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singledarkshade · 5 years

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Settling In

Part Eighteen - Closure Cisco leaned on the railing watching the people milling around the foyer of Star Labs, turning to Caitlin when she joined him.

“He made another intern cry,” Cisco told her, “That’s three and we’ve not even had them here for a week yet.”

Caitlin winced, “He’s slightly uptight at the moment.”

“He doesn’t even yell,” Cisco noted with a grimace, “Just glares then impales them with a sharp sarcastic remark.”

“It’s only been a week since he saw Miranda,” Caitlin reminded her friend, “Of course he’s a little off.”

Cisco frowned at her, “There’s a little off and then there’s that. I’m one crying intern away from giving him a Supervillain name.”

Caitlin sighed knowing Cisco was right. Rip had been completely closed off and short-tempered with everyone in the past week with the exception of Jonas.

The interns were Dr McGee’s idea, as part of Mercury Labs then they had to be subject to the same policies which meant they had been sent several interns to work with them. Something Cisco was sure McGee was probably regretting at this precise moment in time.

“Rip,” Cisco called down to the other man, motioning him when he looked up, “Need you up here.”

With a dark look at the cowering interns Rip stalked away making Cisco shake his head, it was going to be a long day.

The one good thing about the interns was that Cisco hadn’t had to get himself coffee all week. The annoying thing was they were like puppies who seemed to be overexcited by being in Star Labs studying meta-humans and he kept tripping over them.

Rip had, after the brief Flash required situation they had to deal with, disappeared back to his office so the interns were safe for the moment.

“Mr Ramon,” Gideon spoke up, “Dr McGee is here.”

Cisco groaned, “Where’s Caitlin?”

“Meeting Mrs Stein for coffee at Jitters,” Gideon told him, “You are the senior staff member after Captain Hunter in the building and I believe he would not be the best choice to speak with her.”

He let out another groan, “Sure.”

Heading out to the corridor he waited for the elevator and gave a forced cheery smile at the woman standing there, “Hi, Dr McGee.”

“Where is he, Cisco?” McGee demanded sharply.

“Rip is in his office,” he answered before rushing out, “I have a feeling I know why you’re here.”

“Really?” she folded her arms, “And what would that be?”

“Our small intern issue,” Cisco shrugged.

Starting towards the lab she frowned at him, “You mean the fact I’ve had three quit since they started here two days ago.”

Cisco winced, “We have a specific balance of personalities here. They...didn’t quite fit in.”

She let out a long sigh and took a seat, “I understand Star Labs, and what you do here, has always relied on that equilibrium but this is not like Rip. What happened?”

He hesitated for a few seconds before replying, “It’s personal and I can’t get into specifics but he needs a little bit of time to get over it. The interns just came at the wrong time.”

McGee grimaced before she nodded, “Fine. I will give you one month to get things sorted here.”

“We really don’t need interns,” Cisco told her.

She laughed slightly, “Cisco, part of your work doesn’t need interns. Your team are brilliant but you have a specific focus and the other projects that will be using the lower labs need additional people. That was the agreement when we made this arrangement.”

“You realise being right is cheating, don’t you?”

*********************************************

“This is not good for you, Captain,” Gideon noted as Rip sat staring at his computer.

“What isn’t?” he asked absently.

There was a disapproving silence before she came back, “Feeling sorry for yourself.”

“I’m not...I just...” he sighed and pushed his hand through his hair, “What do you want from me, Gideon? I’m not drinking, I’m looking after Jonas properly and coming here every day to work.”

“You are however terrorising the interns Dr McGee has sent to us,” Gideon stated, “You have actually made several of them so upset they quit.”

Rip dropped his head back, “Is it my fault they’re all incompetent?”

“You yelled less at the Legends for doing much worse,” Gideon reminded him.

Letting out a long sigh Rip shut down his computer, “I need some air.”

“Captain?”

“Just tell the others I’ll be back in the morning,” Rip told her.

Rip parked his car at the school, he had about an hour before Jonas would be finished so decided to go for a walk. He strolled slowly through the park close to the school not paying attention to where he was going, just needing to walk. Having Miranda back in his life, even in that strange way, had been the most amazing gift he could have received before she was taken from him again.

Rip had done this every so often since Jonas had started Westbrook, anytime he was early to pick him up, but he hadn’t walked along the path he currently was on. Reaching the end of the trail Rip was surprised to find a walled garden.

“It’s a memorial garden,” a woman’s voice came from behind him.

Rip turned and found an older woman standing beside him, well-dressed carrying a bunch of yellow flowers.

“What exactly is that?” Rip asked confused.

“You’re a long way from home, dear,” she noted at his accent with a soft smile before explaining, “It’s a place where people plant flowers or erect a small memorial for loved ones they’ve lost where they didn’t bury them or couldn’t.”

Rip looked through the gates at the beautifully maintained gardens in front of him, “That’s a good idea.”

“Who did you lose?” she asked.

Rip hesitated for a moment before replying, “My wife.”

“These are for my sister,” she told him, “She wanted to be cremated because she didn’t like the idea of being buried. I didn’t want to have her ashes sitting around the house so I erected a small statue for her here with her ashes inside it and on her birthday I bring her favourite flowers.”

“I’m sure she’d appreciate that,” Rip said.

She chuckled, “I’m not so sure about that but I find it comforting that I have a place to visit and remember her.”

“I don’t have that,” Rip whispered sadly without thought.

“Then this might be what you need.”

Jonas ran into the house, thundering up the stairs to put his bag away and change. Rip followed him in still deep in thought after his meeting earlier.

“Gideon,” he said as he headed into the kitchen, “Can you research memorial gardens for me?”

“Of course, Captain,” she replied, “How would you like the information?”

“Send it to my tablet and I’ll review after dinner,” he told her.

Rip made himself a tea before pouring some juice for Jonas and taking it to the dining table. Jonas appeared a few moments later, climbing up onto the chair beside Rip with his homework.

“So, what subjects are we working on tonight?” Rip asked.

Jonas opened up his books and wrinkled his nose, “Just History tonight.”

“One of my favourite subjects,” Rip told his son, “Let’s get to work.”

Rip smiled to himself as he helped Jonas with his homework, it was something he had come to appreciate over the past few months getting to spend this time with his little boy. He felt incredibly guilty that he’d lied to Jonas about the fact he had seen Miranda but Rip knew there was no way he could explain to the boy.

His encounter earlier had made him think about the fact that they didn’t have a funeral or any kind of service for Miranda to help give them a sense of closure. He was thinking it might be a good idea.

*********************************************

Rip was gratified to see who had come to help them erect the memorial for Miranda. Cisco, Caitlin, Barry, Lisa, Joe, Iris, Wally, Jessie, Harry, Clarissa and Lily, their entire family, stood with them in a corner of the memorial garden. Surprise filled him when David Singh, Tina McGee, Lyla Michaels, John Diggle, Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak arrived as well.

Holding onto Jonas he felt his eyes burn for a moment but thankfully the man who administered the memorial garden, Mr Kean, arrived at his side.

“Everything is prepared, if you’re ready to begin, Mr Hunter,” Kean said.

Rip nodded, “Thank you.”

Moving to the corner where a small mound sat covered in a white sheet Rip looked down when Jonas tugged on his hand.

“Are you okay?” Rip crouched down to look in his eyes.

Jonas nodded, “I like what we picked for Mummy.”

“So do I,” he kissed his son’s forehead.

Standing again he turned to his assembled family and friends, “I don’t know really what to say for this. When Miranda died, due to the circumstances we weren’t able to bury her. Recent events made me realise that Jonas and I both need something to remember her by properly,” he looked at Jonas, “Do you want to show them what we chose?”

Jonas nodded and pulled the sheet off the small statue of an Angel with several roses carved into the stone. Miranda had always loved roses.

Rip placed a red rose at the base of the memorial, sliding his fingers across his wife’s name before he turned to Jonas who added a rose that Clarissa gave to him. Picking his son up into his arms Rip watched as everyone added a rose to the memorial, Cisco adding a rose from Gideon.

Holding Jonas close Rip felt a sense of closure.

He loved Miranda, he always would but he no longer felt crippled by that loss.

#fic #legends of tomorrow #rip hunter #jonas hunter #gideon #the flash #cisco ramon #caitlin snow

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