Who: Sara Lance and Leon Orcot, with NPC!Olivia What: Leon comes to tell Sara the news When: Nowish Where: The Lance house Ratings/Warnings: Low, talk about a shooting, munsterbation Status: Complete
“Now I know my ABCs, next time won’t you sing with me.” Sara sang slowly, so that her niece could more accurately shadow her, and once Olivia sang the final note, Sara clapped. “That was great,” she said. “I think that means that now it’s time for colouring.”
“Yay!” Olivia exclaimed, and Sara got up from where she was sitting, cross-legged on the living room floor, so that she could go get the crayons and the colouring books. She’d gotten off early from her barista job, and still had a few more hours to go before she had to go to the Double Tap for her night job, so she had the afternoon to spend with Olivia. Well, and to wait for Laurel to get home. Sara glanced briefly at the clock as she grabbed the colouring books and crayons. Laurel probably should have been home by now, but Sara wasn’t too worried. Laurel often got caught up at work a little late; it was something both of them had grown used to when their father had been a cop.
Sara had just sat down with the colouring books when the doorbell rang. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and Laurel hadn’t told her that she was expecting a delivery or anything. “I wonder who that could be,” she said to Olivia, booping her on the nose.
The last person Sara had expected to see standing on the other side of the door was Leon, dressed uncharacteristically in a pair of slacks and a white button-down shirt instead of his usual jeans and goofy t-shirts and looking worn. He looked more depressed than Sara could remember ever seeing him, and he stomach plummeted to her feet. Almost hopefully, she looked to either side of him as if Laurel was hiding back there, waiting to jump out and yell ‘surprise.’
“She’s going to be okay,” Leon said hurriedly, bringing Sara’s attention back to him.
“Is it mommy?” Olivia asked from beside Sara. She hadn’t even heard the kid walk up, and she stared down at her for a moment before remembering to paste a smile back on her face.
“No, this is mommy’s work friend,” Sara said with false levity, squatting down so that she was eye level with the little girl. “I need to talk to him for a couple minutes. Why don’t you go and colour something you can surprise her with when she gets home?”
She watched the toddler toddle back to the living room, and then stepped out onto the doorstop, closing the door behind her.
“I’m pretty sure she will be, anyway,” Leon said once they heard the latch click. “The doctor’s didn’t try to prepare me for the worst once she was in surgery, so that’s normally a pretty good sign.”
“What happened?” Sara demanded. As grateful as she was for Leon softening the blow with that news, Sara needed him to cut to the chase.
“Laurel’s been shot,” Leon said, and Sara felt the ground fall out from under her feet again. She’s going to be okay, she had to remind herself. “There was a bank robbery, and we had the guy cornered. I -” Leon started, and then stopped himself. He took a breath. “The suspect shot at her, but the ambulance was fine. She lost some blood and is going to be off her feet for a while… I don’t know much more than that. About her condition, I mean. I left the hospital before she was out of surgery.”
Sara’s fists balled up firsts at her side. “And what happened to the guy who shot her?” she demanded. If he was sitting pretty somewhere in a cell, she’d break into the prison and kill him herself.
“He’s dead,” Leon said shortly, leaving no room for her to ask anymore questions, and leaving Sara feeling both viciously happy that he was dead and a little disappointed that she hadn’t been the one to do it.
“I can give you a ride to the hospital,” Leon suggested. “You don’t have a car, right?”
Sara nodded. Even if she did have a car, she wasn’t sure if she’d be safe to drive to the hospital anyway. “I need to…” Sara said, and gestured at the door. “Olivia.”
“I’ll wait in the car,” Leon said, giving a bit of a nod to the old, white Corolla that was parked out front, and then without another word turned and made his way to the car. Sara stood on the doorstep a little longer, not sure what she was supposed to do. Was she supposed to tell Olivia everything and then bring her along to the hospital to see her mom laid out on a hospital bed? Should she lie to her?
She took a deep breath. What she needed to do was call Oliver, tell him everything, and then let him decide what to do about Olivia. It was the last thing she wanted to do - she’d done a very good job of avoiding him for the last half year, but … this was more important than any embarrassment she might have felt.
She pulled out her phone, took another deep breath, and then dialed his number.