Author's Note: It's partayyyyy time! Get ready to be surprised, Thea.

And get ready to be surprised, readers. We've got a bit of drama coming up so stay tuned ;)

BTW, Thea's outfit is from 2x08.

Thea woke up on her 17th birthday to an inundation of texts, DMs, and posts on people's Instagrams. She spent a happy 45 minutes curled up in bed thanking everyone and sharing stories, before realizing three very important people hadn't texted her.

Sara, Iris, and Roy.

Roy... well, that was kind of predictable. Thea figured that he was either still sleeping, forgot, or would text her at like eleven o'clock that night. Sara and Iris, on the other hand... that was a little bit offensive.

Granted, Sara had been a little out of sorts, lately. She had never replied to Thea and Iris' string of texts about a hangout on Thea's birthday at Laurel's, and she refused to say what was bothering her, though it was clearly something.

Well, Thea would just assume that Sara was coming today. And nothing would spoil her mood, even if her friends forgot her birthday.

Thea quickly threw on a special outfit she'd bought at the mall about a week ago (consider it a birthday gift to herself) and admired herself in the mirror, no less pleased with the effect than she had been when she'd bought it. She had on a mid-thigh leather skirt with a flowered black-and-white shirt tucked in, topped with a burgundy blazer and a dark choker with similarly colored beads. She curled her hair, which was starting to grow out again and danced nicely at about shoulder length, and considered herself ready to go.

"Happy birthday, Thea," Moria said with a large smile when her newly 17-year-old daughter skipped down the stairs. She handed her a wrapped package. "I thought that giving you money would be a little impersonal."

"Yeah," Thea agreed with a smile, plunking down on the bench in the front hallway to open up her gift. Inside was a jewelry box with a necklace inside. The pendant, attached to a delicate chain, was silver, with thin, tinsel-like strands of diamonds coming down from a heart. "Mom, it's beautiful. I absolutely love it."

"I wore it at my wedding," Moria explained. "Take very good care of it."

"I'm not getting married today, though," Thea said with a laugh after she promised to do just that. "Just heading over to Laurel's to hang with her and Iris and Sara. Who-" She broke off and checked her phone. "Scratch that; they texted me, never mind."

Moria shook her head a little and lifted the necklace from the box. "Would you like to wear this today?" she asked, holding out the chain to her daughter. "I think it would work well with that outfit."

"Yes," Thea gushed, immediately yanking off her comparatively cheap choker and turning around so Moria could clasp the necklace for her. She looked down at the delicate silver and diamonds lying against her sternum and could resist a soft squeal. "I absolutely love it."

Oliver was in the kitchen when Thea finally made it in, and he greeted his sister with a rare smile-and-hug combo. "Happy birthday, Speedy," he said, nodding over at her chair, where a package was sitting. "I have no idea what to buy for teenaged girls, so sorry if it sucks."

"You liar," Thea teased, hurrying over to her gift. "You've had, like, eight teenaged girlfriends and you get them all great gifts."

Oliver rolled his eyes, trying not to smile, and watched his sister open her present. Inside was a t-shirt. "Taylor Swift merch?!" Thea squealed, her voice getting so high pitched that Oliver winced and covered his ears. "OMG OMG OMG OLLIE!"

She attacked him with a hug. "This has been sold out for sooooooo long!"

"I set a timer for restock," Oliver explained, patting his sister on the back. "Now relax; it's just a shirt."

"I'm obsessed. Iris is going to freeeeeak," Thea exclaimed, carefully folding the shirt and putting it back in the bag for safe keeping.

"Miss Thea!" Rasia cried as she walked into the kitchen with a plate practically towering with chocolate chip pancakes. "Happy Birthday."

Thea's mouth fell open. "Yum yum yum, thank you so much," she gushed, scrambling to get herself a plate and silverware and the syrup and whipped creme. "Hey, Ollie?"

"What's up, Thea?"

She grinned, digging into her food and moaning as the chocolate melted on her tongue. "Remind me to have a birthday more often."

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With the excitement of that morning, Thea had almost forgotten about her hopes for a big surprise party. So she was caught (almost) completely unawares when she rang the doorbell of the Lance's house only to find the door unlocked.

"Guys?" Thea called, stepping inside the dark entryway. The second she kicked off her shoes and walked into the living room, the lights turned on.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone yelled, and Thea let out a squeal of happiness.

Laurel and Sara's living room had been completely transformed. There was a giant banner that read Seventeen! hanging from the ceiling, balloons in the corners of the room, and all of Thea's friends were scattered in different hiding spots.

"Guysssss," Thea gushed, fanning her face. "I'm literally going to start crying."

"No you won't," Iris groaned, running forward and hugging her. "Happy birthday, Thea."

After Thea had hugged Sara, Thea, Alex, Maggie, Kara and Caitlin (Felicity hadn't been able to make it, much to her displeasure), and thanked Laurel about eight times, she moseyed on over to her boyfriend. "I'm going to take a guess and say it wasn't your idea to make the balloons purple and sparkly?" she said teasingly.

Roy smirked. "I picked out black ones at the store and brought them this morning and everything, but Laurel said no."

Thea frowned, trying to figure out if he was joking or not. "Wait, seriously?"

"No," Roy said with a chuckle. "If I was going to spend money on balloons, of all things, I'd at least pick a color that you'd like."

She blinked up at him, smiling happily, and he leaned down and kissed her. "Happy birthday, Thea."

"Thanks, Roy," Thea murmured, so zenned out by the kiss that she almost told him to have a happy birthday, too.

"Get a room!" Alex cried, rolling her eyes at them. "Or don't, and come help us with the playlist!"

"Oooooh music!" Thea exclaimed, pecking Roy once more on the lips and hurrying over. She clustered around the Alex's iPhone with Laurel, Iris and Maggie and they all began picking out songs.

Sara on the other hand, was hovering near the guitar stand in the corner of the room, watching the tall, short haired young man who was hovering uncomfortably in another corner. Leonard caught his girlfriend's eye and raised both his eyebrows at her and Sara smiled halfheartedly back.

In truth, she had no idea what to do or say to the guy sho was usually so entirely comfortable around. After Laurel's stripping reality check about Leonard's father, Sara still hadn't made up her mind on whether to approach him on the subject or not. She knew it wouldn't be welcome, but she wasn't the type to just stick with the easy stuff because it was, well, easy. Sara pushed, and she knew she made people better because of it -made Leonard better-, but it still usually unwelcome, at least at the beginning.

Once the music had been taken care of and started up, Laurel led Thea into the kitchen to show her the broad variety of snacks they had picked out. Sara wandered after them and tried to find an opportunity to get Laurel alone.

Instead, Iris grabbed onto her elbow. "Okay, what's up with you?" she asked in a low, concerned voice, staring at Sara underneath lowered eyebrows. "You've been super quiet and usually you'd be bouncing off the walls with excitement over this kind of thing. Did you and Thea get in the fight? Is there something up with your mom?"

Sara bit her lip and shook her head, glancing quickly around the room to make sure Leonard hadn't come in. "Come on," she urged, taking Iris' arm and sneaking her out of the back exit of the kitchen, towards the staircase leading to her room. Once they were safely inside, Sara broke down. "Iris, I don't know what to do," she confessed, her voice shaking a little. "Laurel told me that Leonard's dad is an ex-convict."

Iris' jaw dropped open and she hurriedly sat down on Sara's bed. "What is it with ex-felon fathers?" she asked to no one in particular, shaking her head.

"I don't know," Sara sighed, squeezing her hands in her lap. "But now I don't know what to do. At least it explains why my dad knew who he and his father are."

"So... what's the problem?" Iris asked, tilting her head a little. "Like, don't get me wrong, I get that this is probably a big shocker and you're wondering why he never told you. But Sara, people who were criminals don't always stay criminals. Maybe Leonard never brought it up because his dad has changed?"

"But he can't have." Sara shook her head, gnawing anxiously on her lip again. "Iris, he mentions these things sometimes. About how his father isn't around for him. About how he drinks. On- on Thanksgiving he said that he took his dad's car keys when he was passed out in the living room and took Lisa to get hot dogs for lunch. On Thanksgiving. And besides that, Laurel said that when she talked about Lewis -Leonard's dad- with my dad, he said that he had always suspected that Lewis was abusive."

Iris' eyes went wide. "Oh," she whispered. "And now you're not sure whether to bring it up to make sure he's okay and safe at home."

Sara nodded wordlessly, her eyes budding with tears. Iris put an arm around her shoulder and gave her a tight squeeze. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "You could have told me, Sara. Thea, too."

"You cannot tell anyone, okay?" Sara said, pulling back a little and looking Iris seriously in the eyes. "You cannot let this get out at all. This is Leonard's secret and I don't know if I should have even told you. I'm sure he doesn't want anyone knowing. Apparently, he doesn't even want me knowing."

She swiped at her cheeks, letting out a shaky sigh, and Iris rubbed her shoulder. "I swear to you that I will not breathe a word of this to anyone until you tell me it's okay. Even Barry. But Sara... this is obviously eating you up inside. You have to talk to him. Besides... you could end up really helping him."

"I know, I know," Sara groaned, planting her face in her hands. "I know I should. But he's not going to like it, Iris. He never talks about his dad. I didn't even know he was named Lewis until my dad said so. I didn't even know where Leonard lived until Laurel and I dropped him off after the school shooting." She shivered. "I'm just- I'm just so scared for him, Iris. And I don't know what to do, and I don't want to make the wrong decision. He probably thinks something's wrong with me because I've been all weird around him ever since that snowstorm, but I can't look him in the eye knowing what I know and not being able to talk about it!"

"So talk about it," Iris said, firmly. "Go up to Leonard and talk about it, right now."

"It's Thea's birthday!" Sara cried, looking at her incredulously. "What if this turns into a big thing? No. No, I'm waiting. I need to wait until we're alone."

"Then you're prepared to walk downstairs and act like everything's normal? Like you're fine?" Iris asked bluntly.

Sara took a deep breath and got off the bed, walking over to her vanity to wipe her face in the mirror. She gripped the back of her swivel chair and took another deep breath, this one slower. "Yes," she said after a second. "Yes. We're going to go down, and if someone asks I can say that I wanted to show you my gift for Thea and also because I needed help wrapping it."

She reached over to her beanbag chair and grabbed a fairly nicely wrapped package. "Proof."

Iris nodded. "Okay," she said. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Sara confirmed, and they walked downstairs.

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Presents and cake went smoothly, but once everyone had crashed into a sugar coma in front of the TV to watch Thea's favorite show, Leonard came up to Sara. "Hey," he murmured, nodding at the front entry hall. "Can we talk?"

Sara looked at him with wide eyes and then shot a glance at Iris. 'Go' Iris mouthed, giving her a significant look.

"Yeah," Sara breathed, turning back to Leonard and nodding. "Umm... yeah, let's go outside, okay?"

He nodded back, and the two of them snuck away from the living room to go and talk. They opened the front door and stepped out into the crisp March air, and Sara sat down on the steps of her front porch.

"You looked like you'd been crying, earlier," Leonard said softly after he'd followed suite, reaching over and rubbing Sara's bicep gently with his hand. "When you were upstairs with Iris. Is everything okay?"

Sara swallowed, feeling a nervous pit open in her stomach. Her knee was bouncing uncontrollably. "Umm... Leonard?"

"Yeah?"

"If- If something-" She broke off, biting her lip, before blurting in a rush, "If someone was hurting you you would tell me, right? Or someone? Anyone?"

Leonard looked at her, startled, and his hand fell from her arm. "Uh..." he muttered, folding his arms and resting them on his knees. "Sara, where is this coming from?"

"Laurel told me that she found out that your dad used to be in jail," Sara said, unable to stop now that she'd started. "She said that my dad arrested him all the way back when she was a baby. And you were a baby. Before Lisa and I were even born. And she said that my dad said that he thought that your dad was abusing you even though he was never able to prove it. And you- you talk about him drinking and not being there all the time, or not all the time, but whenever you say anything about him it's about that, and I just- I wanted..." She trailed off, looking over at Leonard with wide, fearful eyes.

He leaned back against the step, letting out a slow breath, and for a painfully long moment they were both completely silent. Sara could hear laughter from inside, but it felt distant. She wished that she could be in there with her friends, celebrating her best friend's birthday. Why had this had to happen now?

"Do you remember when I stood you up at Homecoming?"

Leonard's voice came so suddenly and with such a surprisingly statement that Sara jumped. She felt her breathing freeze. "Yes, of course."

"That night, I... I was ready to go," Leonard said, his voice very quiet. "I rented a suit. I got you flowers. Lisa was freaking out and taking pictures and sending them to all of her friends. And then my dad got home. My, um..." His voice cracked a little and he rubbed at his face. Sara watched him, wanting to touch him but almost scared to. "My mom had sent us a letter, that day, and it... it upset him. So he went out drinking and came home, drunk, obviously. He's not-" He broke off again and took a shaky breath. "He doesn't hit us much, but he does. Sometimes. We've learned how to get out of his way, you know? But he's dangerous when he's drunk and it's... harder. I couldn't leave Lisa with him. She's- she's terrified of him. I-"

He let out a sob and bent forward, putting his head down on his arms. Sara reached over and put her arms around his back, pressing her face into his shoulder as he sat there and shook. She had never in her life seen Leonard Snart cry before, and she hadn't thought she ever would.

"I hated the thought of you- of you being at that dance alone," Leonard said, his voice wobbling. "But I- I couldn't tell you, Sara."

"Why?" Sara whispered, rubbing his arm and pressing a kiss to his temple, his short hair rough against her lips. "Why couldn't you tell me? I would have understood, Len. I could have done something about it."

"See, that's exactly it!" Leonard cried, pulling away from her and getting to his feet. Sara hopped up, too, staring up at him with wide eyes. "You would try to fix it. You would- you would get involved. And I just couldn't... I just couldn't risk it."

"But I would have told my dad!" Sara protested. "He could have done something about it legally!"

"Would you have, really, though?" Leonard asked her seriously, searching her face with his eyes. "Would you have really told your dad about it before rushing into the situation headlong and trying to save the day?"

Sara opened her mouth, then hesitated.

"Exactly," Leonard said, his voice falling in volume again. He reached forward and brushed her hair back behind her ear, thumb stroking her cheekbone. "There was too big of a chance, in my eyes, that you would have tried to do something yourself. And I did not want you anywhere near my father. I- I still don't." Leonard let out a breath and stepped closer, pressing his forehead to hers. "I love you, Sara," he said, his voice so filled with sincerity and pain that Sara felt her knees wobble. "I wasn't going to let him touch your life in any way."

"Len..." Sara whispered, her voice and words and even her brain completely failing her.

Leonard titled her chin and kissed her gently on the lips, deepening the kiss only for a second before pulling back. "I'm still not going to let him touch your life in any way," he said, his voice barely above a shaky whisper. "So we- we can't be together anymore."

The ground dropped out from underneath Sara's feet. "What?" she gasped as Leonard pulled away and stepped quickly back. Fresh tears welled up in his eyes and started to roll down his cheeks, but he turned and hurriedly walked away.

"Wait!" Sara called, running after him. "Wait, Leonard, don't-!"

But he'd broken into a run, and even if Sara had been able to catch up to him and his ridiculously long legs, she wasn't sure what she would have said.

Author's Note: HOLY CRAP I WAS GOING TO DO THIS WAYYY LATER LIKE AFTER PROM BUT OMG THIS IS PERFECT I'M HYPED AWKJERHALEKJHALWK JRHAWLEKJRHLK

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLLYYYYYY WE GET AN EXPLANATION FOR WHAT HAPPENED AT HOMECOMING! Good grief it's only taken 40 chapters to get there!

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?! Tell me in the reviews!