The first time he came back to the world, it felt like he was swimming upward through a deep pool of water to reach the surface's vivid light. The pull of the waves provided a bit of resistance, but a little effort combined with the natural buoyancy of his body propelled him toward the growing brightness.

It hadn't been completely dark, wherever he'd been. That had surprised him. When he'd gotten there, he had remembered the feeling of adrenaline coursing through his body as he knocked Mick out to take his place at the Oculus device. There was the feeling of immense relief when Sara had – astoundingly – listened to him and gotten herself and Mick to safety. Then he had felt a small but unaccustomed sense of pride that he had saved Mick – and possibly the world.

And there had been a great deal of satisfaction, when Sara had freely given him a kiss that he didn't have to steal.

He had met the Time Bastard's eyes, quoted Pinocchio, and when the Oculus device blew, he had felt peace.

No, it wasn't completely dark. He felt like his eyes were closed, yet he could still see light beyond them. He felt like he was floating, but with no concept of for how long.

He was floating and then there was all at once a tug and then he swam upwards and opened his eyes to the daylight.

And found himself staring at a grave.

Leonard's eyes widened in horror. He looked down at the dirt that had been freshly turned over and mounded up in front of a gleaming marble marker. Good God, he had died hadn't he? And this was to be his eternal punishment, his penance for a life of crime and villainy. He was a ghost, a spirit, condemned to walk the earth in non-corporeal form for all of time.

With reluctance, his forced his gaze up to read the words on his gravestone, and read, 'Betty.' Betty. Betty somebody, who had left this realm at the ripe old age of 86. A breath shuddered out of Leonard with relief.

A breath. He was breathing. And he could feel. His legs, in fact, felt a bit unsteady just then.

So where was he? When was he?

He took another look at Betty Somebody's headstone. The date of her death read 2016 and the grave was obviously fresh. So, he was back in what he still thought of as the present, despite his months of travelling with the team on the Waverider.

Just to confirm, he took a better look around at his surroundings. He was in a cemetery. There were some cars visible, parked on a roadway beyond the line of graves, which looked appropriate to his former current-day, or whatever the hell he was supposed to call his time. A man and a woman stood at a graveside a few rows away. Their clothes looked about right for the time period. Up in the sky there was…

Leonard's gaze snapped back to the people at the grave.

The woman was Sara.

She stood with her head bowed, occasionally wiping at tears that were sliding down her cheeks. Leonard recognized the older man who stood beside her as her father, Quentin Lance, whom Leonard had met once when Quentin was younger, though the older man wouldn't remember.

Whose grave was she crying over? Could it be…his? His heart was hammering in his chest, which seemed to indicate otherwise, but maybe that was part of eternal damnation, to be always thinking you were alive, when in fact you weren't.

There was one way to find out. Leonard started closing the distance between them with quick strides.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still as he moved toward her, getting closer and closer until he was almost near enough to reach out and touch her. Sara, who had kissed him of her own free will, kissed him with a restrained but noticeable passion when she had kissed him goodbye. Now he was here, with her.

He would spend his life seeking redemption if fate granted him that life to live. If he wasn't just a ghost.

"Sara," he said, and she raised her eyes to look up at him.

A gasp escaped her lips. "Leonard?" The look of utter shock and confusion on her face told him that seeing him again was the last thing she had ever expected.

But she did see him. Hear him.

He reached out his hand. Her hand came forward.

She touched him. He felt her fingers brush against his before he crumpled to the ground.

This time everything went black.

"Leonard!" Sara cried out his name and dropped to her knees beside his prone form.

Her hands fluttered helplessly over his motionless body before she put them down upon him to touch him. She ran a hand over his face and felt the warmth of his skin and the bristle of his cheek where he needed a shave. She felt the soft rush of air escape his lips as he breathed. Breathed!

"Come back, do you hear me?" she said, a hint of a threat in her tone. "You're not leaving us again!" She laid a hand on his chest to feel the steady rise and fall of his breath.

"Sara, what the hell?" Quentin said. "Do you know who that is? Leonard Snart?"

"Of course I know who he is!" Sara snapped at her father.

Quentin knelt down beside her. "He has enough warrants out for his arrest to fill a book. A big book!"

Sara looked at him with defiance and determination in her eyes. "I'm sure it's an interesting read. But Dad, he saved us. He saved us all." Her look softened. "He saved me, in ways you'll never know."

Father and daughter locked gazes and silently matched wills before Quentin shook his head. "Fine, honey." He reached out to feel the pulse at Leonard's neck. "I think he just passed out."

This time when he came to, it was more like waking up. Darkness, nothingness, and then he opened his eyes to Sara's beautiful face looking down at him.

"I'm not dead?"

"You're not dead," Sara said, her worried look evaporating with a tremulous smile.

"Care to prove it?" he said, imbuing his tone with a hint of a challenge.

Sara's grin widened. "You bet."

She kissed him like there was no tomorrow. Made him believe that there would be one.

He gathered her close to him, uncaring that they were lying on the grass, past considering that they had an audience until the loud clearing of a throat sounded from above them.

Sara pulled away and he reluctantly let her go. She sat up, but he kept a hand resting loosely on her while she likewise laid her hand back against his chest. Over his heart. It was as though they were afraid to break contact and lose each other again.

"Can you give us a minute, Dad?"

Quentin scowled down at Leonard but then looked at Sara and his gaze softened. He gave a quick, sharp nod. "Fine. I'll meet you at the car." He turned and left.

Leonard sat up so that his face was on level with Sara's. She reached out to gently run her hand over his cheek.

"We thought you were gone," she said softly. "I thought…"

"I'm here," he said.

Sara shook her head in bewilderment. "How?"

"I don't know. I guess I wasn't ready to miss out on all the fun."

Sara slipped her hand around his neck and pulled him forward for a lingering kiss. He went willingly.

They broke apart again, mindful that Quentin's patience probably wasn't infinite, especially when he'd left his daughter alone with a notorious criminal.

There was something Leonard still needed to know. "Sara. Whose grave is it?"

Her face immediately crumpled into a look of such abject sorrow that Leonard felt a sharp twist to his own heart. He wanted to gather her back into his arms, but first he had to hear her answer.

"My sister," she said quietly. "Laurel."

"Sara, I'm so sorry." This time, he reached his hand out to her, to tenderly wipe away a tear that had escaped her eye and was coursing down her cheek.

"I'm dealing with it," she said. "I tried to go back, to change things, but Rip…" Instead of continuing she just shook her head.

"But you're here now." Sara straightened her shoulders and met his gaze. "I thought you were gone and then I found out I'd lost Laurel and I honestly didn't know how much more I could take. I didn't want to use the anger as my refuge. That's not me anymore."

She took his hand from where it still rested against her face, wrapped her fingers around it and brought it to her lips to kiss his palm.

"You're here now," she said, again. "And that gives me hope for the future."

He reached out to pull her closer but his hand…his arm…they were fading. He was disappearing.

Sara screamed. "Leonard! No. NO!"

The waves took him under.