Remember when I said there'd be five chapters. Lol. Finals happened. We're down to four, probably gonna be three. We shall see.

They all agreed later that what happened was Ray's fault, although Nate wasn't exactly blameless either. It had started with Ray wanting to celebrate the holidays on the Waverider.

"C'mon," Ray had said at the latest team meeting, "Rip never let us celebrate, and now that we've got Snart back it'll be even better."

"Rip never let us celebrate the holidays because we never had time," Sara said, "Which is still the case now."

"We're on a timeship!" Nate exclaimed, "We have all the time we need."

"You've been here long enough to know that's not true," she replied, aware that he was no longer listening. Ray was talking again.

"It doesn't have to be a lot," he was saying, "We can just get a tree and Gideon can make us decorations and we can give each other presents and have a big dinner on Christmas day."

"That's not a lot?" Amaya asked with raised eyebrows.

Sara sighed, thinking for a moment. Her gut was telling her to say no, but she knew from past experience that saying no didn't really stop anyone on this team from doing anything. If she said yes, at least they wouldn't go behind her back, possibly damaging the timeline (she was starting to sound like Rip).

"Fine," she gave in.

"Yes!" Nate exclaimed as he gave Ray a high-five.

"On one condition," Sara continued. Both Ray and Nate stilled, nodding seriously, "Neither one of you is going to get the tree."

"Aww," Ray said, looking far too disappointed.

"I'll go, and I'll take…" she paused, looking over the team, "…Mick with me."

She heard a scoff off to the side, just out of her view. She turned to see Leonard leaning against the wall.

"You object?" Sara asked him, eyebrows raised.

"I just think bringing Mick to a field of highly flammable trees might not be a winning idea," he commented.

"So what do you suggest?" she asked, her expression unchanged.

"Fine, whatever, I'll go," he said, straightening and taking a few steps towards her.

"Great," she said stoically, ignoring the quickening pace of her heart.

—

The following day, Leonard and Sara were dropped off in a small Connecticut town with a beat up Sedan and directions to a Christmas tree farm called Silverman's.

"Is this crazy?" Sara asked, her eyes on the road ahead. Before Leonard could respond, she continued, "Am I crazy for letting them do this?"

"I think it's a step in the right direction to not let them get the tree," he replied. Sara tipped her head to the side in agreement.

"I don't think I've celebrated the holidays in, like, ten years," she said, "Not since I first got on the Gambit — whoops."

Sara jerked the wheel to the side, narrowly avoiding clipping a mailbox with the side of the car.

Leonard didn't respond immediately. The last time Sara had talked to him about her past was before the Oculus, which he knew was longer for her than it was for him.

"Yeah," he said, "Been a while for me too. Never really got a chance to feel sentimental about it. Tried to do what I could for Lisa, but when she stopped caring I didn't bother anymore." Then he added, "Are you aware you're driving about twenty miles over the speed limit."

"It's fine. This is Connecticut. Everyone drives like a moron in Connecticut," she shrugged, although Leonard noticed the car slowing down to a more reasonable speed. He heard her sigh.

"What?"

"I don't know why I care so much about having Christmas on the Waverider," Sara shook her head, "It's not like Ray and Nate are gonna hurt anyone just by putting up some decorations on the ship."

"I guess you should be grateful that's all they want," he replied. Sara gave him a confused look, "What?"

"That's very diplomatic of you," she said with raised eyebrows.

"Says the captain of a timeship."

Sara rolled her eyes, then sighed.

"You're right. What's the worst that could happen?"

They found out soon how bad it could get.

—

Sara woke up days later. She looked around, not seeing the soft blue light of the med bay she expected.

"Where am I?" she asked when she saw a figure moving in the periphery of her vision.

"Hey, you're awake!" Ray exclaimed. He went for the door to call for a nurse.

"Where am I?" she asked again. Zari stood from a chair in a corner Sara hadn't noticed before.

"You're at the hospital. Someone called 911 before we could get to you," she explained, "and the ambulance was there not too much later. We didn't have a window to get you out."

"Also, they didn't let us see you if we weren't family," Nate added, "so if anyone asks, you're married to Snart, you and I are siblings, Amaya's my wife, Mick is Snart's brother and Zari is Mick's adopted daughter."

"Okay," Sara replied, not finding the energy to be anything but compliant. She went to push herself into a seated position and winced when a sharp pain shot through her chest and abdomen.

"Careful," Zari said, finding the remote for the hospital bed and pressing down on a button. The hospital bed slowly rose to a more upright position.

"What happened?" Sara asked when she was sitting more comfortably.

"You remember the accident?" Amaya asked, stepping up to the bed.

"I remember…" she hesitated, "driving and then a crash and flashing lights and that's it. Then I woke up."

"You were hit by a drunk driver running a red," Amaya told her.

"T-boned," Nate said, nodding appreciatively, "Classic."

"Well said," Zari shook her head at him, stepping in front of Nate to get closer to Sara's bed, "He hit your side of the car so you got the worst of it."

Sara felt herself tensing as a new wave of panic settled in her chest.

"Where's Snart?" she asked, looking around the room for a figure she might have missed.

"He's fine," Amaya told her, "A little beat up, but fine."

"He and Mick are at a police station giving a statement," Zari added, "Not their choice, but the hospital recommended it and we're trying to seem at least somewhat normal until we can get you out of here."

"And when do you think that will be?" Sara asked.

"We're not sure," Amaya replied, "You just woke up from surgery — two surgeries, actually."

"Surgeries?" she asked, "For what?"

A nurse walked briskly into the room, Ray following close behind her.

"The EMT's saw you had a collapsed lung in the ambulance," she answered, "and while that was being fixed, the surgeons saw some internal bleeding in the abdominal region."

"Oh."

The nurse bustled around Sara for a few minutes, making occasional notes on a purple clipboard.

"How's the pain?" she asked a minute later.

"Not too bad," Sara replied.

"You're a trooper," she said, impressed, "Most people in your position are asking for all the morphine we've got. You're getting some light pain medication through the IV, but if it starts to get bad, press this button," she held up a gray remote with a big green light in the center, "and you'll get a dose of something stronger."

Sara nodded, and a moment later the nurse was gone. The room was silent for a while.

"When are they supposed to get back?" Sara asked after a few minutes.

"Rory and Snart?" Amaya asked. Sara nodded, "Not sure. They only left a half hour ago."

"You're sure he's okay?"

"He's fine," Ray said, looking at Sara seriously, "Promise."

Sara, feeling partially satisfied with the answer she received, began to realize how tired she felt. She let her eyes droop closed.

"We'll let you rest," Amaya said, heading towards the door.

Sara nodded, managing a small smile. The others followed Amaya, and Sara was asleep before the door had closed.

—

"She seems okay," Zari said when they were back in the waiting room.

"Yeah," Amaya nodded.

"Did any of you notice a weird vibe when she mentioned Cold?" Nate asked. Amaya and Zari shrugged and shook their heads. Ray looked determinately in the other direction.

"Ray saw," Zari commented drily.

"Hey!"

"You saw?" Nate exclaimed.

"Yeah," Ray admitted, "Look, Snart and Sara have had this weird bond ever since the first mission. She took all the Oculus stuff and his death really hard, but with her becoming Captain, and also probably not wanting to step on Mick's toes, because obviously he's known him for longer, she didn't get to deal with it like she should have. Maybe the car crash just brought up old memories."

"Shit," Nate said slowly.

"Bond," Zari repeated, "You mean romantic?"

"Not sure," Ray replied, "They did start to seem like a married couple by the end, but as far as I'm aware, nothing ever happened."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Their kids would be gorgeous," Zari said to no one in particular.

—

About an hour later, Mick and Leonard walked into the waiting room.

"Did she wake up?" Leonard asked when he saw the rest of the team.

"Yeah," Ray nodded, "She's sleeping now, but she was up for a few minutes.

"She's —"

"She's okay," Ray cut him off, looking at him with the same serious expression he'd worn when Sara had asked the same question of Leonard.

"She asked about you," Zari told him.

"She did?"

"You should go see her," she said, "She'll probably wake up again soon."

She told him the room number and watched as he headed down the hall.

The hallway was decorated for the holidays. Stickers of wreaths, candy canes, and trees were pressed against the doors, decorating the light wood. Someone had drawn snowflakes and snowmen on the windows with window markers. It all felt too festive for a hospital.

When Leonard arrived at the Sara's room, the door was propped open. A nurse was inside, making notes on a clipboard. She turned when he entered the room.

"Ah, you must be the husband," she said.

Leonard blinked, unable find a reason for what she had just said. He then remembered Nate saying something earlier about making up familial connections so they could get into the hospital.

"Uh, yeah," he finally responded.

"I told her this while she was awake, but she's a real trooper," she said.

"She was awake?" he asked, momentarily forgetting Zari had answered the same question only minutes ago.

"Yes," the nurse — Sandy, a name-tag read — replied, "Just the anesthesia wearing off. She's been through a lot. She'll probably sleep on and off for the next day or so. You don't need to let me know next time she wakes up. I'll be back in a couple hours to check her vitals again."

Leonard nodded, and then the nurse was gone and he was alone with Sara.

Sara was asleep, her head tipped to one side and the hand attached to a heart monitor resting on top of a blue blanket.

Leonard pulled a chair over to the bed and sat. He looked at Sara. She was very pale, making the cuts above her eye and on her cheek even more prominent. Sometime between the ambulance and now, someone had removed all the makeup from her face. Leonard didn't realize Sara wore makeup until its absence, and he had never seen her more beautiful than now.

He thought about the car accident.

They found a tree they both deemed acceptable in about a half hour (another reason for not sending Ray and Nate - it was possible they would have been gone for hours trying to find the perfect Christmas tree). In another fifteen minutes, the tree was fixed to the top of the car and they were heading back to the Waverider.

Leonard had insisted on driving.

"Why does it matter who drives?" Sara had asked as Leonard pulled out of the parking lot.

"You drove here," he replied, "It's only fair."

Sara raised her eyebrows, so he continued.

"Plus if you drove like you did on the way here, we might lose the tree."

"Aw did my driving scare you," Sara smirked.

"Yes," he nodded seriously, "You drive like Lisa did just after she got her license."

"Hey, it's not my fault I haven't really driven a car since I was a teenager."

"I'll bring it up with Oliver next time I see him."

And then the world turned upside down.

Leonard hadn't seen the pickup truck — not that it would have mattered if he did.

He heard a smashing sound and felt himself jolted to the side. Horns started blaring, muted somewhat by a ringing in his ears. He took a moment to assess himself. He felt a dull pain on the side of his head but otherwise he was okay.

He hesitated before looking at Sara. He could already hear her voice in his head.

Maybe you should have let me drive, and she would have that half-smirk on her face, the same one she wore any time something bad happened to her.

Or maybe she'd say something about karma for letting Ray and Nate do this whole Christmas thing.

He turned to look at her and then his heart dropped into his stomach.

Sara was slumped against the passenger-side door. Dark blood trickled out of a cut above her eye. Shattered glass was scattered around her, some small fragments caught in her hair glittering like fresh snow. She was motionless and Leonard was completely frozen.

Sometime later — probably only a minute or two but in the moment, Leonard had no idea — Sara's door opened and a uniformed man was pulling her out of the car.

Then he became aware of sirens and a dozen people speaking over each other and a cacophony of other noise he couldn't identify.

"Len."

Leonard was pulled back to the hospital room by the sound of Sara's voice. He met her eyes, feeling as he did a heaviness settle in his heart.

Neither said anything for a while.

After a minute, Leonard spoke.

"I'm sor—"

Sara stopped him when she dropped her hand to rest on his, shaking her head.

"You don't have to," she said, her voice rough, "It's okay."

"It's not okay," he said, "This wouldn't have happened if—"

"This wouldn't have happened if some idiot didn't get hammered in the middle of the day and then tried to drive," she interrupted him again, "This isn't your fault."

Leonard turned his head away, not able to look at her anymore, not when her eyes were full of such sincerity.

"Hey," Sara said, her voice soft. He felt her hand brush against the side of his face, the cool touch of her fingers coming to rest on his neck and jawline, "You okay?"

She turned his head slightly to better see the cut on the side of his head that had been stitched up the day earlier.

Leonard found himself without words.

"What?" Sara asked, noticing the change in his expression.

He looked to her again, leaning slightly into her hand as he met her eyes.

"How do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"Be so…" he paused, "…you. All the time."

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one who almost died and you're asking me if I'm okay."

"I've seen worse," she told him with a small smile.

"I haven't," he replied, "Not with you."

He saw a twinge of something in Sara's eyes but he wasn't really sure what it was.

"I promise," she told him again, "I'm okay."

He didn't say anything, and Sara could see him inwardly grappling with something. She wasn't surprised. Their conversation had long since drifted into feelings-territory, and Sara knew that Leonard's eloquence and charm rarely made it there with him.

"I should go," he finally said, starting to lift himself out of the chair, "I'll let you—"

Sara caught his wrist and pulled him back. With her other hand, she pushed herself up towards him, her lips capturing his. Sara felt him freeze momentarily, but then the hand not in Sara's grip traveled to the back of her head. Sara felt herself being lowered down to the bed as Leonard deepened the kiss.

A moment later, he felt Sara smile.

"What?" he murmured.

"I think I might enjoy the holidays this year."