Quite a bit of original content in this one! There's the Jax and Stein conversation plus the Alex and Sara one, but there are a few more interactions, because if they're talking, why is no one else? So I made them talk.

So Sara gives a good pep talk, settles things with someone, and Thea is a good sister, but we all knew that, didn't we?.

Enjoy!

***

Jax walked around the Freedom Fighters base, looking for anything that could help them escape, when he heard a voice he really didn't want to hear behind him. "You know, I'm getting the feeling you don't like me very much."

Jax groaned, closing his eyes. He didn't need this right now. "Oh, go away."

"Oh, now I definitely know you don't like me," Malcolm quipped, though he did keep his distance, even as he followed Jax around. "I'd even say you're avoiding me. Is this because of the whole supervillain thing?"

"Yeah, maybe it is," Jax kept his back to the man.

"Hmm. I'd believe that . . . if you didn't seem at ease with Slade and Laurel. So I don't think it's the supervillain thing."

"Do you ever shut up?" Jax finally glared at him.

"If I need to," Malcolm quipped. "But considering we could be attempting a suicide run on a gateway to get back to my little sister, I'd like to know why you avoid so much as even looking at me."

Jax scoffed, turning back around. "I don't have time for this."

"Really? Because we're not going anywhere. And since I've never even met you before – "

"That's because you don't remember!" Jax burst out angrily, spinning around. "That's the problem!"

"I don't remember?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "I think I would."

"Because Sara wiped your mind afterwards," Jax scowled, folding his arms.

"Of course she did," Malcolm sighed. "Great. What did I do? I assume something dangerous to the timeline or whatever."

"You want to know what you did?" Jax narrowed his eyes. "Fine. You were recruited by Eobard Thawne and Damien Darhk to find a spear that could rewrite reality. And you guys succeeded, after you found a version of Leonard Snart before he died." Malcolm blinked, opening his mouth, but Jax plowed on. "You rewrote reality and turned all of us into your . . . minions, is the only word I can describe it. And the only reason I'm standing here right now is because the Legends that survived that future came back to the current team to try and stop it from happening. You know who wasn't with them? Amaya, Ray . . . and Grey."

Malcolm swallowed. "Jax – "

"You, Darhk, and Snart showed up to fight us," Jax continued. "And you know what you did? Shot Grey and I out of the sky, and you were about to kill him when the other version of me jumped in front of Grey. You killed him." Malcolm blanched, and Jax shook his head. "So excuse me for not wanting to trust the man who tried to kill Grey."

Jax guessed he had the rare pleasure at seeing Malcolm speechless as the assassin tried to come up with something to say. Malcolm finally swallowed and managed to speak again. "Do you know when exactly this was?"

Jax thought, then shook his head. "Your hand was cut off by then, I know that."

Malcolm closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, pacing. "After Oliver beat me, then." He scoffed softly. "And before Lian Yu." He turned around. "Jax, I don't know how I can apologize if I can't remember – "

"I probably wouldn't be able to accept it now, anyway," Jax retorted.

Malcolm flinched slightly. "But that's not who I am now."

"Yeah, you and the others keep saying that," Jax huffed. "And maybe Sara's come around to Slade. Maybe she'll come around to you. It'll take more than talking the talk to get me to believe that."

"Then here's what I'm going to do," Malcolm turned to him. "You want me to prove I've changed? I will. You better get used to having me at your back, Jax."

"What?" Jax snorted. "You killed me and nearly killed Grey, now you're gonna make sure we don't get killed?"

"Got a problem with that?" Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "Unless you have a better idea."

When Jax didn't say anything, Malcolm held out his hands in a helpless gesture before walking off. Jax sighed and turned back around, only to hear Stein's voice behind him. "Perhaps a . . . hopefully lighter conversation, Jefferson?"

Jax closed his eyes. Of course Grey would find him, too. "Uh, Grey, I'm busy, man."

"Yes, I can see that," Stein walked quickly to walk alongside him. "But I was hoping you might take a moment away from your . . . heavy . . . discussion with Malcolm Merlyn and your ruminations on dystopian alternative history to accept my apology. I may be a learned man, but I am not always an astute one. I think I was just so thrilled with the reality of my imminent departure that I neglected to consider your feelings."

"Look, man," Jax turned to him. "I'm not trying to take you away from your family or nothing – "

"You are my family!" Stein cut into him, turning to him as well, looking surprised Jax hadn't included himself. Jax blinked, then looked down, a small smile on his face as Stein looked long and hard at him. "Long before I unexpectedly found myself with a daughter, I found myself unexpectedly with a son."

"Yeah, I know," Jax nodded. "I just – "

"You know?" Stein repeated, raising an eyebrow. "You know, do you? Look around you." Jax did, around at the Freedom Fighters, as Stein continued. "We're standing in one of the darkest places imaginable, yet somehow I'm optimistic. Do you know why?"

"'Cause you're a crazy old man," Jax smirked.

"Yes," Stein nodded, then blinked and hastily shook his head. "No!" Jax snickered, but Stein looked completely serious. "Because I'm standing here with you. You are a better son than I could have ever hoped for, and no length of time or distance will ever change that."

Jax smiled fondly. "All right. Apology accepted." He walked forward, holding out his arms. "Come here."

Stein smiled brightly, and both chuckled as they hugged each other tightly.

***

Sara frowned as she walked through the Freedom Fighters base, then looked up when she heard Slade coming from the other direction. "Hey," she said. "Have you seen Alex?"

"I've been looking for her, too," Slade shook his head. "Barry and Laurel are on the other side of the building looking – " He frowned, then tilted his head. "Hear that?"

Sara turned around, then heard what he had – the sound of drawers slamming. "Think we found her," she hurried off, Slade behind her.

They walked down the stairs to the next level, finding Alex in a frenzy, looking through every set of drawers she could find. "What are you doing?" Slade frowned.

"Looking for a gun," Alex swallowed. "Or a knife. Anything. I don't care how many Sturmtigers they have out there. I'm gonna go save Kara, with or without the help of these people."

Before Slade could say anything to that, Sara did. "No, you're not," she said bluntly.

Alex blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "I'm a government agent certified in over thirty military weapons."

"And you're impressive, I'll give you that," Sara nodded. "But you still can't fight your way through an army of Nazis alone and scared."

"I'm not scared!"

"No, not for you. For your sister."

Alex balked, and Slade sighed. "We're all scared for her, Alex. If you think you're the only one, you're wrong."

"I know," Alex sighed, scratching the back of her head. "It's just . . . I should've done more. I mean, if I hadn't gotten so . . . " She made a helpless gesture. "Distracted . . . "

Slade raised an eyebrow, about to ask what she meant by that, when Sara smirked and said, "Well, sorry to be a distraction."

Alex closed her eyes. "You know, the last time something like this happened to Kara? I was engaged. And sometimes I felt like if I wasn't so caught up in Maggie, maybe I could have done more."

"Alex," Slade gave her a look. "You had every right to be happy with Maggie."

"I know," Alex leaned against the table. "It's just . . . I can't lose Kara. And all I keep thinking about is her being back in S.T.A.R. Labs, tied down, unable to do anything, completely vulnerable . . . " A whimper escaped her, and she put a hand over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "You know she's terrified of the medbay without someone else there with her?" she looked up. "It's because of what Cadmus did to her. And now she's alone, about to be cut into again, and – "

She let out a sob, and Slade was quickly by her side. "That is not going to happen," Slade growled softly. "We are going to get back to her, you hear me?"

"And you won't be going alone," Sara added, walking forward. "You know, Danvers, you're not the only one who's lost their sister. Unlike you, mine is dead."

"I know," Alex scoffed. "I'm wearing her suit."

"That you are," Sara nodded. "And I think my sister would be proud to know someone as protective as she was is wearing it." Alex looked up at her in shock, and Sara smiled. "Laurel – well, Black Canary Laurel – was willing to do whatever it took to take care of her family. You're ready to go on a suicide run by yourself to get back to your sister. The thing is, when I felt the anger and guilt at not being able to save my sister, it took me down a dark path. So I'm going to make you a promise, Danvers. We're not gonna let what happened to my sister happen to yours. Because I protect my team, and you, Danvers . . . you're on my team."

Alex smiled softly, then sighed, putting her head in her hand. "I'm sorry, it's just – " She laughed bitterly. "Coming to Earth-1 usually helps me run away from my problems, and instead I ran to a wedding for one of the happiest couples in the multiverse."

"Maggie," Slade sighed.

"Maggie is – ?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Ex-fiancée," Slade nodded.

"Complicated," Alex grumbled.

Sara nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I had a Maggie, too, and I think about going back to her all the time. Look, Alex, you seem like a pretty thoughtful person. And if you thought it wasn't gonna work out and had to end it, I'm sure that reason was valid. Trust your instincts."

Alex blew out a shaky breath and sat back more against the table, Slade putting his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Sara was about to do the same when she heard footsteps. "Sara?" She looked up to see Malcolm on the next level, and he actually looked . . . slightly worried. "Can we talk?"

Sara looked down at Alex, then shrugged. "Sure," she walked up the steps. "What's up?"

Malcolm took a deep breath. "What happened that I can't remember?" Sara tensed, and he shook his head. "I had Jax tell me, don't blame him."

Sara sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Malcolm – "

"Being angry at me for the Gambit and for being behind your death, I understand that, Sara," Malcolm swallowed. "But if I hadn't known that in some other reality, I was working with two of the worst supervillains to rewrite time itself . . . " He shook his head. "When was it?"

Sara sighed. "Right after Oliver killed Darhk."

Malcolm closed his eyes. "I was in an extremely bad place then, Sara."

"I know that," Sara nodded. "You just lost the League, you lost Thea. You wanted a chance to make your past better. That was what Thawne offered you, and what he offered Darhk and Snart – to rewrite history so their deaths would be avoided."

"And you haven't punched me for killing an alternate version of Jax and for nearly killing Stein?" Malcolm asked in disbelief. "Sara, what haven't I done to you?"

"Killed me in the past few days," Sara answered bluntly. "Betrayed me. Stuck a knife in me. Or an arrow. What you have done is be there for your daughter, and exactly what you've said you would do – be there for Kara. What you have done is kept your word, which is far from the Malcolm Merlyn I knew before. I said I wouldn't trust you until you proved me wrong. So far, you're doing one hell of a job of that. It's like I told Alex, I protect my team. And right now, Malcolm, we're on the same team." She held out her hand. "Unless you want to go back on that and try and kill me," she said dryly.

Malcolm stared at her in disbelief before chuckling and shaking her hand. "Same team it is."

***

Thea walked up to where her brother was looking over a model of the Nazi base, tenser than she had ever seen him. She stopped by his side, looked at him, then the model, then back at him. "Glaring at a model of the complex isn't going to make the real one go away."

"I can wish," Oliver grumbled.

Thea frowned in concern, leaning against the table. "Oliver – "

"You know, the night of the rehearsal dinner, Kara asked me if I had ever thought about proposing," Oliver interrupted her, making Thea blink. "I told her I had. When I asked her what her answer would be if we weren't going to interrupt Barry and Iris's day, she said it would be yes." He looked up at Thea, seeing her eyes wide. "And the next thing I know, Barry's wedding is getting invaded by Nazis, they're working with the same speedster that killed his mother, and as if that wasn't a punch in the gut, my doppelgänger is married to Kara. And now they have her trapped in S.T.A.R. Labs, ready to do the same thing to her that Cadmus did . . . except this time, they're going to kill her." He squeezed his eyes shut, and Thea put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's like I told Barry before . . . we don't always get the girl."

"Yes, you did," Thea squeezed his shoulder. "Barry and Iris wanted the whole big shebang, but they can always elope afterwards. And I have never seen you as happy as you've been with Kara." She smiled then and quipped, "and seriously, your Nazi selves are married. That's got to be a sign that you're meant to be." Oliver snorted loudly, and Thea grinned. "We're gonna get her back, Ollie. It's like you told her even before you got together."

"I won't let her down," Oliver recalled, a small smile on his face.

"Now, when have you ever let her down?" Oliver silently shook his head, and Thea smiled. "That's not going to start now. So stop staring at that thing like it's going to have all the answers, let's get off our asses, and figure out a way to get back to your girl."

Oliver smiled at her. "I'm really glad you're here, Speedy."

Thea smiled as well, hugging him tightly. "No place I would rather be."

Oliver squeezed her tightly, then took a deep breath. "Let's go get Kara."

***

Thea's a good little sister, isn't she?

I'm waiting for laundry to finish, and homework's a horrible way to pass the time for that, so I'll be working on the next chapter, too. There might be another update tonight!