Well, this is it. All told, CCR is the longest thing I've ever written. And this post comes one day before the one-year anniversary of the posting of my first CaptainCanary fic-my first fanfiction in more than a decade. It's been amazing, being a part of this fandom, and no matter what happens in the next three episodes of "Legends," I have no regrets.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading. I hope you've enjoyed it! And, as always, many thanks to LarielRomeniel, who's kept me on track from the beginning. :)

...

He's conscious, first, of warmth.

Then, his own breath, deep and uninterrupted.

The steady thud of his heartbeat. The "beep" of medical equipment.

Light, diffused through closed eyelids, but there. The faint scent of disinfectant mixed, oddly, with a whiff of a crisp, light perfume.

He knows that scent.

It takes a Herculean effort to do so, but Leonard Snart opens his eyes. Just a crack, at first, as the light hits him like a physical blow and actually draws a faint, painful grunt from his throat. Then wider.

Again, he wakes in the S.T.A.R. Labs medical facility.

Again, Sara Lance is there.

But this time, she's curled up right next to him, head on his shoulder, arms wrapped around him like she's never going to let go…

And maybe, just maybe, they're going to have a little more time, after all.

His earlier protest has alerted her, and she turns her head so her eyes meet his, slowly, like she's not sure what she's going to see.

The breath she lets out sounds like a prayer. And then, "Len," she whispers. "Welcome back."

"How..." His voice is rough, disused, and the word emerges like a croak. His throat aches.

"You essentially flash-froze yourself, you fool." She takes a deep and ragged breath as her arms tighten around him. "Which is a damn good thing because in the split second before you did it, Zoom slit your throat."

A flash of pain... His left hand goes to his neck before he can stop it, traces the outline of a thick bandage there.

"It's a good thing we had doctors with us there. They thought there was a chance. As soon as we could get close enough, Ray shrank down, used his weapons to essentially carve you out of the... the hunk of ice you'd created, then Barry ran you back to the lab," Sara continues quietly. "You were so cold, your metabolic rate was so slow, that you just... stopped.

"It saved you. Henry and Caitlin worked together to stop you from bleeding out and sewed you up. Then they just had to deal with bringing you back from extreme hypothermia." He feels her reach out to gently brush brush one of his hands, which hes only just realized are also wrapped in soft bandages. "There's a little damage on your fingers and toes, but not as much as you might think."

He's still caught up on her earlier choice of words."Stopped? I died?" He'd been prepared to, but hearing it after the fact...

"Well, welcome to the club." This time the smile is a little more real. "Although Wells says 'you're not dead until you're warm and dead,' which apparently is a medical truism. Zoom might not have agreed."

"What...?"

"Hmm. He, like you, was an ice cube." A shudder runs through her, but she continues. "I suppose we might have been able to thaw him out, too. But Mick got there first." Her lips curve in a smile that betokens no actual humor at all. "So I guess he was ultimately 'warm and dead.' So to speak.

"No one minded. Well, Caitlin and Barry might have liked to get a few extra licks in, but they were too busy saving your life at the time. They're just glad he's gone."

Gone.

It'd worked. Against all odds, it'd worked. "Same," he tells her, pleased that his voice sounds a little less rocky. "Though I wouldn't have minded another crack at him myself."

That earns a snort, but when he shifts to look at her, for the first time, he sees the tears shining in her eyes.

"You ass," Sara whispers, staring at him. "I thought I'd lost you. Don't ever, ever do that again."

"Not planning on it." But she's leaning into him now, and her shoulders are shaking, and all he can do is put his arms around her and hold her, feeling her tears hot on his skin and marveling at the gift of her grief.

For him. The crook. Who would have thought?

Soon, she quiets, and they simply lie there a time, entangled, breathing in each other's presence. He keeps expecting an interruption, but one doesn't come, and the monitors are quiescent.

Eventually, Sara tips her head back and looks at him, and he obediently moves his head to kiss her, a move that, after a moment or two, does draw an indignant "BEEP" from one of the monitors, and they subside.

Sara stretches, then curls into him more, running her fingertips down his arm.

"Henry likened what you've been through to a 'rebirth.' Another thing we have in common." She smiles. "Although, given that you did it to save all our lives, I don't think we have to go looking for your soul."

Rebirth. He stares at her, digesting the word. Second birth. Second chance. Isn't that he's been looking for here, really, all along?

Sara's watching him, and he wonders what she's thinking, lying there next to him with tears still drying on her cheeks. How many second chances can two people get?

There's no way he's wasting this one.

"So," he tells her, using the words he'd been rehearsing in his head for weeks now, "I've been thinking about what the future might hold...

"…for me... and you… and me and you..."

"See? Told you it was only a matter of time."

The look Leonard gives Barry as they stand outside S.T.A.R. Labs is absolutely withering, and the speedster can't restrain a bark of laughter. The crook... former crook... maintains his frown for a moment longer, then shakes his head.

"I prefer 'anti-hero,'" he tells Barry loftily, leaning against his motorcycle. "Has a better ring to it. And I'm not gonna be pulling kittens out of trees anytime soon."

"Not even if Sara asks you to?"

The gesture Leonard makes at him is spoiled just a trifle by the glint of sunlight off the ring on his left hand. Barry just laughs again.

"I can't believe you two eloped," he comments, shaking his head. "Sara's father's going to be..."

"I think that's why she wanted to do it. Less chance of him running me off."

Barry grins at him. "That's not going to happen anyway, is it?"

Leonard just smiles, one of those patented Snark smirks, and shakes his head. He doesn't say anything. He doesn't need to.

When Sara had, well, abruptly popped the question… he can't say he wasn't surprised. Stunned, rather. But... if there's one thing in his life he knows he has to hold onto, it's Sara Lance. And in the end, it's no decision at all.

Thinking about Henry Allen's words, he reaches up and traces the scar on his throat. Second chances.

He has many scars. This one, he's taking as a badge of honor. And a reminder.

Barry's just watching him silently, but there's understanding in the other man's eyes.

"Still," the younger man says lightly, "when you get to Star City, send word if you need backup." A grin. "I wonder how Mayor Queen is going to take you two showing up, with Mick and Ray in tow."

"He'll have to live with it, won't he? But Palmer thinks it's time to go home, with everything that happened there, and I think Mick just wants to be obnoxious."

"Mick? Nahh..." Barry laughs as Leonard gives him a look, then transfers the grin to Sara as she wheels her own bike up alongside Leonard's.

"Hey," he tells her. "Seriously, let us know if there's anything we can do. I know Star City has a lot of cleanup to do right now. After everything you guys have done for Central..."

"Stop it, Allen. I'm getting all misty..."

"Seriously," Barry repeats, and this time the look on his face actually makes Leonard subside. "You...don't think I don't know... I'm not sure how things would have gone, if the two of you hadn't been here, but I'm pretty sure everything would be different." He swallows, looking back at S.T.A.R. Labs. "Thank you."

Leonard seems to be at a loss for words, for once, so Sara answers for them both, gently touching his arm.

"You're welcome," she says quietly. "And thank you. For... everything." A grin, then. "And I'll hold you to that. I think I've talked Jax and Stein into dropping by, and even through Kendra left a few days ago, I think we might see her, too. We make a good team."

"Snart!" Mick is hollering from his own motorcycle,parked at the edge of the lot with a sidecar in which Ray Palmer is perched. Enough jawing! We gonna get this show on the road?"

Leonard and Sara exchange glances that are already so very, well, married, that Barry laughs out loud again, then climb onto their bikes.

"Don't be strangers," the speedster tells them seriously, then grins again. "Do you know what Iris says they're calling you at CCPN? The Legends of Central City."

Leonard snorts as he starts his bike up. "Legends?" he says over the roar of the engine. "Yeah. Right."

And with that, and a wave from Sara, Captain Cold and White Canary peel out of the parking lot, heading for Star City, Sara's family, and a new start. Barry shakes his head, watching them go, and marveling at the strange places life can take us.

"Yeah," he says, grinning after them. "Legends."

The man in the shadows watches Barry wave goodbye to the crook and the assassin before he turns to head back into S.T.A.R. Labs, breathing a visible sigh of relief as the speedster does so.

The timeline's as safe as it can be. And while he has better things to do than babysit Barry Allen, it now looks safe for the foreseeable future. Err, in a manner of speaking.

"Well," he says after a moment. "That did work out, after all, didn't it? Much better this time around, although certain things didn't go quite the way I expected."

The voice that answers him isn't audible to anyone else, but the words draw a smile.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you did see that coming, Gideon. Now... how are Miranda and Jonas doing?" He listens to the reply over his earpiece with an even broader smile. It's an expression that looks oddly natural on his face, and that may be the single biggest change from earlier incarnations of this man.

"Excellent. I'm on my way back now." Rip Hunter takes one last look around and nods to himself.

"Time is as it should be."

...

What? You know I like my happy endings!

The words I put in Wells' mouth are true, lifted right from an article about how quickly chilling trauma patients can buy more time. (So is the "rebirth" comment I gave to Henry.) And while I daresay suspension by cold gun isn't recommended, well, I claim it under comic book/TV show rules. ;)

I have a few sequels in mind, including the story of what happened immediately after the end of Chapter 15, the proposal, the story of Sara and Len in Star City (tentatively titled "Star City Honeymoon"), the legendary Never Have I Ever game, and what happens if Rip ever does recruit this new version of the Legends for something. So many ideas...

Thank you, yet again, for reading.