Jax didn't immediately go with the Legends, when they left on the Waverider. He stayed for a few weeks with Clarissa and Lily. They wallowed their sorrows and mourned with each other, comforting one another like families did in times of crises.
On the day Jax was to be picked up by the other Legends, he went to a bar. Here he met a sad, lonely look burnnette. She was starting sadly into her drink with a look Jax had gotten to know pretty well over the last few weeks. So, he sat next to her, ordering a drink of his own. (He'd just turned twenty-one. So it was legal don't worry.)
He didn't really intend to talk to her, not wanting to intrude of her life. But, as the bar tender came back with his drink, the tripped, spilling the alcoholic beverage all over the two.
"I...am so sorry," the bar tender said, looking embarrassed. "I'm not usually this clumsy. Here let me get some towels!" She ran off again.
"Man, that must be Grey working behind the grave," Jax said feeblely. "Making sure I don't become an alcoholic..."
"Grey?" The woman asked.
"He...uh...he was kind of like my father..."
"Ah." She nodded slowly. "Well your father sounds kind of like my brother. He always does things like this, when he thinks I need to be this thing called 'responsible'....Well he use to anyway. He's gone now....so not much of a point in be responsible is there?"
"Yeah...I know the feeling." Jax sighed, as the bar tender came back with their towels. A moment later she walked off to serve another customer. "I'm supposed to leave today with some friends for a job. It could help people but..."
"What's the point of helping people if you can't even help the ones you care about the most?" the woman finished the thought.
"Yeah..." Jax nodded.
After a minute or two he asked, "You think it ever gets any easier?"
"Heh. Well my brother's been dead for about six months so no. Not really." The woman shrugged.
"....Great," Jax sighed again.
"My brother was the only one who ever cared about me," the woman said. "He was the only one who took care of me. My life...it's been utter shit. But somehow...somehow he'd always manage to make it bareable. And now that he's gone..." She blinked rapidly. "Now that he's gone I don't know what I'm going to do..."
"Kind of hard to stand when someone rips away your crutch," Jax said, cringing at the analogy. This had happened to him twice now. Both metaphorically and literally.
"That's oddly poetic..." the woman smiled wryly.
"I guess Grey was starting to rub off on me," Jax muttered. "Next thing you know, I'll be shouting out the elements on the periodic table or something."
This actually got a small laugh out of the woman. "My brother tried to teach me once," she said. "He gave up when he realized I was hopelessly lost when it came to school."
"I always the sporty type," Jax said. "Never paid much attention in science class. Besides Grey would always give me more than enough science lessons." He laughed somberly, trying not to break down sobbing in front of a complete stranger.
"It's weird," Jax went on, "but sometimes I can still hear him. 'Jefferson no! Don't do that, that'll blow the whole building up!'"
"Hm. Explode a lot of things, do you?"
"Uh...sometimes...on accident. But no one ever really gets hurt."
"My brother had a friend who loved blowing stuff up. Actually he was pretty psychotic. Loves watching things burn. I...have no idea where is now. He kind of just dropped the 'your brother's dead' bomb and left..."
"You're kidding? He didn't help you plan a funeral or anything?" Jax huffed.
The woman shrugged. "Hard to plan a funeral for a crook. That's uh...actually how he died. On some kind of heist or something...."
"Oh. So you come from a family of criminals?" Jax said, making a lame attempt at a joke. He'd worked with two criminals before on the Waverider. He didn't really mind all that much if this woman was or wasn't a crook.
"Born and raised into a life of crime," the woman nodded. "Still wanna be seen in the same room as me?"
"Hey, what you do with your life is your business," Jax shrugged.
"Glad you think so."
There was another moment's pause, in which the two sat in silence, remincing and thinking about their respective lost ones.
"I can still hear him sometimes too," the woman said. "It's usually something like 'Lisa pick up your crap! I didn't raise you in a barn!'"
Jax managed a meek laugh. "So...you're name is Lisa?"
"And apparently your's is Jefferson," she nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "But most people call me Jax."
""Okay then. Jax."
After yet another pause, Lisa said, "It's funny. I came here to drink myself to death, but then you come in and...it's like someone finally understands."
"I get it. I mean, Grey had other family, and I guess they get it too. But...still. He was the only father I ever knew. And he was a great father, even if I didn't always appreciate that."
"Wish I had that," Lisa frowned. "My father was a piece of shit."
"I never even got to know my biological dad," Jax shrugged. "He died in the army when I was kid."
"Mine was killed by my brother."
"....Okay. You win."
Lisa gave another somber smile. "So...here we are. In a bar. Two complete strangers sharing our life stories with one another. Why would we do that?"
Jax shrugged. "What do we got to lose?"
"Touché," Lisa said. "But...damn are we sad and pathetic."
"The most sad and pathetic people I've ever seen," Jax agreed.
Lisa shrugged. "Maybe that's just what we needed. Maybe your dad and my brother's ghosts are conspiring against us. Working together to make us talk about feelings and crap."
"You know, there was a time I'd call you crazy for saying something like that....but I've seen a lot of these last six months, so I wouldn't reject that idea just yet," Jax said.
"Yeah," Lisa said. "I guess if a man can run on water, anything's possible."
Jax picked up his spilt cup. "Cheers."
"To...being sad and pathetic?" Lisa asked.
"Yeah," he said. "Why not?"
She shrugged. "Okay. To being sad and pathetic."
They touched the tip of their glasses together. For another hour or two, they talked about odd and in things. Mostly about their respective lost ones. All the times they frustrated the hell out of them. The times they helped them when they needed it the most. When they were there throughout all the shit life through at them, even if no one else was.
And even after death they were - most likely - still looking out for them.
Finally, Jax stood up to leave. "Okay....I should get going. My friends will be waiting."
"Mm. Right," Lisa nodded. "The job that will help people. Good luck with that."
"And good luck with whatever you decide to do," Jax replied. "And hey. Maybe we'll run into each other sooner or later."
"Maybe it'll be sooner rather than later," Lisa said with one final wry smile.
"Yeah. Maybe."
With that, Jax left the bar and went to meet the other Legends. He didn't realize until several weeks later, after having an awkward talk with Mick, that the woman from the bar was Lisa Snart - the younger sister of Captain Cold.
~
Yup. Totally didn't make myself ship Jax and Lisa just now. Hahaha....