leonard does have one, no matter what Mick says.)
(So does Mick, and he gets an honorable mention here.)
This chapter was harder to write than I expected. This story really was supposed to just be some Quentin/Leonard interaction, but Felicity really wanted to get in on the act.
Thanks to Jael for the beta, which helped turn this in the right direction.
Link to Chapter 1
“So, how did you figure out it was a phony Cold Gun?”
Snart looked down at Felicity from his perch on the ladder. “I saw Cisco drag it out to clean up a mess in the lab,” he answered with a smirk. “But I have to give all of you credit. You sold it well that night.”
He finished tightening the bolts for the laser projector he was installing on the ceiling near the display cases and climbed down the ladder. “If I ever need help running a con, I know who to call,” he told her, still smirking.
Was that his idea of a compliment? Felicity gave him a wary look as she leaned back against Quentin’s desk. “I’m not sure whether you’re joking,” she said. “But you’d better not let Quentin hear you say anything like that.”
Snart chuckled as he knelt to put his tools away in the case on the floor. “Point taken. And for the record, that was a joke.” He closed the case and stood again. “I was onto you three the minute I saw those flashing lights.”
“So much for my future career in crime!” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
That got another chuckle from him as he walked alongside the display cases, inspecting his work along the ceiling. He stopped in front of Oliver’s suit. “I don’t think your fiancé the Green Arrow, AKA Oliver Queen, would approve of you becoming a grifter,” he said.
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. “How did you know…?”
He turned back to her. “We met Oliver in the future.”
Right. Time travel. “You mean past you met future him? Or will meet him?”
His smirk was back as he walked around the railing and stepped up onto the platform. “Careful. Thinking too hard when you talk about time travel can break your brain, and I don’t think your fiancé would like that either.”
Felicity frowned. “I guess they didn’t tell you. He’s not my fiancé any more.”
His expression turned serious. “They didn’t. Uh… Sorry.” He tilted his head curiously. “So why are you still here?”
“It’s… complicated,” Felicity answered. “We still have important work to do.”
He leaned against her desk and held her eyes, studying her, giving her the uncomfortable impression he didn’t quite believe her. Finally, to distract him, she said, “So, what about your career in crime?”
One side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “Barry and I made a deal. I behave myself and help them, and the S.T.A.R. Labs team keeps an eye out for the Waverider… our ship… without sending me back to Iron Heights or putting me in one of their metahuman cages in the particle accelerator.” He shrugged. “I may not be comfortable wearing the white hat, but I’m doing what I have to so I can get back where I belong.”
His gaze moved past her, caught by something just to her left. She glanced that direction to see what Quentin kept there: a pair of framed photos of Laurel and Sara in happier days. She smiled sadly at the picture of Laurel, but the smile faded when she looked back at Snart.
There was no trace of his habitual smirk, and the usual hard set of his blue-green eyes had melted away, replaced by want and sorrow.
She knew that look. It had been in Oliver’s eyes when she returned his mother’s ring.
And Quentin had said Sara was torn apart because she thought this man was dead.
Quietly, she asked, “And you belong with Sara, don’t you?”
He blinked quickly a couple of times, as if blinking something away, before looking back at her. “I don’t know if I have a right to say that,” he answered, that rough tone back in his voice. “We weren’t…” He paused, as if uncertain what to say, then took a breath to try again. “I never…” His voice trailed off again, and his gaze dropped back to the photo.
She pushed away from the desk and took a step closer to him, not quite enough to intrude into his personal space, but close enough that she could keep her voice soft. “You weren’t, and you never, but it was what you wanted, wasn’t it?” she asked him.
“What I wanted…” he whispered, still looking at the photo. A few more rapid blinks, and he looked back at her, guardedly. Finally, he said, “Felicity, touchy-feely isn’t something I do. I learned not to trust people before you or Sara were even born.”
“That’s a lonely way to live,” Felicity observed.
“Survival is a lonely business,” he replied, his face closing up again. “And survival was what I was all about.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Sara apparently thinks you died to save your team. So what happened to the survivor?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he looked away from her, back at Sara’s picture, and swallowed hard.
She moved just a tiny bit closer, her voice becoming even more quiet. “Barry thinks there’s good in you. He says even as a criminal, you had a code.”
He looked back at her and huffed out a little laugh. “Right, to never abandon one of my crew. But don’t go thinking it was because I cared about anything but protecting my back. Even with Mick, my oldest friend, I broke the code more than once, just to save my own skin.”
“Until you didn’t,” she pressed.
He drew in a breath and released it in a sigh. “Until I didn’t,” he admitted. “Until the Oculus. Mick would have died there for me, for Sara, for all of us, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“You were willing to die for them instead,” Felicity said. She reached out and gently laid a hand on his arm, feeling the muscles tense briefly at the contact before relaxing. “Sounds like a guy in a white hat to me.” Then she laughed, just a little. “Or maybe a guy in a green hood.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re seriously comparing me to the Green Arrow?”
“Actually, to Oliver Queen,” she corrected. “You two have more in common than you might think.” She raised her hand to start ticking off points of similarity. “Trust issues, crossing the line for what you care about, even a bit of self-sacrifice. And your love for Sara Lance.”
His breath caught a little at that. He looked back toward Sara’s picture. For a man who said he “didn’t do touchy-feely,” he certainly wore his heart on his sleeve. She laid her hand back on that sleeve and gave his arm a little squeeze. “I can tell. Even if you weren’t. Even if you never.”
He took in another deep breath and let it out. “I tried, you know. To tell her. Just before the Oculus, I told her I’d been thinking about what the future held for me and her.”
Felicity cocked her head at him. “And what happened?”
He laughed bitterly. “She was still pissed at me because I’d pulled the Cold Gun on her a few hours before.”
Felicity’s eyes widened in shock at that. He put his hands up and said, “I was in survival mode. I was a jerk. But I’d never, never have hurt her.” Another chuckle as he dropped his hands. “Hell, she could have broken both my arms before I could pull the trigger anyway. But… I’d seriously pissed her off, and she just told me if I wanted to steal a kiss I’d better be one hell of a thief.”
Felicity grinned. “Knowing Sara, that sounds like a challenge.”
That prompted a brief but genuine smile. “Probably. But I never got the chance to take her up on it.” The smile faded. “Before I knew it, I was elbow-deep in the Oculus and she was kissing me goodbye.”
He moved to the desk and picked up the photo, gently touching the image of Sara’s face. “At least I got that much. I thought I was going to die happy, sticking it to the Time Bastards with her kiss on my lips.”
“But instead…”
“Instead, I wound up in S.T.A.R. Labs.” He put the photo back in place. “And now I’m just marking time until the Waverider comes back.”
Felicity sighed. “I’m so sorry, Leonard, for everything that happened to you,” she said. “For a guy who doesn’t do feelings, you certainly know how to tug at someone’s heartstrings.”
Another bitter laugh. “The idea of someone pulling strings is what got me into this mess in the first place.”
“Sounds like that’s part of the long story you promised Quentin,” Felicity said, and as if on cue, she heard the outer door opening to let Quentin and Cisco back in. They must have finished with the outside wiring. She leaned closer to Leonard and said in a whisper, “When you tell it… don’t mention pulling the Cold Gun on Sara, okay?”
He smirked a little and nodded, and she blew out a sigh of relief. One thing Felicity had learned over the past few years: Sometimes you had to keep a secret.
FANDOM: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Arrow, Flash
CHARACTERS: Felicity Smoak, Quentin Lance, Cisco Ramon, Leonard Snart
SPOILERS: Canon compliant through the 2016 season finales for “Arrow” and Legends of Tomorrow.” Divergent from the season finale of “The Flash.”
Chapter summart: Leonard and Felicity have a heart to heart. (And yes, Leonard does have one, no matter what Mick says.)
(So does Mick, and he gets an honorable mention here.)
This chapter was harder to write than I expected. This story really was supposed to just be some Quentin/Leonard interaction, but Felicity really wanted to get in on the act.
Thanks to Jael for the beta, which helped turn this in the right direction.
Link to Chapter 1
“So, how did you figure out it was a phony Cold Gun?”
Snart looked down at Felicity from his perch on the ladder. “I saw Cisco drag it out to clean up a mess in the lab,” he answered with a smirk. “But I have to give all of you credit. You sold it well that night.”
He finished tightening the bolts for the laser projector he was installing on the ceiling near the display cases and climbed down the ladder. “If I ever need help running a con, I know who to call,” he told her, still smirking.
Was that his idea of a compliment? Felicity gave him a wary look as she leaned back against Quentin’s desk. “I’m not sure whether you’re joking,” she said. “But you’d better not let Quentin hear you say anything like that.”
Snart chuckled as he knelt to put his tools away in the case on the floor. “Point taken. And for the record, that was a joke.” He closed the case and stood again. “I was onto you three the minute I saw those flashing lights.”
“So much for my future career in crime!” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
That got another chuckle from him as he walked alongside the display cases, inspecting his work along the ceiling. He stopped in front of Oliver’s suit. “I don’t think your fiancé the Green Arrow, AKA Oliver Queen, would approve of you becoming a grifter,” he said.
Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. “How did you know…?”
He turned back to her. “We met Oliver in the future.”
Right. Time travel. “You mean past you met future him? Or will meet him?”
His smirk was back as he walked around the railing and stepped up onto the platform. “Careful. Thinking too hard when you talk about time travel can break your brain, and I don’t think your fiancé would like that either.”
Felicity frowned. “I guess they didn’t tell you. He’s not my fiancé any more.”
His expression turned serious. “They didn’t. Uh… Sorry.” He tilted his head curiously. “So why are you still here?”
“It’s… complicated,” Felicity answered. “We still have important work to do.”
He leaned against her desk and held her eyes, studying her, giving her the uncomfortable impression he didn’t quite believe her. Finally, to distract him, she said, “So, what about your career in crime?”
One side of his mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “Barry and I made a deal. I behave myself and help them, and the S.T.A.R. Labs team keeps an eye out for the Waverider… our ship… without sending me back to Iron Heights or putting me in one of their metahuman cages in the particle accelerator.” He shrugged. “I may not be comfortable wearing the white hat, but I’m doing what I have to so I can get back where I belong.”
His gaze moved past her, caught by something just to her left. She glanced that direction to see what Quentin kept there: a pair of framed photos of Laurel and Sara in happier days. She smiled sadly at the picture of Laurel, but the smile faded when she looked back at Snart.
There was no trace of his habitual smirk, and the usual hard set of his blue-green eyes had melted away, replaced by want and sorrow.
She knew that look. It had been in Oliver’s eyes when she returned his mother’s ring.
And Quentin had said Sara was torn apart because she thought this man was dead.
Quietly, she asked, “And you belong with Sara, don’t you?”
He blinked quickly a couple of times, as if blinking something away, before looking back at her. “I don’t know if I have a right to say that,” he answered, that rough tone back in his voice. “We weren’t…” He paused, as if uncertain what to say, then took a breath to try again. “I never…” His voice trailed off again, and his gaze dropped back to the photo.
She pushed away from the desk and took a step closer to him, not quite enough to intrude into his personal space, but close enough that she could keep her voice soft. “You weren’t, and you never, but it was what you wanted, wasn’t it?” she asked him.
“What I wanted…” he whispered, still looking at the photo. A few more rapid blinks, and he looked back at her, guardedly. Finally, he said, “Felicity, touchy-feely isn’t something I do. I learned not to trust people before you or Sara were even born.”
“That’s a lonely way to live,” Felicity observed.
“Survival is a lonely business,” he replied, his face closing up again. “And survival was what I was all about.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Sara apparently thinks you died to save your team. So what happened to the survivor?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he looked away from her, back at Sara’s picture, and swallowed hard.
She moved just a tiny bit closer, her voice becoming even more quiet. “Barry thinks there’s good in you. He says even as a criminal, you had a code.”
He looked back at her and huffed out a little laugh. “Right, to never abandon one of my crew. But don’t go thinking it was because I cared about anything but protecting my back. Even with Mick, my oldest friend, I broke the code more than once, just to save my own skin.”
“Until you didn’t,” she pressed.
He drew in a breath and released it in a sigh. “Until I didn’t,” he admitted. “Until the Oculus. Mick would have died there for me, for Sara, for all of us, but I wouldn’t let him.”
“You were willing to die for them instead,” Felicity said. She reached out and gently laid a hand on his arm, feeling the muscles tense briefly at the contact before relaxing. “Sounds like a guy in a white hat to me.” Then she laughed, just a little. “Or maybe a guy in a green hood.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re seriously comparing me to the Green Arrow?”
“Actually, to Oliver Queen,” she corrected. “You two have more in common than you might think.” She raised her hand to start ticking off points of similarity. “Trust issues, crossing the line for what you care about, even a bit of self-sacrifice. And your love for Sara Lance.”
His breath caught a little at that. He looked back toward Sara’s picture. For a man who said he “didn’t do touchy-feely,” he certainly wore his heart on his sleeve. She laid her hand back on that sleeve and gave his arm a little squeeze. “I can tell. Even if you weren’t. Even if you never.”
He took in another deep breath and let it out. “I tried, you know. To tell her. Just before the Oculus, I told her I’d been thinking about what the future held for me and her.”
Felicity cocked her head at him. “And what happened?”
He laughed bitterly. “She was still pissed at me because I’d pulled the Cold Gun on her a few hours before.”
Felicity’s eyes widened in shock at that. He put his hands up and said, “I was in survival mode. I was a jerk. But I’d never, never have hurt her.” Another chuckle as he dropped his hands. “Hell, she could have broken both my arms before I could pull the trigger anyway. But… I’d seriously pissed her off, and she just told me if I wanted to steal a kiss I’d better be one hell of a thief.”
Felicity grinned. “Knowing Sara, that sounds like a challenge.”
That prompted a brief but genuine smile. “Probably. But I never got the chance to take her up on it.” The smile faded. “Before I knew it, I was elbow-deep in the Oculus and she was kissing me goodbye.”
He moved to the desk and picked up the photo, gently touching the image of Sara’s face. “At least I got that much. I thought I was going to die happy, sticking it to the Time Bastards with her kiss on my lips.”
“But instead…”
“Instead, I wound up in S.T.A.R. Labs.” He put the photo back in place. “And now I’m just marking time until the Waverider comes back.”
Felicity sighed. “I’m so sorry, Leonard, for everything that happened to you,” she said. “For a guy who doesn’t do feelings, you certainly know how to tug at someone’s heartstrings.”
Another bitter laugh. “The idea of someone pulling strings is what got me into this mess in the first place.”
“Sounds like that’s part of the long story you promised Quentin,” Felicity said, and as if on cue, she heard the outer door opening to let Quentin and Cisco back in. They must have finished with the outside wiring. She leaned closer to Leonard and said in a whisper, “When you tell it… don’t mention pulling the Cold Gun on Sara, okay?”
He smirked a little and nodded, and she blew out a sigh of relief. One thing Felicity had learned over the past few years: Sometimes you had to keep a secret.