AN: I am really sorry for how long it's taken to get this chapter posted. I got sick and it kicked my ass. I've read this chapter way to many times and I'm still not completely happy with it but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Happy reading!

Chapter 8

Sara looked around the room accounting for everyone at the sound of the doorbell. She wasn't expecting anyone else, everyone that was supposed to be there was already there. All of her family and friends had been at her house hours before for games and movies.

"I'll get it." Laurel jumped up before Sara could. She and Mick had neglected to tell Sara that Ava would be joining them for dinner so she wanted to get to the door first. She'd been worried if asked, her sister would've said no. She was sure both blondes would be upset at this but it was for the best.

"Ava, hey," Laurel greeted the firefighter cheerfully, giving her a hug. "I'm so glad you came. Not that I gave you a choice."

"Hey Laurel." Ava smiled at the eldest of the Lance girls, returning the hug. The warm welcome was short lived as the younger sister walked around the corner.

"What are you doing here," Sara asked. She'd come to see what was taking her sister so long. Seeing her and Ava hugging was the last thing she'd expected. She'd need to have a long chat with her sister about uninvited guests.

Ava looked at Laurel with a worried expression on her face. "You didn't tell her," she hissed. "This was a bad idea." She took a step back towards the door. She'd come to dinner with the understanding that Sara knew she was coming. Both Mick and Laurel had assured her that Sara had known and was okay with her being there. She'd messaged them hours before to make sure they'd told her. She would rather spend the holiday alone than be in a place that she wasn't wanted. "I should go."

Sara glared at her sister before settling her gaze on Ava. The woman hadn't exactly been fair to her and that had made it hard to like her. She'd tried to be nice to the firefighter, tried to have conversations with her when they ran into each other on calls but Ava always brushed her off and acted as though she was bothered by her presence. She'd told Sara she was reckless and that had pissed her off more than anything. Since that call she'd not made an effort to befriend her.

Laurel snuck away while Sara and Ava had their stare down.

"No, stay. You're here." Sara tried to make the statement more welcoming but she was having a hard time doing so. A part of her wanted to kick Ava out, she had no reason to give her another chance but if she was here on a holiday then it meant that she didn't have anywhere else to be. No one deserved to be alone during the holidays, not even Ava Sharpe. "Most people bring a bottle of wine." Sara gestured towards the bottle of scotch in Ava's hand.

"Well, I'm not most people." Ava gave her a shy smile, using her free hand to rub the back of her neck nervously. "Laurel said this was your favorite, a sort of peace offering. For being an ass. If you're willing, I'd like to start over." She extended the bottle out for Sara to take. She waited anxiously as Sara regarded her for a few seconds before she smiled accepting the peace offering.

"This is the good stuff, I might need to hide it from the family. Mick will probably try and sneak off with it if he sees it." Sara looked at the label, impressed that Ava hadn't settled for a cheap bottom of the shelf brand. Sara wasn't one to hold a grudge, she'd learned long ago that life was too short so she decided to give the firefighter another chance. One more chance, she told herself. "I accept, on one condition."

Ava wasn't sure she was going to like whatever condition Sara had to offer but she'd hear her out anyway. If Sara was willing to give her another chance then she'd try and do the same. "What's that." She shifted nervously.

"You don't call me Officer Lance." She could see that Ava wasn't ready to accept her condition. "At least not while you're in my home. I'm off the clock and out of uniform. Here, I'm just Sara."

Ava thought about it for a split second before nodding. "Very well, Sara." She said her name out loud testing it out. She quite liked the sound of it but she was not going to tell the blonde that.

Sara smiled, feeling like she'd finally won one. "Come on, you can meet the rest of the family and friends." She gestured towards the living room.

"How many friends exactly," Ava asked. Mick and Laurel had mentioned others were coming but hadn't given her an exact number and she wasn't a fan of large groups.

"Just a few that don't have family close by. You know most of them. Though I have to warn you, a handful of them are cops so prepare yourself." She laughed at her own warning.

Ava was surprised at how quickly she was beginning to enjoy Sara. When out of uniform, she didn't see a reckless cop but a rather relaxed, down to earth person who laughed at her own jokes, regardless of how lame they were.

"Everyone this is Ava, she works with Mick at station 5. You know Nate, Amaya, Zari, Ray and Carter. Kendra is a dispatcher, she's married to Carter. The lovebirds are nauseatingly happy." She said the last bit in a whisper. "I don't know who's worse, Nate and Amaya, my sister and Mick or the two love birds." She made a gagging sound.

Ava laughed before she could catch herself. She stopped when she saw the small proud smile spread on Sara's face. She knew exactly what Sara was talking about. She'd seen Mick and Laurel together and they were as Sara said, disgustingly happy. She believed her when she said the other two couples were just as bad. Being around Mick and Laurel reminded her how lonely she felt at times. She never had anything remotely close to what they did.

"This is Leonard's sister Lisa." She introduced her to the other Snart. "You know Cisco, and I'm sure you've seen Caitlin, she's a doctor at the emergency department."

Ava greeted everyone, Laurel had not been kidding, this was quite the gathering. She hadn't expected so many people to fit in a room so comfortably. She missed having a closeness like this with family and friends. She hadn't had that in a long time.

"And you know those two jerks." She referred to Mick who had Laurel sitting on his lap watching the movie. She glared at the duo that had conveniently forgotten to tell her Ava was coming to dinner. She wasn't mad, not really, this may have been just what they needed to start over. Ava had an adorable laugh, she'd been surprised to hear it, especially directed towards something she'd said.

"Ava," Mick called out. "Glad you decided to come." He smiled, wiggling his eyebrows.

Ava rolled her eyes. "You're lucky Laurel is right there, I wouldn't want her to get caught in the crossfire." She threatened. Despite things going well so far she was still going to get him for lying to her to get her there.

He gave her a bigger smile, pulling Laurel closer to him pretending to use her as a human shield. Laurel didn't put up a fight as she relaxed against him pulling his arms tightly around her.

"Come on, before you hurt him." Sara led her to the kitchen. "Like I said, they're disgusting."

"I heard that," Laurel yelled after her.

"I wasn't whispering," Sara yelled back. "Hey buddy," she greeted her dog. "Justice here is the most important guy in my life." She introduced Ava to her dog who'd been keeping her parents company while they put the finishing touches to dinner. "He hangs around the kitchen because he knows mom can't help but give him food as she prepares dinner." She gave the dog a knowing look.

"Hello handsome boy." Ava smiled at the beautiful Collie petting his head. Justice was extremely friendly, he immediately relaxed whatever anxiety Ava was feeling at being surrounded by so many people.

"These are my parents, Quentin and Dinah." She pointed at the couple in the kitchen. "Mom, Dad, this is Ava, she works with Mick."

"Oh don't tell me both my daughters are dating firefighters now." Quentin groaned playfully.

Ava laughed but only because the look on Sara's face was priceless.

"Oh my god dad, we're not dating, Jesus. This is why I don't invite anyone over." She couldn't believe he'd just said that out loud. Her father was getting way to much enjoyment out of this.

"Quentin," Dinah warned him with a glare. "It's nice to meet you Ava dear. Don't mind my husband, he thinks he's hilarious." It was something she loved about him. After all the years on the force, he'd managed to keep his sense of humor.

Ava nodded with a smile. So that's where Sara got it from, thinking she was funny and laughing at her own jokes. "It's nice to meet you both, do you need help in here," she asked.

"No, no, go out there and enjoy yourself, we're almost done here." Dinah assured her. She and her husband always did this part alone. It gave them time together without the kids around.

Sara shrugged, she was used to her parents kicking her out, it was something they did for as long as she could remember. "It's no use, come on, let's get a drink." She pulled Ava towards the counter. She set the bottle of scotch Ava had given her in the back of the cupboard and poured them both a glass of wine. With a glass of wine in hand the pair made their way to the living room to watch what was left of the movie.

"So Die Hard," Ava commented.

"If you say it's not a Christmas movie, I swear I'll kick you out. And, I'm keeping the scotch." Sara turned around threateningly.

"Hey, I'm just glad they officially announced it as a Christmas movie, the guys in my unit and I watched it every Christmas."

Sara was relieved, she would've hated kicking Ava out, especially after how well everything was going. "Good save." She turned back towards the living room. "Gah, Ray. What have I said about sneaking up on me." Ray turned the corner, almost knocking Sara over. Sara jumped back to avoid him, knocking into Ava and her full glass of wine.

Ray put his head down letting out an apology. He quickly walked around them to get into the kitchen and to avoid Sara's wrath.

"Sara, I am so sorry," Ava apologized touching the wine stain that soaked Sara's back.

"It's fine, I'll just go change, it wasn't your fault. Ray's known to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's lucky I didn't lay him out." Sara worked extra hard to tone down her reflexes while at home, being surrounded by family and friends. Had she been at work, Ray would have probably had a broken arm and a bruised face.

Justice went to her side immediately, rubbing against her leg as a cat would and licking her hand.

Sara smiled at her canine companion. "I'm okay buddy." She assured the dog, petting his head.

Pleased that she was in fact alright, Justice went back into the kitchen and joined her parents.

Ava watched in amazement, she wondered if Justice was a service dog. Her dog would react the same way anytime she was having anxiety or a panic attack. She was pulled from her thoughts by Sara.

"I'm gonna go change. Feel free to get more wine and if you don't mind, taking mine with you." She held up her glass for Ava to take.

Ava wordlessly took the glass and returned to the kitchen still thinking about the way Justice had just behaved. She wanted to ask Sara but she didn't think thirty minutes of civil conversation granted her permission to ask such a personal question.

"Ava, where is Sara," Dinah asked noticing the blonde was by herself.

Ava held up her mostly empty wine glass. "There was an accident, she went to change."

Dinah laughed. "Well that explains why Ray rushed through here with his tail between his legs."

"That would be why." Ava nodded with a smile. Sara's mom was very friendly. She didn't feel like the stranger she was around her. She opted to stay in the kitchen instead of joining a room full of people in the living room.

"So Ava, how long have you been with the fire department." Quentin questioned, he wanted to know the person his daughter was hanging around.

"Just a year, but I was a medic with the Army for eight." She took a sip of her wine waiting for the next interrogating question. Sara's father was the chief of police, she knew there'd be a lot of questions whether she was dating his daughter or not.

Quentin smiled. "Well thank you for your service. Star City is no war zone, but it damn sure can feel like it some days." He'd been a cop for a long time, there was very little he hadn't seen.

Ava nodded. She'd been on a few calls that reminded her of her deployments. Those were always the hardest. Thankfully for her, Mick was supportive and always helped to ground her. As long as she didn't stay in her head too long and didn't have multiple triggers, she was fine. She pushed away the negative thoughts. "Thank you, Sir."

"Call me Quentin." He smiled, putting her at ease. He normally liked to tease the firefighters that came to their family events but Ava looked like she was feeling out of place already. He didn't want to make her too uncomfortable, not yet, he was sure there would be time for teasing in the future.

"Ava dear, dinner is ready. Will you get Sara," Dinah asked.

Ava nodded setting her glass down. Dinah called for Laurel and Lisa to set the table as she left the kitchen. Sara was in the process of pulling her shirt over her head when Ava came to her open door. She stopped in the doorway unable to take her eyes off of Sara's back.

Sara turned around having heard the small gasp. She found Ava frozen, her eyes on her. She wanted to say something but she didn't know what, she wasn't sure how much Ava had seen. By the shocked look on her face she was sure she'd seen enough. "Did you need something," she asked instead.

Ava cleared her throat trying to find her voice. "Um yeah, sorry, your mom sent me to get you, dinner is ready."

Sara nodded. "Okay, I'll be down in a minute."

"I didn't mean to walk in on you, I should've." She looked at the door and back to Sara, she didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"Don't worry about it, I should've shut the door." Sara answered uncomfortably.

Ava nodded. "What you told Gail." She started to ask but Sara stopped her very quickly.

"I don't want to talk about it, let's just try and enjoy dinner." She didn't want to talk about her ugly scars or how she got them. She didn't want to dredge up the awful memories she wished to forget, especially not today. Today was meant to be a time for family to gather together and enjoy each other. Today she celebrated another birthday, another year of living. She didn't want to relive what it took for her to stay that way.

Ava grabbed Sara's arm without thinking. She felt her muscles flex defensively and so she quickly let go. "Sara, I really am sorry." She apologized once again. Though she wasn't really sure what she was sorry for. Whether it was for walking in on her or for the fact that she'd suffered.

Sara rested a hand on Ava's arm. "You're okay, it was an accident." Sara gave her a reassuring smile. "Come on, dad and Mick get impatient when they're made to wait and food is involved." She tried to lighten the mood.

Ava chuckled. "You don't have to tell me, I work with the guy, he is the definition of hangry."

Sara laughed. "That would be our Mick. Ask him about the time his crew was on standby during a hostage negotiation. For a moment I was sure we were going to have a secondary situation on our hands."

Ava once again found herself laughing. She didn't know what it was about Sara that put her at ease despite everything they'd been through but she was glad she was able to experience it.

"What was taking you two so long." Laurel met them at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh, nothing." Sara shrugged. "I was just telling Ava about the time Mick's team was on standby and he was hungry."

"He's going to kill you." Laurel laughed remembering that day all too well. She and Mick hadn't been dating long and Sara had always been very animated in retelling stories. Mick had known the second he'd seen her that Sara had ratted him out, he'd pouted for hours.

"That hose dragger can't touch these guns." She flexed to show off her biceps, placing a kiss on each muscle.

Ava rolled her eyes at the nickname and followed the sisters into the kitchen. She felt right at home at the Lance's Christmas dinner, it was like being with her military family. Everyone was from a different background but that didn't matter to any of them because they were their own kind of family. She learned that she really liked Leonard's sister Lisa, especially the way she flustered Cisco. She had her laughing most of the night. The love birds as Sara had called them, were as annoyingly in love as Laurel and Mick, and Nate and Amaya. She decided she was glad she'd come. Laurel gave her an 'I told you so' smile from across the table as if she knew exactly what she'd been thinking.