I meant to post this ages ago, back when this AU was still relevant, but I forgot (big surprise) until now. Better late than never I guess?

"Just don't sit me at the singles table at the reception."

Captain Cold's words sounded joking at first, but it didn't take long for Barry to remember an encounter he'd had with the man weeks before.

It had been on his voyage to the year 2024. He'd stopped in a grocery store to pick up some food for the next few days. He had turned down the cereal aisle when he saw a familiar figure standing in front of a half-filled cart.

"Snart," he called, walking towards him.

"Look who it is," Leonard said, turning to face him, "Welcome back to humanity, Allen. I was starting to think you'd actually died in that vault. You're not dead, are you Barry?"

"No, I'm not dead," Barry replied, ignoring his sarcastic tone. But you are. That's what he wanted to say, because as far as he knew, the Captain Cold from his present time had died, sacrificing himself to save his team and the entire world.

But here he was.

Barry shook his head to clear away the many questions he had.

"I mean, I'm not him. He's still in the time vault. I'm from 2017."

"Ah, time travel. Been there, done that," Leonard said, "I thought you weren't supposed to do that anymore."

"Rules were meant to be broken," he replied, "I'm sure you'd agree."

But Leonard was distracted, and had turned to face his grocery cart. Barry heard Leonard's low voice and thought he was talking on the phone until he turned and lifted a little girl out of the grocery cart, holding her in his arms. Barry took a step back, feeling surprise etch itself across his face.

"Rory," Leonard said, "This is Barry. You'd have met him sooner if he wasn't hiding from all his problems. Barry, this is my daughter Rory. She's three."

Rory turned and whispered into her father's ear. He nodded.

"Three and three quarters," he corrected himself.

Barry didn't say anything for a moment. Of all the things he'd seen in the future, somehow the fact that Captain Cold had a kid — a daughter, with big blue eyes and blonde hair — was the most surprising.

"Uh, hi," Barry said. Rory waved at him, "What's happening right now?"

"What do you think's happening, Barry?" Leonard asked, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"But—how…you—but—" he stammered.

"Use your words, Allen."

"This can't be happening," he finally got out, "In my time, you-you're time traveling."

He couldn't tell him the truth, especially not in front of his daughter — his daughter; it was weird to hear those words run through his thoughts. Besides, maybe, somewhere down the line, the timeline changed and Leonard never died. Barry didn't want to tell Snart something he didn't need to know.

"But how?"

"Maybe if you weren't living under a rock all these years, you would know."

Leonard turned to sit Rory back in the grocery cart and started to walk away.

He turned and called over his shoulder, "Guess you gotta reason to stick around a little longer in your present time. Don't want to miss stuff, do you?"

He certainly didn't.

Months later, when Iris had been saved and Savitar defeated once and for all, Leonard walked into the reception hall of Barry and Iris' wedding with Sara Lance, the gorgeous, badass assassin who'd accompanied him on the Waverider, on his arm. With a smile, Barry recalled where their future would be taking the seemingly unlikely pair, and he knew in that moment that he'd be there every step of the way — even if Leonard didn't want him to be.

I hope you enjoyed!