Sara's room was still cold as ever that night, but the blanket Stein gave her was warm and should've allowed for her to finally sleep in there.
Should've.
Unfortunately she is still directly beneath Kendra and Ray, and she really should've known that they would be spending the night celebrating their engagement. She groaned out a long sigh of annoyance and waited a few moments to see if the noise from her upstairs neighbors would quiet down. When it didn't she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, wrapped her new blanket around her shoulders, and got out of bed. She left her room and crept carefully down the hall, as she does almost every night, then turned the knob of Jax and Leonard's door until it opened and she could sneak inside.
When she entered she first looked at Jax, whose brown eyes she couldn't see in the dark but she knew he was awake. As if to confirm her suspicions he rolled over to face away from her just as she shut the door. Without a word she walked over to Len's bed where she found him asleep, but he's a light sleeper and she knew he had at least briefly opened his eyes when she walked in. She pulled back his blankets before spreading her own out over the bed and climbing in next to him.
"Your blanket is warm, why aren't you in your bed?" He asked as she settled in.
"Complaining crook?" She asked with a teasing smirk, she could feel him smirking in response and as if to prove it he wrapped an arm around her waist, something he had only ever before done in his sleep.
"Not at all, just wondering." He said,
"Kendra and Ray are at it again," she admitted and he took his arm back, rolled over, and took most of her blanket with him.
"Enough said, goodnight." He said and she couldn't help but chuckle before grabbing back some of her blanket.
"Goodnight."
"All right, where are we going?" Ray asked at dawn the next morning as he, Sara, and Jax piled into the car. The plan was for them to head out and get this Chanukah gift for Stein before he woke up.
"Bar Harbor, Maine." Sara replied from the passenger seat, Ray spun his head to look at her as if she were insane.
"What?!" He demanded, "That's three and a half hours away!" He continued to exclaim.
"Why do you think three of us are going?" She asked, Ray rolled his eyes and started the car, knowing that if they want to make it back by nightfall then they had better get a move on.
"What are we even getting that we have to go all the way to Maine?" He asked as he pulled out of the driveway.
"Some kind of Jewish dessert," Jax replied from the backseat.
"Are you kidding me?" Ray asked, taking his eyes off the road just long enough to glare at Sara. "You're making us drive three and a half hours for cupcakes?" He demanded,
"Not cupcakes, Chocolate Zeppole." She corrected, "We couldn't think of anything and it's not like we can Google it, I saw an add in the newspaper and Jackie said the place was really good and worth the drive." She continued,
"Jackie's Jewish?" Ray found himself asking,
"No but she has friend who is." Jax supplied from the back seat, "Apparently she used go to this bakery every summer and bring Jackie something back."
"Every summer?" Ray asked, knowing something was off, "So we're not getting him some kind of special Chanukah dessert?" He asked and Sara groaned in her seat.
"I don't know," she said, "None of us are Jewish and without the Internet we can't look up what is or is not traditional, so we'll just see what they have when we get there." She all but snapped,
"I'm just saying that three hours is a long way to- I'll shut up," Ray quickly amended his sentence when he stopped at a stop sign and caught the deadly glare Sara had fixed on him.
"Morning," Kendra said in her usual cheery voice as she entered the kitchen and found Rip and Stein already in their usual seats, Len standing over the stove cooking eggs.
"Good morning Kendra," Rip replied as he took a sip of his coffee.
"Where's Raymond?" Stein asked, normally Ray came down with Kendra but today she was alone, and he was starting to wonder where Sara and Jax had gone as well.
"Jax and Raymond are keeping Sara out of the house for the day," Len replied before Kendra had the chance. Sure the road trip to Maine might have been Sara's idea, but that doesn't meant that those at the house aren't using Sara's absence on the day after her birthday to their advantage.
"They're already gone?" Stein questioned, he had known about the plan for those two to keep Sara distracted for the day while the rest of them set up a small birthday party, but he hadn't suspected they would be gone so early.
"Yes, so we should probably hurry up with breakfast and get started." Kendra said as she quickly poured herself a cup of coffee.
"Take your time, they're going to be gone all day." Len assured her just as he finished cooking.
"Is there one station that isn't playing commercials?" Ray demanded to know as Sara was leaning forward and scanning through the radio.
"So far, just the religious station." She informed him and he frowned, he hadn't wanted to spend his entire day after Christmas on the highway with Sara and Jax.
Still, it's for the best. After Sara commented on that kiss under the mistletoe serving as her birthday present everyone, except for Rip, became very confused. She then explained that Christmas is also her birthday and so upon hearing that the team had decided to plan a surprise for her. They were initially going to do it on Christmas, her actual birthday, but they made the mistake of not so subtlety asking her if she liked chocolate. Stein had been the one to ask, and she had him figured out in less than five seconds. She told him that yes; she does like chocolate, but also not to do anything for her birthday. Apparently her parents tried for a few years to celebrate her birthday on the actual date but she always hated it. She hated blowing out her birthday candles on Christmas, she hated not having a real birthday party until weeks later if she had one at all, and as she had gotten older she rarely even noticed when her birthday had passed so she told him that she didn't see much of a point in celebrating. But the rest of the team does. They very much see a point in celebrating the birthday of their resident assassin and since she was already planning to drag Jax and Ray out on the day after Christmas, well they might as well use the day to set up a surprise for her back at the house.
Absentmindedly, Ray wondered how all that was going. Now that he knows they're going all the way to Maine he's sure that the rest of the team will have plenty of time to set up whatever it is they're setting up.
"I thought that without Raymond in the house we wouldn't have to worry about anything setting on fire." Len drawled in annoyance while watching Professor Stein swat out the fire he had accidentally set to an innocent, and now slightly burned, washcloth.
"I was trying to get the lighter to work," The older man excused, he had wanted to be sure they wouldn't be fiddling with it later when trying to light the candles. Just as he had suspected it wasn't working, but it decided to as he grew less confident with it and had absentmindedly been holding it dangerously close to a flammable washcloth.
Len hummed in thought before finally deciding to grab a piece of scrap paper from the counter, along with a pen, and scribble something down. He then tacked his note onto the fridge and out of curiosity Stein went over and looked, a frown immediately crossing his face when he saw.
"Really?" He questioned; Len just smirked.
"Start the tally tomorrow night," he said before leaving the room, leaving behind his bulletin of Days Without a Fire.
"How far is the next stop?" Jax asked for the hundredth time,
"I don't know," Sara and Ray replied in unison, also for the hundredth time.
"But I hope we find it soon because I have to go to the bathroom." Ray added,
"Why do you think I keep asking?" Jax snapped from the backseat.
"Why didn't you two go before we left?" Sara questioned the two of them.
"You didn't go before we left!" Jax pointed out,
"True but I'm not complaining about it," She argued back.
"No offense Sara, but it probably isn't a good thing that you haven't gone to the bathroom since last night and still don't have to go." Ray said but she didn't seem concerned about it in the least.
"There's no bathroom breaks in the league of assassins, I can hold it for almost twenty-four hours before it becomes an issue." She explained and although he was in the backseat she could feel Jax's worried expression. "I don't," she assured him. "I'm just saying that I can," she felt him roll his eyes but soon drop the subject, or so she had hoped.
"Wait, so what about-?"
"Do you really want to get into that?" She cut him off with the deadpan question and he abruptly shut his mouth.
With a satisfied expression on her face Sara turned her attention back to the road, and no sooner did she see the sign that they all should've been looking for.
"Next rest stop, four miles." She announced, the boys responded with mixed cheers and groans. Cheers because they now knew how long they have to wait, but groans because when you really have to pee four miles is a long ways to wait.
"Rip… Rip, RIP!" Kendra shouted at the Englishman who was turning blue in the face as he failed to blow up a balloon.
"What?" He asked as he caught his breath. The two of them were currently seated on the couch while Len and Stein were out, having walked down to the store to pick up some small decorations and another jug of water.
"You're turning purple," she deadpanned and he sighed as he set down the deflated balloon in defeat.
"Yes well, blowing up balloons has never been a talent of mine." He admitted as she tied her own, perfectly inflated, balloon.
"Is there a tragic backstory to go with that?" She teased and he couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at that.
"Well there is the fact that Miranda always had to blow up any balloons we got for Jonas's birthday, except for the one year she bought them already inflated to make me feel better." Kendra fell back laughing at the image of that and Rip laughed along with her after a moment. Once the two had had their laugh the reminder of Miranda and Jonas's fates sank in and brought a heavy silence to the room.
"We will save them you know," Kendra said, prompting Rip to look at her and see her kind smile. "We will defeat Savage and get them back," she assured him and he cracked a rather forced grin of his own. He couldn't allow himself to have that kind of faith, not yet anyway.
"I hope so," he said before pushing to his feet. "But in the meantime we have a birthday to celebrate so let's hope that Professor Stein and Mr. Snart get back soon with the supplies." He said and as if on cue the front door swung open and in walked a bickering Martin and Leonard.
"Well they came back," Kendra said, knowing that it would've been preferable for the two to return to the house not arguing.
"What is going on?" Rip questioned as he and Kendra approached the two in the hallway.
"Silver top's girlfriend was working today," Len immediately said, jerking an accusing thumb in Stein's direction.
"She is not my girlfriend!" The professor uselessly protested,
"You're starting to sound like Jax," Len taunted, Stein opened his mouth to rebuttal but was cut off before he had a chance to get a word out.
"What is this all about?" Rip demanded, one hand holding his now aching head in frustration.
"Well during his usual flirting, Grandpa here invited Ingrid over for Sara's party." Len explained and again Stein looked like he had every intention set on arguing, but again he didn't get the chance.
"What!?" Rip demanded,
"In my defense," Stein began to splutter,
"Oh I can't wait to hear this," Rip muttered, though it went ignored.
"I did not MEAN to invite her over-"
"Your exact words were 'why don't you stop by?'" Len reminded the older man, "What else could that mean?" He questioned,
"Ok, enough!" Rip put a stop to the argument between the two before he focused his extremely angry gaze on Martin.
"What were you thinking?" He demanded; Martin seemed to shrink under his hard stare.
"As I said before, I did not mean to invite her. It just sort of, slipped out." He excused and at that point it was hard to tell who was angrier, Rip or Len.
"Well you are just going to have to give her a call and uninvite her," Rip finally said, of course Stein looked at him as if he were insane.
"I don't have her phone number," he excused,
"It's 1986, the phone book is still a thing." Len reminded Stein,
"Guys, come on." Kendra finally cut in, earning the attention of all three of them. "This party was just going to be the seven of us like every other day, and besides its not like Ingrid's a stranger, we all know her." She said, trying to defend Stein's impulsive decision to bring his friend to the house.
"Kendra, it doesn't matter that we all know her. She doesn't know us, not really, and we can't let her find out." Rip tried to lecture but judging by the way Kendra folded her arms over her middle it was obvious that she was in no mood to listen.
"We can't let her find out what?" She challenged, "We hardly act different in public than we do at home, and besides it's rude to cancel on a friend like that." She pointed out and Rip sighed in defeat.
"Fine," he conceded "But everyone needs to be on their best behavior," he warned before walking off with Stein not far behind him, after sending a grateful look Kendra's way of course.
"Are you trying to set up the old man?" Len asked once both Stein and their captain were safely out of earshot.
"Ray and I have a bet going," she admitted and a mischievous smirk crossed the crook's face; he was liking Kendra more and more every day.
"Can I get in on that?" He asked, if they were going to have the old lady over tonight and therefor be forced to pay attention to their covers then he might as well try and make some money off it.
"Finally," Jax said in relief when, after nearly four hours of driving, they found the little bakery Sara had dragged them all the way out here for.
"We're lucky they're open," Ray remarked as the three of them walked across the parking lot.
"No kidding," Sara remarked with obvious relief and so Ray stopped in his tracks.
"You mean to tell me that you dragged us out four hours from home, and you weren't even sure if they were open?" He demanded and upon hearing it put this way Jax also glared at the blonde woman who only responded by shrugging her shoulders.
"I was fairly sure they were open," she replied, turning back towards the small building and heading inside.
Ray and Jax exchanged glances with each other before they decided it's best to just be grateful that the bakery was in fact open and follow Sara inside.
The bakery was a small building and was very homey on the inside, but for the day after Christmas it appeared to be doing a good business. The display case had things ranging from chocolate chip cookies to some Santa Claus looking things made out of what looked to be marshmallow and strawberries.
"Hi, can I help you?" A friendly enough woman asked from behind the counter,
"Yeah, we're looking for something called zip, zippo, zippoly?" Jax stuttered, realizing that he had no idea how to pronounce whatever it was that they were here for.
"Zeppole," Sara corrected him.
After they got what they had come for they filed back into the car.
"Alright, back to New Hampshire." Ray declared, stating up the car and pulling out of the parking lot.
"You guys don't want to stop at a restaurant anywhere?" Sara asked, to her it seemed almost like a waste to come four hours just to get back in the car right away.
"Nope," The boys answered in unison, unlike Sara they knew that the three of them have a surprise party to get to.
"The cake looks like it came out rather well," Stein mused as he entered the kitchen, where Kendra was just finishing the task of frosting the cake.
"Thank you," she said, her voice doing nothing to hide how pleased with herself she was. They had decided to make a chocolate cake with white frosting, but Kendra's true accomplishment was that she had managed to write Happy Birthday Sara in pink icing across the surface without smudging a single letter.
"I believe it is I who should be thanking you, Kendra." Stein said with a grateful smile on his face. He then cast a glance over his shoulder into the living room, Ingrid had just arrived and currently she was helping Len tack some streamers up over the doorframe.
"I don't believe Captain Hunter would've come around to her joining us had you not changed his mind." He explained and Kendra smirked.
"Since when do any of us listen to Rip?" She asked and Stein chuckled in response.
"Mr. Stein, do you think you could come give us a hand in here?" Len's voice called from the living room; considering the cover story was that he and Ray had been friends all their lives he knew he had to pretend to show some respect for the old man, but Stein didn't miss the sheer annoyance that laced every word.
He nodded his thanks to Kendra before turning and heading into the other room, and just as he did Jax came bursting into the kitchen through the back door.
"Wow, you guys made good time." Kendra commented, seeing as it wasn't quite seven o'clock yet.
Meanwhile Jax was balancing a box of some sort of pastries in one arm while he used the other hand to open the fridge. He took out the milk, water, and orange juice before he placed his box in the back of the fridge and the previously discarded jugs in front of it.
"Just went there and back," he explained, rearranging the refrigerators contents slightly more to be sure that the box was hidden from Stein.
Just as he finished the entire house went quiet, the knob on the front door turning, as Sara and Ray were about to come in. They didn't have time to hit the lights before Sara was walking into the living room.
"What's-?"
"Surprise!" Everyone's shout, except for Len's because he kind of just stood there, cut her off. She looked surprised, not angry but not exactly happy either. Ray caught sight of Ingrid and sent a confused look over to Kendra in the kitchen doorway, the look she gave him told him to just go with it.
Eventually Sara warmed up to the surprise and they had their little party. The team had gotten her some little birthday presents, such as little trinkets or a gift card from Stein. Len, because he gave her her birthday present yesterday, gave her a small box wrapped in Santa Claus paper.
"Really?" She asked him with a teasing smile, he simply smirked back and shrugged.
"In hindsight I really should've given you this for Christmas," he remarked as she unwrapped the present, revealing that it was a knife sheath decorated with the carved images of snowflakes.
This, obviously, confused Ingrid but they managed to convince her that the knife it was intended for was decoration only. Considering that, as far as she was concerned, Sara's father had once been an antiques dealer it wasn't that hard.
Ingrid did manage to catch Sara alone before the night was over, the blonde was hiding in the kitchen and putting some dishes in the sink to be washed later.
"Hiding from the party?" The older woman asked, causing Sara to look over her shoulder and notice her.
"I'll be out there in a minute," she replied with a small smile.
"When your father invited me tonight I'll admit I was a little surprised," she said and Sara chuckled.
"Well if you ask me I think my dad has a little bit of a crush on you," she all but teased and she didn't miss it when Ingrid shifted uncomfortably.
"How do you feel about that?" The older woman asked; Sara didn't know how to respond to the question at first.
"Um-" she began, almost glad when Ingrid cut her off because she had no idea what to say.
"It's just that I know the idea of your father possibly having a relationship with someone other than your mother must be hard to imagine, and if you're not comfortable with that-" now it was Sara's turn to cut Ingrid off.
"Whoa, whoa slow down." She said, "What did my dad tell you about my mother?" She asked and Ingrid shrugged with a bewildered look on her face that said he had told her nothing. "I never knew her," Sara began the lie, choosing to base this story off of Clarissa as opposed to her true mother. "Dad used to work a lot, and I mean A LOT. Mom got tired of him always being gone and walked out, I was too young to remember her." She confessed and although there was now more sympathy in Ingrid's eyes it was obvious that something still wasn't adding up for her. "Ray's parents died when I was only about four, and he came to live with us. So if I ever seem uncomfortable it's because I'm still adjusting. For my entire life it was just dad, Ray, I. Sure Rip was around a lot but he didn't live with us, and Len was just the kid down the street. I left to travel for work and when I came back Rip and Len were living with us, Ray had married this girl I didn't know, she already lived with her brother, and we were all packing up and moving to New Hampshire. But trust me, I like seeing how happy my dad is with you." She explained with a small smile towards the end.
Much to her surprise, Ingrid wrapped her in a hug. But she hugged the woman back regardless, because no matter what the actual situation is between her Stein Sara does in fact want him to be happy.