Sara leaned against the counter of the island on the Waverider as she listened to Ava go on and on about her latest stab cast subject. They were making cookies for the Legends cookie exchange later that day and it was their turn in the kitchen. Ava was doing most of the work as she was the baker of the two and Sara was providing moral support and operating as a test taster regardless of whether Ava asked her to or not.
"Can you hand me the flour babe?" Ava asked, pausing her rant mid-sentence.
Sara nodded and reached out to feel the jars in front of her. Feeling down to the second jar on the left, she ran her fingers across the Braille label to read flour. Sara opened the jar and handed it to Ava.
"Here you go."
"Thank you," Ava said as Sara heard her measure and poured some into her batter. "Hey so I know you gave me your list for Christmas and your birthday, but is there anything you want for your birthday and not for Christmas? It's just I know we're celebrating Christmas first this year so is there anything you want first and something you're okay with waiting to get or anything that is more of a birthday gift?"
Sara thought about it for a moment there were several things on her list that she was eager to receive, but it's not like she would have to wait additional days to receive them
"I don't know? Whenever I get the gifts it doesn't really matter the long as I get that number one gift on my list." Sara said as she bumped Ava with her hips as she came around to grab the food coloring. She had asked for Ava in black lingerie on her bed when she woke up.
Ava hummed and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Only if you're a good girl, Sara."
She forgot how to breathe as Ava pressed a kiss to her neck and a shiver ran down her back. Ava moved back and walked over to the other side of the island and added a drop of food coloring to the bowls of frosting.
Sara looked down at the cookie and tried to ignore how wet her panties were. "So what do you want for Christmas, you haven't given me your list."
"I want a pegasus," Ava said with a laugh. "Well, that and the serial killer's coloring book."
Sara hummed as Ava put the spatula down. She heard Ava move the bowl and the sound of the plastic wrap as Ava prepped the mix to chill in the fridge. Sara got a vision of Ava putting the dishes in the sink. There was still a good amount of cookie dough mix left on the spatula and Sara just couldn't let it go to waste. As her vision ended Sara reached forward to where she knew the spatula was and picked it up out of the bowl, before bringing it to her lips.
"Hey!" Ava said, having caught her, but Sara just smiled and continued to lick off the rest of the cookie dough. "You're going to get salmonella!"
"Totally worth it," Sara mumbled her mouth full of cookie dough.
She heard Ava click her tongue before her footsteps came around to her. Ava spanked her ass before she wrapped her arms around Sara's waist and kissed her cheek.
"You're such a little shit," Ava said, squeezing her waist. "What am I going to do with you?"
Sara smirked and put the cookie dough free spatula down on a counter before she turned around. She trailed her fingers up Ava's arms to wrap around her neck before Sara leaned in.
"No I'm not kissing your salmonella mouth," Ava lamented, as she pulled back her head.
"Ava," Sara whined, tilting her head and pouting.
She tried to be adorably irresistible, but Ava untangled her arms from Sara's waist. Ava moved to push her out of the kitchen despite Sara digging her heels in. She turned around and held on to Ava's neck hearing her giggle as she stopped.
"If you are going to continue to steal my cookie dough then you can wait outside with the other Legends and help them decorate the Parlor," Ava said, as she trailed her fingers along Sara's jaw to tip up her chin.
"I promise I'll be good. I'll even go brush my teeth," Sara said, letting go of Ava and stepping away and taking a step backward.
Ava paused and Sara knew she had won her over, but resisted the urge to smirk and continued to pout. "You have to help me do the dishes and no more cookie dough eating, oh and you can't steal more than two cookies."
"But we're making three different kinds?" Sara whined, she could smell the gingerbread cookies that were in the oven and her mouth watered.
"You already had some of the sugar cookie batter which means that you can have one gingerbread cookie when they come out of the oven and one of the peppermint swirls once they're finished."
"Can't I have one of each?"
"Fine, but any more, and I will revoke your cookie privileges and send you to your room."
"What am my five-year-old?" Sara said, crossing her arms as Ava's bopped her nose before she heard Ava's footsteps walked back over to the countertop.
"Yeah sometimes," Ava said plainly without missing a beat.
Sara scowled but followed her back to the kitchen and helped her with the dishes. The rest of their cooking making was uneventful. As promised Ava let her have one of each cookie. Sara hated waiting for them to cool down so she pulled it apart and blew on it, taking small bites of the warm gingerbread as it melted in her mouth. Ava cuckold as she mixed the peppermint cookies and before she mixed in the eggs fished out a spoonful putting it in Sara's hand. Sara smiled and hummed as she tased the batter. Even at her brattiest Ava still loved her.
Sara's boots sank into the mud of the Christmas tree farm. She tapped her cane to either side in front of her despite how Ava held onto her arm and followed the rest of the Legends as they perused the trees. Sara pulled her coat hood up over her head more as she walked. It fell over her eyes, not that Sara cared as she couldn't see, but Ava pulled it back a tad so she could at least see Sara's sunglasses.
All of the Legends chatted and their voices bounced around her as they all passed the smaller 5 and 6-foot trees in search of a gigantic 9-foot tree to put in the Parlor. Only a handful of them with the exception of Ray, Mick, Charlie, Zari, and Behrad celebrated Christmas. Nate was always the one who wrangled them all for the seasonal holidays but was deviously good at getting them to participate in the Christmas fun. Besides, it was Astra's first Christmas back on Earth and there was a sense of enjoyment in getting to see her smile and admit that she was having fun. Even if her Christmas list of knives rivaled Sara's.
"What about this one?" Nate asked as they all stopped to look at it and Sara closed her eyes to breathe in the sweet smell of pine.
"It's awfully bristly," Astra complained.
"It's not so bad," Ava said as she put her arm around Sara's waist.
"It smells nice," Sara said, closing her unseeing eyes to breathe in the scent again.
Without her sight this year Sara was worried that Christmas would be different and that it wouldn't feel the same as it usually did without all of the lights and the decorations. She still found that she still enjoyed the smell of pine and cranberries and whatever other Christmas scents that Zari and Nate chose for the candle of that day. She loved to feel the warm fire that Jax and Mick had installed in the Parlor. So Mick could have a proper place to burn things, despite Gideon's insistent protest and she loved the taste of all of the Christmas goodies Ava baked. It was still Christmas, it was just a different kind of Christmas.
"Eh, moving on," Nate commanded.
They walked around the entire farm nitpicking all of the trees and Sara let her boots squish into the mud, making a squeaking sound. Despite Ava's protest, she giggled every time Sara did it. Eventually, everyone stopped somewhere towards the edge of the tree farm staring at Ava told her was a tall and bushy tree that overwhelmed Sara's nose with the smell of pine.
"This is the one," Ava said, leaving in and wrapping her arms around Sara to rest her chin on Sara's shoulder.
"Let's cut!" Mick shouted, making the final decision and Sara heard the wrestling of the tree branches.
It was quite a fiasco to cut down the tree as all of the Legends had an opinion about how it should be done. Mick just gruffed and kept going despite Ray and Nate's insistence that they should do it a certain way. Eventually, the tree came down and everyone took a portion of it to carry back to the Jump Ship after they paid the tree farmer.
Once on the ship, everyone went in different directions. Zari and Charlie went to grab the decorations, Nate and Mick put the tree in the Parlor, Ray and Mora went to get the lights and Mona and Behrad went to get the hot chocolate and cookies, leaving Ava and Sara to clean up the mud in the Cargo Bay after Ava made everyone change shoes. After Ava finished mopping while Sara stood there and held her supplies, Sara dragged her over to the fabricator room to get the ugly sweaters.
"Why are we doing this? You can't even see it!" Ava protested as Sara smoothed the ugly sweater over her chest. Taking the chance to feel her up, Ava grabbed her hands and forced them away. "Seriously Sara?"
"It's tradition besides they're not that bad," Sara said giving a little wiggle and hearing the Bells on her sweater jingle.
"They're completely ridiculous," Ava said, her tone final.
"They're fun!" Sara insisted, grabbing Ava's hand and pulling her towards the Parlor where the rest of the Legends were waiting for them. "Everyone else is going to be wearing them. It's not like you have anything to be embarrassed about."
"Sara," Ava whined as she reluctantly let Sara pull her along.
"Please Ava?" Sara said turning around and reaching up to cup her cheeks. "For me?"
"You're lucky you're irresistible," Ava said, bopping her nose before she put her arm around Sara's waist and they walked arm-in-arm into the Parlor.
Everyone else was there waiting for them, all dressed in different versions of an ugly sweater, not necessarily Christmas related, but fun nonetheless. Charlie and Mick had the tree on the side as the branches brushed against her ankles. Nate and Behrad started hanging garland on the wall and Ava moved her away from the ladder. Ray and Nora came in with the boxes handing Sara one and Zari directed everyone's movements, telling Sara to place it over by the globe.
Once they got it settled in the Parlor, Zari saw it to it that they quickly got the tree up. MIck, Charlie, and Nate started on the lights, while Zari started to music which left everyone else to go through the boxes and pull things out while Sara just stood there. Usually, she'd help with the tree, but not this year.
"Hey, babe," Ava called her over and Sara reached out and Ava grasped her hand before pulling her down to sit next to her. "Here which one do you like, Twisted Peppermint, Vanilla Bean Noel, or Winter Candy Apple?"
Ava handed her several candles and Sara held them up to her nose. She closed her eyes and breathed in each scent, trying to match one with the pine smell from the tree.
"This one," Sara said handing Ava the Winter Candy Apple candle.
"Great, here, can you help me unwrap these?" Ava asked, putting a packaged ornament in her hand. "Hey, Mick light this one."
Sara nodded, unwrapping the ornament before she got a vision of the tree falling over. "Hey Nate, tighten that bolt on the left."
"Got it, Captain," Nate said as Sara's vision changed, to all of them all standing in front of the tree and admiring instead.
"Hot chocolate is here!" Mona announced as Sara heard her giddy footsteps on the stairs. "Sugar-free for you, Zari, extra marshmallows for you, Sara, and none for you, Ava."
"Thank you, Mona," Sara said, bringing the warm mug up to her lips. It was just the right temperature and she took a sip of the sweet chocolate as the soft mini-marshmallows brushed against her lips.
Mona handed out mugs to everyone else and Sara scooted over to a spot next to the tree after they got all of the lights, ribbon, and bells that made it hard to hear anything else. From her spot, Ava would hand her ornaments and Sara would put them on the tree next to her. The Christmas cheer and alcohol flowed along with the music Zari had picked out, as everyone either hummed or sang along or pretended they didn't like it.
"Sara you can't just clump them all together like that. You have to spread them out over the tree," Zari said coming over and taking a few of the ornaments from her collection.
"I like it," Sara said, running her fingers along the ornaments and hearing them clang together.
"Let her be," Ava said, shooing Zari away. "It looks great babe."
"Just because you're blind doesn't mean you can get away with atrocities like that," Zari said as if Sara's decorating skills were a personal offense.
"Why do you care," Behrad said, shoving a cookie into his mouth, making his voice muffled. "We don't even celebrate Christmas."
"It's the principle of good decorum and decorating," Zari said sitting down beside her and bumping her shoulder lightly as she teased Sara.
Sara giggled and relented, scooting over to Ava, who pulled her in to sit on her lap. She and Ava unwrapped the ornaments and gave them to everyone else instead. Sara pulled out a loop of old popcorn and wrinkled her nose at the smell quickly tossing them away.
It didn't take long for them to complete the tree decorating and everyone stepped back to watch the tree lighting. They clumped together in a line at the steps of the Parlor and Sara heard Gideon turned off the lights. She put her arms around Ava and hid her nose in Ava's sweater, hiding the disappointment that she couldn't enjoy the tree lighting. Sara remembered how beautiful it looked in her vision and it hurt that it was just a memory.
"Ready?" Charlie asked and was quickly met with yeses and eager tones from everyone else. She flipped the switch and Sara heard everyone oh and awe, but the lights didn't make a difference to her.
"Okay now the bells," Ray said, his usual excitement filling his voice.
"What bells?" Sara asked, but before anyone could respond, the sound of bells playing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' rang through the Parlor. It reminded Sara of the chocolate kisses commercial and she peeked out of Ava's shoulder with a smile. The music continued before someone lowered the volume to a gentle jingle.
"We got it for you, so you can hear the tree," Mona said wiggling in to wrap her arms around Sara's waist and giving her a side hug, soon everyone joined in for a Legend's family hug.
"Thank you, guys," Sara said, her voice soft as she listened to the bells. It was sweet of them to think of that for her and Ava leaned in to kiss her forehead. It was the little things that they did every day for her, like the bells on the tree and making sure that Sara could enjoy things with her other senses.
Everyone stood with their arms intertwined as they watched and listened to the tree. They all settled into the Christmas spirit. With the fire burning, it was warm like Christmas, it smelled like Christmas and now it sounded like Christmas. As an adult Christmas didn't always seem like Christmas did when you were a kid, but somehow the Legends always found a way to make every holiday they celebrated special.
Regardless of her birthday Christmas morning had always been special to Sara especially when she was with Ava. Ava would always wake her up with breakfast in bed and kisses on her forehead. Sara enjoyed the quiet time alone with her before they joined the rest of the Legends for the Christmas presents and brunch.
This morning Sara woke up to Ava's lips on her lips. Sara instantly smiled into the kiss as Ava hummed against her lips. Ava pulled back and brought Sara's hands up to feel the lace babydoll that she was wearing. Sara trailed her fingers over Ava's lace covered skin before she picked up the flowing tool. Although she couldn't see it the feeling of it between her fingertips was enough for Sara to thoroughly enjoy it.
It wasn't something that Ava was usually comfortable wearing. She preferred to stick to boxer shorts and tank tops, but after they had both surprised each other with lace lingerie and Ava had grown more comfortable wearing it. Since then she had occasionally worn it, but the lace lingerie was for Sara's eyes only.
"Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Captain Lance," Ava's husky voice rang in her ear as Ava kissed her neck.
Sara pulled Ava over on top of her. Feeling her girlfriend's weight on top of her as Ava's taller form settled above her.
"Is this one of my presents?" Sara asked as she smiled and played with the lace tool
"It is," Ava said, guiding Sara's hands up to feel every inch of what she was wearing. "Do you like it?"
"Yes," Sara eagerly said, before she pulled Ava in for a kiss and stripped off her sleep shirt.
After Sara had thoroughly enjoyed Ava in her lace babydoll outfit. They put on the matching pair of pajamas, which Ava told her were red and white striped, with green trim. Sara didn't mind them as they were soft and warm flannel, that smelled like cinnamon and frankincense, no doubt at Zari's hand. They walked hand in hand into the Parlor and Sara smiled as she heard the bells get louder the closer they got.
Everyone was there already, talking among themselves as Ray passed around cups of coffee. Rey spotted them as they came up the stairs and put the warm mug in Sara's hand. She could smell the dash of nutmeg and cream he had on top and it made her smile.
"Stop shaking your presents," Ava said as she heard Nate try to shake one of the boxes.
"Yes Ma'am," Nate said, hurrying to put it back under the tree.
Ava went over to help Nora and Mick move the furniture around so they could all sit in a circle. Sara stood off to the side and Charlie came over and put a hand on Sara's shoulder, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
"She did great last night and she's so cuddly Ava will love her. I'll bring her out when you're ready!" Charlie said, slipping the box into her pocket.
"Thank you, Charlie."
Charlie gave a little squeal which was unusual for them, but Sara found herself squealing as well. The surprise Sara had for Ava was definitely squealing worthy. Charlie squeezed Sara's shoulder and walked back over to Zari. Sara moved to sit on the couch and wait for everyone to get set up, as Nate and Behrad started sorting through the presents.
In the past Christmas, it was usually a chaos of gifts and Legends each opening everything in a disarray of wrapping paper and string strung around the Parlor. Recently they had adopted a new and more organized tradition from Ava. Once everyone had their piles of presents in front of them and they all settled in their chairs with mugs of coffee. Ava sat down and snuggled up next to her, kissing her cheek.
"Okay, who's first?" Sara said as she wrapped her arms around Ava's waist, leaning into her.
"Astra should go first, it is her first Christmas after all," Constantine piped up and most of the legends' verbally agreed.
"For the record, this is super weird," Astra said as Sara heard her pick up one of the gifts from her pile. There was a rustling of wrapping paper and tearing as she opened it and everyone waited to see her response. Astra let out a small gasp that Sara barely heard as she opened the box.
"It's that dragon shaped knife she wanted," Ava whispered to her as Sara nodded.
"It's beautiful," Astra whispered, and as Sara heard her pick up the knife and unsheath the blade. "Thank you, John."
"Oh yeah well it's nothing," John said, trying to brush it off as Sara heard Zari lean in and kiss his cheek and whisper to him.
"Me next," Nate said, tearing off the paper and opening his gift from Ray.
They continued like that, going around in a circle until everyone had opened all their gifts. Ava had described to her what they all got but Sara was surprised how many times she could guess what it was, with a little help from her vision.
Finally, Ava got to the gift Sara had gotten her and Sara smiled as she tore off the wrapping paper. Ava smiled and thanked her for the serial killer's coloring book. However, she paused as she picked up the Pegasus stuffed animal that Sara had got her.
"Babe, what is this?" Ava asked, leaning in and whispering to her.
"It's a Pegasus. You said you wanted one, remember?" Sara said, raising an eyebrow at her.
It took Ava a moment, but then she laughed and put her arm around Sara leaning in to kiss her forehead. "This isn't exactly what I meant when I said that I wanted a Pegasus."
"Yeah well apparently the real things are just as bad as Unicorns so I figured this would be better," Sara said running her fingers over the soft fabric of the stuffed animal.
"Well thank you," Ava said, squeezing Sara's waist.
"You're welcome," Sara said with a smirk that Ava quickly wiped off her lips with a kiss.
"Okay now open mine," Ava said easily eagerly, wiggling as she placed a small, but heavy and long box and Sara's lap.
The room grew quiet as the Legend stopped chatting and Sara wondered what it could be as she tore off the paper. She lifted the lid off of the box and ran her fingers along the edge before she pulled out a single pole the length of her forearm. She ran her fingers over it, taking it in before she found a small metal button on one end. Ava pushed her to stand and Sara moved a few feet away and held it out in front of her as she pressed the button.
The pole expanded and Sara realized that it wasn't just a pole, it was both a bo staff and a cane. She could use it to see her surroundings and defend herself. Sara smiled as she swung it around, trying it out. It easily glided through the air and she tapped it on the ground with one end hitting the floor. The vibrations went up the pole and into Sara's hands. Instantly she knew that she had hit both the parlors wooden floor and a bit of wrapping paper that had been strewn there. She wasn't sure how she knew what the staff had hit, she just knew.
"Do you like it?" Ava asked eagerly awaiting Sara's response. "It's a fully compressible bo staff and cane and the vibration you're feeling will tell you what you're hitting on the ground. All of us have been working on making it for you."
"Ahem," Behrad coughed.
"Okay, well mostly Behrad has been working on it, but everyone had a hand in it. Behrad, Ray, and I designed it, Mick, Mona, and Charlie helped us make it, Nora used her magic to help make it work and Zari wrapped it."
"Thank you guys," Sara said as she pressed the button on the end again and it easily compacted back into a simple pole. She turned around and reached out for Ava who grabbed her hand and pulled her in to sit on her lap.
"You really like it?" Ava asked, leaning her forehead against Sara's.
"I love it," Sara said, putting her hands on Ava's cheeks and feeling her eyelashes flutter on her fingers.
"Good," Ava said, leaning in and giving her a quick kiss before they turned around and watched everyone else open the rest of their presents.
There was a pile of wrapping paper in the middle of the Parlor as everyone kicked it away to play with their gifts. Sara leaned into Ava's arms and listened to the Jingle Bells on the tree and felt Ava's warm lips against her forehead.
Sara rubbed her hand up Ava's leg and patted it three times. Then waited to hear Charlie get up and walk over to them.
"Hey, Captain do you want any hot chocolate?" Charlie asked as they came around and put a hand on her shoulder.
"That would be great, thank you, Charlie," Sara said, sending them a wink that she hoped Ava wouldn't see as she heard Charlie scurry away.
Ava was completely unaware of the surprise there was for her and Sara smiled as she leaned against her, biting her lip knowing that her smile would give it away in a minute. It didn't take long for Sara to hear Charlie come back as they came up behind them and placed the box in Ava's lap.
"What's this?" Ava asked as Sara sat back and put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's your last Christmas gift," Sara said, trying to keep her excitement under wraps as and she could hear how the room went quiet around her. Of course, all the Legends were in on it.
Nonetheless, Ava took the lid off of the box and Sara heard her gasp as the tiny cat meowed. The kitten that is mostly gray with patches of white and meowed before she heard Ava pick her up and hold her close. All of the Legends cooed and came closer Sara had caught them playing with the kitten last night and they were all very much smitten with her.
"Oh my goodness Sara," Ava said, breathed out as the cat meowed again. "But you hate cats."
"I don't hate cats," Sara said, leaning in and holding Ava's hand against your cheek. "I just don't prefer them but I know that you love them and we all agreed that she would be the perfect pet on the Waverider."
"Oh my goodness," Ava said again, as Sara could hear the kitten begin to purr in her arms as Ava laughed.
Sara ran her fingers along the cat's back as the cat arched its back up to meet her fingers. Sara then pulled the collar from her pocket and handed it to Ava.
"What do you want to name her?" Sara said already knowing the answer as Ava had a list of names she loved.
"Nicole Haught," Ava sheepishly whispered.
"Everyone, met Nicole," Sara said as she clipped the collar with Nicole's name around their neck and the little bell rang as the cat scratched at it.
"Thank you," Ava said, reaching out to cup Sara's face.
Sara smiled and moved away as Ava's hand slipped off her face as she got down on one knee.
"Oh my God," Ava said, getting up and standing in front of her as Sara quickly took her hand.
"Ava Sharpe," Sara said, taking a deep breath. It was hard for her not to get choked up.
Ava meant so much to her and she wanted this to be perfect. There were a hundred things that Sara could say about how Ava always tried to be there for her, to listen to her, and Sara wanted her to know how much it meant to her to have Ava's help as she Sara adjusted to being blind over the past year, but Ava already knew all this. She didn't need some big speech, all she needed was for Sara to ask.
"Will please marry me?"
"Yes," Ava said, choking on her tears as she held her hand out for Sara. She slipped the ring on Ava's fingers. It was a simple gold band that was engraved with intricate Nordic runes that reminded Sara of their first date.
All of the Legends cheered and clapped as Sara stood up and pulled Ava in for a kiss. Although it wasn't New Year's, Sara felt an explosion as they kissed. It was electric and exciting. They let their lips linger against each other until Nicole meowed in between them and Ava pulled back to pet her head.
"What does my ring say?"
"Co-Captains for life."
"Thank you," Ava whispered against Sara's lips kissing her again and Sara let her lips smile against her as Ava moaned into her lips, to the hoots and whistles of the Legends.
"Okay, ready?" Ava asked as she guided Sara down to sit in her seat at the table in the kitchen of the Waverider.
"Yes," Sara said, wiggling excitedly as she felt the heat from the birthday candles rise up and touch her cheeks.
"Okay everyone, happy birthday to you," Ava started singing and the rest of the Legend quickly joined in as Sara smiled.
She could smell the pink sugar frosting and had to resist the urge to dip her fingers in the cake in front of her knowing that Ava would slap her and away.
"Happy birthday dear Sara, happy birthday to you," everybody finished singing and clapped as Sara leaned down to blow out her candles.
"Happy birthday baby," Ava said, leaning down to wrap her arms around her shoulders to hug Sara from behind.
Sara leaned in to reach for a frosting flower but was surprised when she fell Ava's finger smear frosting all over her nose. Sara laughed and turned her head to spread the frosting from her nose on to Ava's cheeks.
"Sara!" Ava shrieked and laughed as Sara kissed her cheek and licked the frosting off.
"Umm Happy birthday to me," Sara said, licking her lips.
Ava trailed her hands down Sara's chest teasing her while the rest of the legends cut the cake and slipping her hands around Sara's inner thighs. Sara's breath hitched as Ava's fingers brushed against her center.
"Save that attitude for later Miss Lance," Ava whispered in her ear. Happy birthday indeed.