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"Agent Sharpe just arrived, captain." Sara hears Gideon voice over her head as she finishes untucking her hair from the collar of the Christmas sweater Ray had made her wear — he somehow had managed to convince all of them to wear one, even Mick (if only that had been accomplished after promising him that he could burn all the sweaters when night was over)—. With one last look at her white and blue, snowflake-pattered outfit, Sara exists her room and heads to the bridge.
She has to keep herself from running, eager as she is to see the time bureau agent and as childish she really feels for trying to lie to herself about the reason for that excitement.
"Agent Sharpe, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to make it." Sara says when she sees Ava, who turns around on her feet to face her. "I'm glad you did."
"Me too, captain. I brought champagne, although now I realize that it isn't necessary, given the fact that your AI can produce any kind of beverage." Sara takes the bottle off the agent's hands and thanks her before Ava goes into a nervous rant — which in any other scenario would be fun to watch, but Sara doesn't want to make Ava more uncomfortable than she already seems to be.
"Thanks, I'm sure Gideon will appreciate having less work to do. After all, she made all the food. Plus, the decorations and the sweaters." Sara smiles and Gideon hums in agreement.
"Right, good then. You look cute by the way." Ava's voice has that shade of mockery Sara's grown accustomed to hearing during all their conversations, although it isn't even near to be as sharp and blunt as it would have been months ago. Sara could go as far as to swear she detects shyness in the agent's voice.
"Same goes for you." Sara responds with a smirk on her face and her eyes lingering on the agent's figure. Ava is still elegant with her polka dot button up and fancy black fitted jeans. It's not exactly festive, but at least she is not wearing a pantsuit. And Sara can't help it when she gets lost for a moment in the Hollywood-esque hair that falls in soft, blonde waves over the agent's left shoulder.
Yeah, "cute" falls way too short to describe how Ava Sharpe looks right now.
The Christmas dinner slash Jax¬’s farewell party goes smoothly. Sara sits next to Ava and does her best to keep the taller blonde from feeling exclude. Even Zari and Ray initiate conversation with her, trying to get Ava to tell them about all the technology the Time Bureau uses, and Leo asks her is she wants a sweater too — which Ava politely declines, her eyes crinkling at the corners from laughing when she turns to look at Sara and eyes the sweater the captain is wearing once more and adds “not that you
don’t look good”. Sara feels her ears heating and she is pretty sure she is blushing, so she winks at Ava as a response and tries to calm herself by taking a sip of champagne. She swears she sees the agent do the same thing through the corner of her eye.
When Jax stands up to make his speech, Sara feels Ava’s hand slipping into hers, their fingers intertwining, and giving her a light reassuring squeeze. Her eyes flicker to Ava’s for a moment, her lips curving into a small smile and nodding slightly to thank her. It is in that moment that Sara truly realizes how grateful she feels that Ava is there, even more knowing that the other woman is risking her job —and god knows what more — by being in a place where she didn’t even know if she would be welcomed by more than one person. And all that because Sara had asked her to be there. As realization dawns over her, she feels her heart skip a beat and ache in the best way possible.
So, as she continues to listen to Jax, she holds onto Ava. And she doesn’t let go of her until dinner is over.
“I thought you would need something stronger than the champagne I brought.” It is the first thing Ava says to Sara when the captain enters her room, where the time agent had been waiting while Sara said goodbye to Jax. She hands her a glass of, what Sara assumes is, scotch. “I had Gideon made it.”
“Thanks, Gideon. And thank you too, it’s my favorite.” Sara says, as she eyes the bottle, sitting next to Ava’s glass on her desk.
“That’s actually thanks to Gideon too, I asked her.” Ava shrugs lightly with a soft smile on her lips and takes a sip of her own. Her eyebrows furrow in worry while she stares at Sara, and the captain thinks the taller woman has never sound more sincere than when she quietly asks “Are you okay? I mean, what a stupid question, of course you’re not okay. But, do you want me to leave?”
Sara looks at the other woman as she considers the answer. She would normally say yes. Yes, please leave so she can have a moment alone to take all her feelings, put them in a box and throw said box through the door of the cargo bay. But she knows she shouldn't do that, she knows that the rest of the legends wouldn't approve, she knows Martin wouldn't want her to lock herself up. And, besides, she doesn't want Ava to leave.
So instead she says “no, stay. Please.” and takes the bottle to fill their glasses again. “Are you sure, though? You have already risked so much to help us; is coming here to have dinner with a bunch of screw ups and bear with me still worth it?”
“Yeah, it is.” Ava's answer comes fast, maybe too fast, Sara thinks. She has to tear her eyes from the other woman's and drinks from her glass to keep herself from finding another, less professional way to occupy her lips. The craving, the desire, is still there, though. It has been there for a while now, for longer than Sara would care to admit, and it doesn't go either when she tries to burn it down by drowning her drink at all once.
“The Bureau actually doesn't even know I came back here to help and to take you out of the alternate dimension. So, they don’t know I came back again for this.”
“Wait… Does that mean Rip is still in prison because you haven’t told them about Mallus?” Sara asks, a part of her getting defensive towards the former captain of the Waverider — after all, Rip might act like a cold-hearted son of a bitch now, but it’s still Rip. And if Mallus is as a big a threat as he seems, Ava not communicating it to the Bureau only puts the whole universe in more danger.
“Hey, Sara. Relax.” Ava puts her hands in the air to help her words. “Director Bennet is currently unavailable due to the holidays. I left my people with a message to him explaining the whole situation. As soon as he receives it tomorrow, he will decide what to do with Rip… and with me, probably. Until then there is nothing else I can do.”
Sara nods, relaxing visibly, and her free hand goes to her temple, rubbing softly with two fingers. “Sorry, I over reacted. I… It’s just that a lot has happened lately, and the stress seems to be finally be catching up on me.”
“Don’t worry, I get it.” Ava dismisses her apology and stretches her hand to give Sara’s arm a light squeeze and a reassuring smile. It reminds her of when Ava had held her hand during dinner. “I might have just what you need.”
Sara cocks an eyebrow as she watches the agent take a box Sara hadn’t noticed was on top of the comforter of her bed. It’s not too wide and as long as her forearm. It is also wrapped in a paper that has little Santa Claus printed all over it — Sara tries not to smile at the detail, but it’s even cuter knowing that it comes from someone like Ava Sharpe.
“What’s that?”
“A little Christmas gift. I figured I needed to thank you for the times you have saved me.” Ava almost sputters; if her shyness is because of the gift or because she has finally admitted Sara has saved her in multiple occasions, Sara doesn’t know. “It’s really nothing.”
Sara only needs a swift movement to get rid of the wrapping paper and she glances at the taller woman for a second before opening the box. She can’t help the gasp that leaves her mouth when she finds herself staring at a pair of fighting sticks.
“They are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, so you can “call them”, activate electrical impulses and other stuff with this.” Ava explains, motioning to a plain, metallic bracelet placed in the center of the box. “We use them in the Bureau and I thought they might come in handy to you.”
“I love them. And they will definitely be useful next time I have to kick your ass.” Sara jokes, earning a playful eyeroll in response. “I actually have something for you too.”
She takes a small communicator from one of the drawers in her desk and hands it to Ava. She wasn’t planning to give it to Ava as a Christmas gift, just as something they could use to talk to each other, but the agent doesn’t need to know that.
“It connects directly into mine so whenever you need anything, just turn it on and voilà, I’ll be there.” She smiles at the look of surprise that crosses Ava’s face. “To new alliances and changing history?” Sara asks, bringing her glass up for a toast.
“To new friendships and fixing history.” Ava corrects her with a smile on her lips before crashing their glasses.
A few hours later they are sitting on the floor of Sara's room, empty glasses and bottles at their sides. Sara has her legs crossed as Ava faces her, her legs extended in front of her and with the inner side of her ankles almost touching Sara's knees.
"I like your hair better this way." Sara murmurs. For a second she questions if that's her or the booze talking —it isn’t the first compliment she has given the Bureau agent in the last hour, but after seeing the way Ava's cheeks turn to a soft shade of pink and she looks down the shy smile her lips draw, the captain realizes that she doesn't really care.
Maybe that is why she doesn’t stop herself when she reaches to out to slide her fingers through Ava’s hair — which is as soft as Sara had imagine it would be —. The agent stays still for a second before leaning into the touch and letting out what Sara swears is a purr.
After a while, Sara stops the motion and Ava opens her eyes. Blue eyes lock into similar ones for what feels like an eternity before the space between the women disappears as Sara propels herself towards Ava. And then lips crash into hers and hands start exploring.
“Are you sure about this? The Bureau is not gonna like it if they find out.” Sara asks once they have parted to catch some air, their foreheads touching and bodies still intertwined. She doesn’t want them to stop but Ava has already risked too much.
“Fuck them. Fuck the rules and fuck the Bureau.” Is what she gets in response before Ava stands up and drags her by the front of her sweater to stand too and into bed.
Yeah, so much for new friendships.
“Happy Beebo Day, Sara.” Ava murmurs, hours later, against the skin of Sara’s neck and Sara has to put space between them so she can look at the other woman's face and at the smile adorning it.
“Did you just make a joke, Agent Sharpe?” She asks, faking shock.
"Shut up, Captain Lance." Ava laughs again before pulling her in for a kiss.
The last thought that crosses Sara’s mind before her eyelids close is that she could get used to ending her Christmas Days like this.