"When you said we should do something for Grey over Chanukah, I didn't think this was what you had in mind." Jax said as he and Sara made their way through the holiday section of the discount store, buying a few boxes of cheap Christmas decorations.
"We'll figure out something better, but this is a start." Sara argued, placing the Star of David ornament into her basket before looking at a cheap set of plastic Christmas balls.
They weren't involving the others with this Chanukah surprise, not yet anyway. For now it was just the two of them, for reasons that neither would say out loud because they sound like fuel for Rip's time drift paranoia; Sara's reason more than Jax's. Really, there is no REAL reason as to why it's specifically the two of them putting a little extra effort into the old man's faith and not any of the others. Jax is doing it because Stein is his partner, but more than that he's acted like a father figure or at least a grandfather figure to him ever since they became Firestorm. Sara, on the other hand, has reasons that aren't so different but at the same time would send Rip over the edge. Stein, when they're out in public, is posing as her father. As far as the world is concerned she's his daughter and as such she feels almost like she owes it to him to try and do something for Chanukah, which considering the world also thinks he raised Ray she should really rope him into this little scheme as well.
"Can't you read his mind?" She asked; if they knew what Stein was thinking in regards to the holiday it sure would make planning something for him a lot easier, but Jax shook his head.
"Doesn't work like that," he told her, "I can only get a sense of his extreme emotions, or you know, cut myself so the marks show up on him. But I can't tell exactly what he's thinking," he said before he stopped with a thoughtful look on his face.
"What?" Sara asked,
"You know, I haven't felt anything lately with our psychic link and Kendra lost her powers when you guys were stuck in 1958, because of the time drift thing. Do you think…?" He trailed off, unable to finish his question.
"I don't know," Sara said, an equally thoughtful expression now on her face. "Funny thing about time drift; you don't even notice it has you until your gone. Only way to realize it is for someone to snap you out of it." She said, remembering her time in the fifties.
Jax looked almost heartbroken at the description, at the idea of slowly losing himself in this new life without realizing it. But he didn't have time to think about it, because it was at that moment he and Sara ventured around the corner and into the next isle where they found Jackie of all people bent down and looking at books on a shelf.
At first Jax didn't even recognize her; he rarely ever saw her outside of work. In fact he had only ever seen her outside of work on that day not long after Thanksgiving when she'd come to the house to check on him. That day she had still been in her work clothes and her hair, although down, was frizzy and matted from being tied back all day. Now she was wearing a pair of plain white sneakers in place of her father's hand me down boots, bright blue pants, a red sweater with the images of flowers on it, and her hair kept out of her face with a bulky headband but other than that flowing freely down to just above her waist where it stopped. She had noticed him by now and gave him a smile; meanwhile Sara practically shoved him forward.
"Hey," Jackie said, addressing both of them.
"Hey, Jax if you need me, I'll be in the next isle." Sara said before leaving him alone with his friend, he rolled his eyes at what she was doing.
"Sorry about her," He apologized to Jackie, it was painfully obvious that she was also able to see what Sara was doing, but she laughed at it anyway.
"Don't worry about it," she said, "You guys doing Christmas shopping?" She asked and Jax shrugged.
"A little, you?" He asked; eyeing her basket, which contained a few off brand comic books.
"Sort of, dad doesn't know how to shop so he gives me money to buy my own Christmas presents that he can wrap and put his name on." She explained and Jax had to chuckle at that.
"Sounds like your dad has a pretty good system," He joked,
"Yeah, kind of ruins the surprise but no systems is perfect." She shrugged,
"Well, there's always your mom." Jax said and his friend nodded.
"True," she agreed, "Are you guys going to the big Christmas party downtown?" She asked.
"Yeah, you?" He asked,
"Wouldn't miss it."
Meanwhile Kendra was sitting in the back room of the restaurant counting what she had made in tips for the day, waiting for Ray and Stein to come pick her up.
"Five dollars and seventy cents, not bad for a day shift." One of the other waitresses, Rebecca, mused as she came in and started slipping on her coat.
"Can't argue with you there," Kendra said but Rebecca seemed to pick up on her distracted voice.
"Anything you want to talk about?" She asked intuitively, Rebecca was good like that.
She's the most senior member of the wait staff and the co-owner of the restaurant. She knows what she's doing and she likes to know what's going on in the personal lives of her employees, not in a nosey way but rather in a very protective and motherly way; ironic since she has a rough relationship with her own daughter.
"It's nothing," Kendra insisted but Rebecca merely pulled up the second chair of the small folding table.
"You're a terrible liar," she mused, Kendra just sighed and smiled awkwardly.
"I don't know what to get Ray for Christmas," she admitted and Rebecca quirked an eyebrow.
"That's it?" She asked a little insensitively, it's moments like this when Kendra understands why Rebecca's daughter has issues with her. She's a really a sweet woman but sometimes she's a little too quick to give her opinion.
"It's our first Christmas since we got married, and the first one we'll be spending with our conjoined family." She lied, well partially lied anyway considering the two Christmas's they spent together in the fifties.
"Hmm," Rebecca hummed in thought, "What was the first date he ever took you on?" She finally asked but Kendra only looked quizzically at her.
"What?" She finally asked,
"Well clearly a lot has changed for the two of you in the last year, do something for him that lets him know not everything has." She suggested and upon taking a moment to think it over, Kendra found herself smiling at the idea.
"So tell me, what exactly do you have against the holiday's?" Len questioned Rip as the two of them were working on the Waverider. At this point the engine room was nearly repaired, but everything else on the ship was still a complete and utter wreck.
"I don't have anything against the holiday's, I just haven't celebrated in a while." He excused but Len looked at him over his shoulder, an inquisitive expression upon his face. "I come from a world ravaged by a ruthless warlord, not exactly the kind of place where you can tell your children about Santa Claus." He admitted and Len turned back to what he was doing, not that he had any intentions of letting the conversation drop.
"I was eight when I stopped believing in Santa," he confessed, "Given the childhood I had, I'm actually impressed I made it that long. After dad went to prison mom tried to make things like Christmas special, must have broken her heart when I asked for the same thing every year." He reminisced, tightening a bolt in the wall the entire time that he spoke.
"Your father's return?" Rip questioned and Len sneered, hating that he had ever wanted his father anywhere near him.
"When I finally got what I wanted, I wished more than anything that he would get caught again; got that wish a few times but it never lasted long enough." He continued, "Funny thing is Rip, my life sucked." He deadpanned, finally turning to look the captain in the eyes. "But at Christmas, well my life sucked even more. First it was my dreams getting crushed every year, then I was watching as the same thing happened to my sister." He said before he gave a small chuckle, "I still remember Lisa's first Christmas," he began, the angry grin on his face a tell tale sign that this story is anything but happy. "I was twelve, almost thirteen, and Lisa was only a few months old. Dad hadn't tried hurting her yet, at this point that was only for mom and me. But he was still a long way from giving two shits about her, same goes for mom." He snarled at the memory, losing himself somewhere in it. "She had been crying for hours and I couldn't take it anymore, I got up and went to her room to get her. I couldn't get her to go back to sleep so I thought maybe a bottle would shut her up, put her back in the crib and left to go see if we had any formula. But just as I got to the stairs I found mom and dad standing at the bottom, mom had a suitcase." He stopped there, visibly trying to pull himself back out of the memory.
"Your mother left on Christmas Eve?" It was more of a question than a statement that came from Rip, because he just couldn't believe that someone could be so cruel.
"Technically she left on Christmas, it was well past midnight." Len corrected, his usual icy mask sliding back into place. "Dad spent the day drunker than usual, which is saying something. Lisa still thinks mom left weeks earlier than she actually did, and I spent every year after that trying to make sure my sister didn't turn into one of those people who gets depressed over Christmas." He said and Rip was quiet for a minute or two as the story processed.
"Why are you telling me this?" He finally asked,
"Just because you've had some pretty bad Christmas's doesn't mean they all have to be like that." Len replied as he began to leave the bridge, and Rip couldn't fight the smirk that began playing on his lips as the crook walked away, if he isn't careful he just might add hero to his résumé.
"You know what we need?" Ray asked later that night as they were all decorating the tree.
"I'm afraid to ask," Len said from where he was positioned by the radio he had pirated from the dump after leaving Rip on the Waverider, he'd finally fixed it and now he was slowly turning the dials as he hunted for some decent music.
"An ornament that says Legend's first Christmas," The younger man replied, Len merely rolled his eyes before the tune of Jingle Bells assaulted his ears.
"Ooh, leave it on!" Kendra called from the kitchen where she and Jax were baking cookies, he rolled his eyes again but obeyed her request and moved back to the couch to sit beside Sara, who was waiting for Ray to finish stringing the lights.
"Well the tree's not on fire yet," she said quietly as he took his seat.
"YET, being the key word in that sentence." Len said with a laugh, "Knowing Raymond, I'm sure something will have caught fire by the time Christmas is over." He continued,
"You know I can hear you two," Ray pointed out. Somewhat offended by their teasing.
"Don't care," Len said,
"Hey, you're on holiday break right?" Sara asked Ray suddenly,
"Yeah," he answered her, more than a bit curious as to why she needed to know.
"Cool, Jax doesn't have to go into work the day after Christmas so the three of us are taking a road trip." She said, now both Ray and Len were very confused.
"Why?" Ray finally asked, "And where are we going?"
"I'll tell you later," Sara promised, she had finally figured out a decent enough Chanukah gift for Stein but they needed to drive a little ways to get it.
"I can not BELIEVE you dragged me down here!" Rip exclaimed a few nights later as the group walked down the sidewalk to the community center; he had known that the team was going to be disobeying his warnings and attending tonight's holiday party but he didn't think they'd actually get him to join them.
"Dragged you? We asked you to come and you said no, we were going to leave you at the house but you changed your mind; something about making sure we don't blow our cover." Jax half mocked, half reminded the captain. Coming to the party may not have been his idea but he had come of his own free will.
"Yes well, I didn't want you all coming back to the house and telling me that something gave us away." He excused, a little embarrassed by the reminder that he actually chose to tag along to this.
Nobody believed this excuse; obviously, they all knew that Rip really wanted to get out of the house. But they chose not to comment on it and instead simply headed inside.
The party wasn't much. The main room of the community center was a big cafeteria and that's where the celebration was being held. There was hot chocolate and a table set up with snacks such as cookies, brownies, and cupcakes. There were Christmas lights tacked to the walls along with some streamers and a raffle going for the little kids. Speaking of the little kids, Len nearly tripped over one who was particularly small as she ran passed him just as the group walked in. She looked up as if to apologize to him, and then quickly ran if to continue chasing her friend.
"Raymond, Martin, good to see you." Professor Williams, the man who had first invited the group to come to this, found them quickly and came up to shake Ray's hand followed by Stein.
"Merry Christmas Albert," Stein greeted as he shook his colleague's hand. Most other members of the group took this time to head off to their own devices but Kendra remained at Ray's side for the time being so that he could introduce her to his friend, Sara tried to get away but Stein grabbed her elbow and pulled her back. "Albert, I would like for you to meet my daughter, Sara." He introduced her before she had the chance to threaten him, just as Ray and Kendra walked off too so she was forced to plaster a fake smile on her face and shake the older man's hand.
"Nice to meet you," she said politely,
"You as well, I work more closely with your cousin than your father but I've heard many great things about you." He said and at that both Sara and Stein looked to be very confused. Sara looked at Stein but he merely shrugged; sure he had brought Sara up in conversation with the other professors but he did so with every member of their team, and besides, he was getting the feeling that Albert wasn't talking about their brief chats.
"From Ray?" Sara finally asked, Professor Williams laughed as if her confusion were a joke.
"You sound surprised?" He asked, when neither of their expressions changed he seemed to realize that they were both, in fact, very surprised. "Well, um, your cousin thinks very highly of you." That was all he said before he awkwardly turned around and walked off; Sara and Stein exchanged glances when he did.
"Let's find Raymond," he decided and with a nod the two of them headed off.
Meanwhile it didn't take Jax long to find his new best friend. She was standing in a back corner nursing a cup of hot chocolate and looking almost as board as Rip, who for the record was sitting at a table avoiding eye contact with everyone.
"You know when you said you wouldn't miss the party, I thought you'd spend it doing more than standing in a corner." He joked as he approached her; her face seemed to brighten considerably upon noticing him.
"Hey," she said happily,
"Hey, so seriously, why are you in a corner all by yourself?" He asked and her smile fell just a little.
"Sorry, um, after high school all my friends moved out of town and they said they were coming back tonight but… they all bailed." She said with a shake of her head.
"Oh, I'm sorry." He apologized, much to his surprise her smile came back.
"Don't be, at least I've got one friend now right?" She asked, looking up at him with her big green eyes and hopeful smile, he couldn't help but smile back.
"Yeah," he agreed.
So while Jax was talking to Jackie, Stein and Sara finally found the table the rest of the group had claimed and quickly made their way over.
"Ray, can you come here for a second?" Sara asked from behind her 'cousin', who looked over his shoulder at her with slight confusion but nodded and followed the two away from the rest of the now very confused group.
"What?" He asked once the two of them had led him out into the empty hall outside of the cafeteria.
"We were just wondering what exactly it is that you've told Professor Williams about Sara?" Stein questioned, sure they had put some more depth into their cover in the months since arriving in 1986, but that didn't stop Stein from worrying about Ray's big mouth.
At first Ray didn't seem to know what it was they were talking about, but then his face changed and it was obvious that it dawned on him.
"Nothing that I shouldn't have, relax." He assured them, not that they were convinced. "Ok, you know Dr. Brown?" He asked Stein and the older man rolled his eyes.
"Yes, the English Professor who feels the need to spread gossip about everyone." He acknowledged and Ray nodded.
"Well the other day I was in a meeting, and she was there. Before the meeting started she was in there with one of the other professors and they were talking. She asked me how Kendra was and being polite I said that she was fine. Then she asked me about what Sara was up to, so I told her that she's been working odd jobs in town. Then, a few minutes later when she thought I wasn't listening, Dr. Brown started whispering to her friend trash talk about Sara." When he said that the faces of both Sara and Stein changed from very accusing to more curious, "She was calling Sara a deadbeat; for not having a steady job and relying on her father. So I told her to back off and when she didn't I gave her Sara's part of our cover story." He confessed, by now seeming to be more than a little embarrassed.
Sara's background, as far as the cover story is concerned, is that she had been traveling for the past few years as a bail bonds worker. After all, it isn't exactly plausible that all seven of them had been living together for very long before moving since there was no official reason they had moved here. So the idea was that Stein and Rip had an antique shop that just went out of business around the time Ray and Kendra got married, Jax had been living with Kendra since the death of their mother when he was seventeen, Len lost his job six months ago and needed a place to crash, and they called Sara home to help out.
"I told her that Sara left her job to come help us, and that now that most things are settled her employer won't take her back. So she's working odd jobs and trying to find a steady job nearby because she doesn't want to leave her family, that is the cover right?" He asked and Sara nodded,
"Yes," she said before punching Ray lightly on the arm.
"Ow!" He said reflexively, rubbing his arm despite the fact that it didn't really hurt all that much.
"Thanks for standing up for me."
The three of them returned to the party and Stein quickly found Ingrid with her granddaughter, who was clutching a baby doll and also appeared to be on a sugar high. While the two of them talked Ray returned to the table with Sara not far behind him, but it wasn't long before she realized that little Haley was following her. The little girl giggled upon being discovered and ran to the other side of Sara, when she looked down at her again she only repeated the action. Glancing over at Stein and his 'girlfriend', so caught up in conversation, Sara decided that they probably didn't need the hyperactive toddler running circles around them so she instead crouched down to the little girl's height.
"So what's your dolly's name?" She asked the little girl.
"Well I didn't think it was possible, but you actually look like you don't totally hate being here." Len commented to Rip, the Englishman had some semblance of a smile on his face as he stood over by the hot chocolate after having been at the party for roughly two hours.
"Yes well, I suppose I have you to thank for that." He admitted, taking a sip of his cocoa.
"How do you figure?" Len drawled,
"Christmas wasn't always a time of sulking for me, Mr. Snart, I loved it very much as a child." He admitted and Len frowned.
"But then Savage happened," It wasn't a question; it didn't have to be when he already knew the answer.
"I thought about filling Jonas's head with thoughts of Santa Claus once, but he never would've believed it. All those stories had turned to mere myths decades before I was born; Jonas would've stopped believing before he even turned five." He confessed but Len only frowned.
"The world is a hopeless place Rip," he finally said, "We're born, we try to figure out why we were born, and then we die." The way he said it so bluntly caused Rip to look at him in confusion, an emotion almost everyone in the group was experiencing tonight. "That being said we do make an impact while we're here, and for that you need hope." He continued, leaving Rip even more confused.
"You just said-"
"I said the world is hopeless, not the people. So do me a favor when we save your son; tell him the second part of that." He advised and so Rip nodded.
"Alright, but you need to do me a favor." He said,
"I am doing you a favor," Len argued but Rip ignored him completely.
"When you have a child; don't teach them that first part." He requested and Len chuckled.
"Joke's on you, I'll never have a child." He said but Rip just put his cup to his mouth.
"Whatever you say," Len looked like he was about to argue again, but then he noticed Rip was staring at something over the rim of his cup. So instead he followed his gaze and rolled his eyes in extreme annoyance when he realized where Rip had gotten the idea of him ever having a kid.
Not so far away was the table their group had been coming a going from all night, and sitting there right now was Sara. She had somehow ended up in charge of Ingrid's surrogate granddaughter at the start of the party and now, finally, all of the energy that the little girl possessed had worn off. So she was sitting quietly on Sara's lap, repeatedly trading off a pen with her that told Len they were probably playing tic-tac-toe or some such game.
"Grow up," he sneered at Rip, ignoring the laugh that escaped the Englishman's mouth as he stalked away.
He ended up over at the table with Sara, to Rip's amusement no doubt.
"Hey," she greeted him when he planted himself in the seat across from her.
"Hey," he replied,
"St- my dad, says we might head out soon." She informed him, choosing at the last minute not to use Stein's name just in case the three-year-old nodding off in her arms heard and accidently ratted her out.
"Sounds good," Len agreed.
"Sawa," Haley said quietly, handing Sara the pen to take her turn in their game.
"I know, I know." Sara assured the young girl as she took the pen and marked an X on their paper.
Len watched the two of them for a minute, and as much as he would hate to admit it he rather liked the way Sara looked with a sleepy toddler on her lap. She looked so calm, and yet more protective than ever. The young girl had her head resting comfortably against Sara's chest and Sara had one arm securely placed along the side of her little friend's body to make sure she didn't topple over. He could very easily see The Canary becoming a mother one day, after all this chaos is over mind you. He knew that he would want to be around to see that, and he tried to deny the level of involvement he was finding himself hoping to have in such an event.
"What?" Sara asked when she noticed his staring, Haley having now grown too tired for their game and decided to close her eyes.
"I was just thinking," He drawled, needing to come up with an excuse and fast. "I was in Rip's office the other day and apparently he does have hard copy files of the important things, our team included." He began, the look on her face showing that she was listening. "Did you ever plan on telling us that you're a Christmas baby?" He asked and she huffed out a snicker.
"Technically I won't be a Christmas baby until next year," she said to him, reminding him that she hasn't actually been born yet. "I don't know; I don't think I've celebrated my birthday, or anything, since The Gambit went down. It was pretty easy to loose track of the days." She said and he chuckled, and that was when Stein came over with Ingrid not far behind him.
"The rest of us are heading out," Stein told the two at the table.
"Meaning if we want a ride home, we better come with you." Len drawled, getting up as Sara handed Haley over to Ingrid.
"Thank you for watching her," the older woman said,
"No problem." Sara assured with a smile, she and Len grabbed their jackets and followed Stein out.
When they got back to the house everyone split up in various directions but unfortunately for Len and Sara they both headed for the living room, which undoubtedly was going to end in a fight over the remote.
"Stop!" Kendra shouted just as the two of them reached the doorway,
"What?" Sara asked, everyone now looking at Kendra who simply pointed to the top of the doorway with a mischievous grin.
She had hung mistletoe right above where the crook and the assassin were standing.
"Well it's happened," Len said in with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "I've finally found people crazy enough to actually uses mistletoe," He sighed, Sara's expression mirrored his own.
"Come on, you guys know the rules." Ray encouraged, eating a bag of candy he had gotten from the party like it was popcorn and he was watching a really good movie.
With a sigh Len looked down at Sara, silently asking if she wanted to honor tradition or make the others pay for this little joke. Personally he would be ok with either option, but when she smirked playfully at him he knew which one she'd chosen.
"Come on Snart," She teased, "It can be my birthday present."
