Conquering The Demon

Conqueing the demon

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

"Hey, Captain, got a minute? Just wanted to go over the maintenance schedule," Ray Palmer said cheerily, holding a clipboard and a pen.

Sara Lance looked up from her desk. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, maintenance, of course."

"I mean, I just assumed you wanted me to take over from Jax. I... didn't mean to overstep," he said slowly, trying to interpret her foggy gaze.

"No, yes, I mean, Ray, it's fine, thank you. Come in."

Ray began to give his report, but noticed she didn't seem to be focusing. Finally, he stopped.

"Captain, is everything okay? You seem a bit... I dunno. Distracted," he frowned. "Is this a bad time?"

She cringed. "Sorry, I guess maintenance is just one of those things I've never really handled as captain. I really appreciate you taking this on though, I'm sorry to put more responsibility on your shoulders."

"No, it's fine. I mean, it'll be a learning curve, just like it was for Jax at first."

"Yeah, he really stepped up, didn't he?" she smiled with pride.

Ray smiled as well. "He really did. I remember it was hard on him when Rip first disappeared. Even though Rip had been prepping him for it, since he knew he'd be leaving."

"Wait, what? What do you mean, he knew?" Sara demanded.

Ray shrugged. "Before 1942, before we all got time scattered... Rip had told Jax he intended to leave the Waverider. That was why he was training him on maintenance, because he wouldn't always be around."

"I... never knew that," she said, shocked. "I thought he left because I was leading the team and he didn't feel he had a place. I never knew that was his plan all along."

"I'm sure that influenced the timing. But I suspect he'd been thinking about forming the Time Bureau for awhile. You remember how we'd been running ourselves ragged with all the anomalies? We'd been going nonstop for six months. He knew we couldn't keep doing it all ourselves. It was too much. The Time Masters had an entire fleet. We had one ship. I think he always intended to give us the opportunity to go home for good."

He noticed Sara's slight twitch.

"I hope it's an easier transition for you, though," Sara said, recovering quickly.

"It will be. I've been working as backup with Jax for a while now. It won't be difficult."

Sara nodded.

"Sara... how are you doing?" he asked, tentatively.

She shrugged. "I'm fine. I miss Martin, and now we have to learn to live without Jax. But our mission goes on. Martin would want that, and he wanted Jax to live his life."

He nodded. "How about having John Constantine here?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Is he not behaving himself? I told him Gideon would douse him with water if he smoked on board."

"No, John's fine. I just meant, is it bringing up memories you'd rather forget?"

She stared at him coldly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. It's just that... you used to have these confidant-type relationships with other people. Kendra, Rip, Snart, even Marty... and now they're all gone. And I know we've never been especially close, Sara, not as close as you've been with the others, but I... I'm here if you ever want to talk," he said.