"Ok, yup. Thank you so much, bye." Sara said as she hung up her phone before proceeding to roll her eyes at Leonard, who up until this very second had looked like he was ready to go for her hospital bag and bolt out the door.

"What did the doctor say?" He asked but regretted it the moment the words left his lips, especially when he saw Sara's already sullen face fall even more.

"She said that until my contractions are five minutes apart I don't need to be in the hospital," she reported with an obviously annoyed voice, an attitude that Leonard now shared.

"Are you kidding me?" He demanded, sure he had known that was the general rule of thumb and the plan, but he was a little surprised that Sara's water breaking didn't change anything even in the slightest.

"Nope, and considering I'm still yet to have even one contraction I'd say it's probably for the best. I'd rather be here than in a hospital," she confessed and Len had to agree with that. "So much for the baby not being born on Christmas," she muttered, earning a look of sympathy from her boyfriend.

"Well if things go fast, it might get here on Christmas Eve." He said in an attempt to cheer her up but the look she gave him said that she did not want to hear it.

"It's nine at night, we have a better chance of it coming after Christmas than before." She deadpanned and he conceded to that point.

"Alright, so now what?" He asked, knowing that they were probably going to be here for at least a few hours and so now was probably too early to call Dinah or Lisa.

"I'm going to text Laurel and my dad, they might not be able to make it out here until the day after Christmas but at least they'll know." She said and once that was done she turned to her boyfriend as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened; when in actuality something so out of the ordinary had taken place that the ordinary itself had begun to change.

"Want to play cards?" She asked, again as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

Many people celebrate holidays such as Christmas in many different ways; but team Arrow might just have one of the strangest. Thanks to the fact that Sara is currently nine months pregnant and already five days past due it was a no brainer that she wouldn't be traveling anywhere this year. Couple that with the latest onslaught of Star City criminals and Laurel and Felicity didn't really feel like traveling to Las Vegas either, so Donna and Quentin went to Star City to celebrate Christmas and Chanukah with two of their three daughters. Thea and Roy had also come into town for the holidays, but what makes the celebration so strange is that rather than having some sort of party in somebody's apartment they were down in the bunker, two of them nursing their latest wounds.

"You kids need to be more careful," Donna scolded when Oliver and Laurel, the only active duty members of the team, came back covered in bruises and bloodstains.

"Relax mom, they've both had WAY worse." Felicity said. Laurel was currently using her right hand to wrap bandages around her bloody left one while Oliver had an ice pack pressed up against his heavily bruised eye, only after his sister shoved it into his hands of course. "Well I mean not WAY worse, or you know, I mean they've both come pretty close to dying so this isn't much, or…." Felicity's babbling trailed off while her mother's eyes just grew wider and wider by the instant, Laurel tuned it all out once her phone started buzzing with a new text from Sara.

"Just went into labor, not even in the hospital yet but thought I'd let you know."

Upon seeing this Laurel's eyes went wide and she snapped her head up only to find her father's gaze was mirroring her own.

"Sara's in labor," she found herself saying in stunned amazement that this was really happening, her sister was having a baby and she was about to become an aunt.

"What? On Christmas Eve?" Donna questioned,

"Sara doesn't have the best luck does she?" Thea remarked, knowing all about Sara's hatred of a Christmas birthday.

"We've, we've got to get down there." Quentin stuttered, his face and voice already showing how nervous he was for his youngest daughter.

"Dad there's not going to be a train running this late and the station will be closed tomorrow, not to mention it takes almost a day to get all the way to Central City." Laurel reminded her father. It isn't that she didn't want to go rushing off to Central City, because she certainly did, but there wouldn't be much of a point if they'd be skipping Christmas only to miss the birth of their newest family member.

"We drove down here, if you take the car you won't have to wait for a train," Donna suggested,

"And the average labor time for a woman with her first baby is about twenty hours from start to finish, if you guys leave now you might just make it." Felicity encouraged and so with a desperate look Laurel turned to Oliver, because after the fight they just came out of she knew that he couldn't handle things alone if that maniac returned in the next forty-eight hours or so.

"Go," he ordered her,

"And if that vigilante hunter comes back?" She questioned in understandable worry.

"He won't," Ollie assure her,

"And if he does," Roy's voice came from behind Laurel and she turned to see he and Thea had stepped closer to Oliver and herself. "He's got us," he assured her and Thea nodded, making Laurel feel much better.

"Go," Oliver encouraged once more and this time both Laurel and her father listened.

Sleeping that night did not come easy to either Sara or Leonard, and it became practically impossible when Sara awoke from her half asleep state around three in the morning with the start of her contractions. They were fairly light and only fifteen minutes apart, so they knew it was still going to be a couple of hours before they would be leaving for the hospital. By around seven neither of them could take just lying there anymore and so they got up.

"Can you eat anything?" Len asked Sara, her contractions were now coming twelve minutes apart and they both knew she was dreading having a long labor, but it looked like that's what was going to happen.

"Something light," She replied whilst grabbing a banana, "You know, between waiting until Christmas to start coming and now still taking forever, I'm starting to think that this kid really hates me." She continued with her mouth half full and Len couldn't help but chuckle at the notion.

"Does it hurt yet?" He asked, so far Sara hadn't shown any sign that she was in pain but then again she is pretty good at hiding stuff like that.

"A little, kind of just feels like period cramps though." She replied and giggled upon realizing that wasn't a helpful point of reference at all. "It feels like someone took a blunt knife, stabbed just below my belly, and is slowly slicing across." She described, only to laugh again and harder at the very disturbed expression that crossed Leonard's face.

"So did you text your mom last night?" He asked, both trying to change the subject and genuinely curious because he knew that there was no way Sara would've texted her father and sister but not her mother, if only because Dinah would never let her live it down.

"And Lisa," The blonde replied, "But she and my mom are both very clear that I'll text them again when-" She stopped suddenly, her face panicked at first before it briefly scrunched up in obvious discomfort and pain and so of course Leonard grew worried.

"Sara?"

"I'm ok," she assured him, her face relaxing slightly but not enough for his liking. "Just a bigger contraction," she said before the pain in her abdomen subsided, well for the most part, and she completely relaxed her face once again.

"How bad?" Snart asked skeptically but Sara simply shook her head to dismiss his worry.

"Not too bad," she promised, "Just like really bad cramps," she told him with a playful smirk, knowing that wasn't going to help ease his mind in the least.

"Do I even want to hear that comparison?" He asked and she chuckled,

"Just imagine the knife was suddenly plunged deeper," she advised but clearly that didn't help, and the look of complete concern across her boyfriend's face was enough to make Sara finally lose control of her laughter.

"What's so funny?" He demanded and when she finally gained a little control of herself she smirked at him.

"You," she answered before leaning just a little bit closer, "You're cute when you're worried." She continued and now it was his turn to smirk at her before leaning over the counter, where he had been sitting on one of the barstools while she stood on the other side, and pressing a hard but yet still gentle kiss to her lips.

"You know when Sara was born I had hoped that would be the last time I'd be rushing to the hospital on Christmas," Quentin remarked as Laurel drove them down the highway. He had driven for most of the night and so when they stopped for gas Laurel took over the wheel so that her father could sleep, not that he had done so just yet.

"Well I doubt Sara's all that thrilled about it, she was never a fan of having been born on Christmas." Laurel reminded and her dad nodded, knowing that despite his and Dinah's best efforts she was right and that no matter how you cut it Sara still hates the date of her birth.

"So what was that about a vigilante hunter?" He asked, suddenly changing the subject and Laurel rolled her eyes with a sigh; she had been wondering how long she could avoid this conversation.

"Nothing, just Star City's usual brand of whack-job." She answered simply,

"Laurel-" her father began to lecture but she cut him off.

"Look we don't know much," she admitted, "So far he's just some guy with something against vigilante's but Oliver and I can handle it," she assured her father and he nodded that he trusts her, thought that didn't stop him from silently thinking about how with the team reduced to just Oliver and Laurel in the field they had certainly been growing closer.

They had to, of course, to watch each other's backs. Survival out there depended on them trusting each other and being able to communicate with as few words as possible. But that didn't stop Quentin from thinking that such a task had come almost a little too naturally to them.

It was now a little past one in the afternoon and to say that Sara was miserable would be an understatement. Her contractions had slowly but steadily been getting more and more painful, along with closer together, and now she was at the point where they were eight minutes apart and they hurt far worse than any torture that had ever been inflicted on her.

"That's it, we're going to the hospital." Leonard decided when he found Sara with her hands braced forcefully against the countertop as she struggled to breathe through her latest contraction.

"Ok," she agreed, looking to see that he already had her backpack slung over his shoulder. Ordinarily she would've argued a little with him, tried to stay here until the contractions were closer together. But at eight minutes apart the hospital probably wouldn't turn her away and really she was in enough pain that she was actually grateful for Leonard taking charge.

When her contraction ended she gasped out a sigh of relief and pushed herself away from the counter.

"I'll call Lisa and my mom, let them know we're going." She said as Len grabbed the keys.

"Already did, now let's go." He ordered firmly and with a nod Sara slipped on her coat, had Len help her with her boots, and they left the apartment.

"Well mom I'm sorry but something came up," Cisco said, well more like nearly shouted, into his phone as Lisa drove the two of them down the streets of Central City.

They had been planning on spending the day with Cisco's family, since it went without saying that Lisa's family wasn't going anywhere and didn't want anyone at their apartment either. Joe, much like Thanksgiving, had offered them both to join him and the others but by that time Cisco had already conceded to join his family for Christmas, and somehow Lisa was roped into going with him.

"My girlfriend's sister-in-law went into labor, if you must know!" He continued and briefly Lisa's eyes went wide at the comment, before she realized that Cisco had only said it because saying "his girlfriend's brother's girlfriend," would be a mouthful. "I don't care, she's my friend too. Besides I haven't come to Christmas in three years, I think you guys will be just fine." He said before rolling his eyes in exasperation at his mother's comments on the other end. "Just tell everyone I say hi, I'll see you guys later." He said before hanging up his phone with a sigh and turning to Lisa who looked just the slightest bit uncomfortable after hearing his conversation with his mother. "I'm sorry, she can be a pain." He apologized,

"No don't worry, I can go drop you off there if you want-"

"No, no I don't want that." He interrupted her, "I warned you already that my family is really judgmental and I don't want to deal with that today." He explained,

"I thought you said things were better?" She asked and he sighed.

"They're getting there between my brother and me, but the rest of my family is another story. Besides, somebody's got to keep you company in the waiting room." He said, smiling at his girlfriend as he finished, only smiling more when he saw the blush creeping across her face.

"I mean Sara's mom will be there," She started,

"Wow," Cisco exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air for effect. "You'd rather hang out with Sara's mother than me!" He exclaimed and Lisa burst out laughing at the notion.

"I would not!" She mock defended,

"I'm, wow I'm hurt." Cisco teased,

"Cisco!" Lisa scolded despite her laughing.

"I am so deeply offended because clearly I am not good enough for you," he continued on, completely ignoring her orders to shut up.

"Do you want me to turn around and bring you to your parent's?" Lisa threatened.

"Nope, no you know what I'm going to do?" Cisco questioned, not intimidated in the least by her threat.

"What are you going to do?" She played along,

"I'm going to sit next to you for however long we're there and I'm not going to say anything at all." He promised and again Lisa laughed out loud at the notion.

"Ok, we'll see how that works." She taunted,

"We will," Cisco agreed defiantly, "And then we'll see just how much more fun Sara's mom is." He mocked and at this point Lisa was grateful to be stopped at a red light because she was laughing to hard.

Let it be known that Sara thought about not having an epidural, and the argument over it between her and Leonard was enough to drive the nurse out of the room saying that she would be back in a few minutes.

"Leonard I am not taking the risk of something going wrong," Sara said through gritted teeth.

"Sara I know you're a tough girl, but nothing's going to go wrong and you're going to want the pain relief." Len insisted and Sara was about to argue when another contraction wracked through her body. The pain was bad, ok actually the pain was nearing unbearable, and she knew that it was only going to get worse. She was clutching tightly to the sheets of the hospital bed until Len managed to pry one of her hands free and let it lock tightly around his. She heard him bight back a slight shout at the sudden feeling of his bones being all but crushed but he held it together until the contraction ended and Sara loosened her grip.

"Ok you win, I'll get the epidural." She agreed.

Five minutes later the nurse returned and asked again about the epidural, and this time Sara replied that she would take the medication. So the nurse left again and as they waited for her to return Dinah poked her head into the room before entering.

"Hi," she said cheerily, quickly making her way over to her daughter's hospital bed to give her a hug. She then pulled away and gave Len a smile that he returned. "So what's going on?" She asked, eager to know what point they were at and how long it would be until she could meet her grandchild.

"Well now that someone," Len drawled, glaring at Sara with a teasing smirk as he did. "Has agreed to let the doctor give her an epidural we're waiting for them to come back for that." He explained and then, as if on cue, the nurse returned and this time brought Sara's doctor with her.

"Ok Sara, time for your epidural and then I'm just going to run some tests." She explained, much to happily for Leonard's liking mind you.

"Oh, I'll go wait in the hall." Dinah quickly said,

"No mom," Sara began before turning to the doctor, "Can my mom stay?" She asked,

"Of course, this is only going to take a few minutes." The doctor replied and so with that said Dinah remained where she was as Sara followed the doctor's instructions to sit up on the edge of the bed so that the drugs could be injected into the small of her back.

She complied with the orders and once that was done she lay back down so that they could hook her up to some machine for tests. The tests were standard, just to test Sara's blood pressure, the baby's position, and other routine things like that. But at one point Sara noticed the doctor's face had fallen into a frown and she was scanning through something for a second time.

"Is everything ok?" She asked, hardly noticing that Len already had his fingers intertwined with hers as he brushed his thumb gently over her knuckles in worry that only intensified when the doctor hesitated to answer Sara's question.

"The baby is showing signs of fetal distress," she said and at the moment both Sara and Len felt their hearts break. "This is not completely uncommon," the doctor quickly assured them, "It's most likely that your baby simply has a high amount of fluid in it's lungs, but regardless of the cause the we're going to need to bring you in for a C-Section." The doctor explained and to be honest neither Leonard nor Sara had seen each other so panicked since their mission back in the middle ages.

"Ok," Sara finally agreed with a fearful nod.

"Ok, thanks." Laurel said as she hung up her phone. Her and Quentin were now about four hours out of Central City, he was driving again, and thanks to the phone call she had just received from her mother she had lost all hope that they would make it to the hospital before the baby was born.

"What's going on?" Quentin asked his oldest daughter who sighed uncomfortably.

"The doctor ran some tests on Sara, and apparently the baby is having trouble breathing or something." She confessed, causing her father to momentarily turn his head to her. "They're bringing her in for a C-Section now, I guess the baby was only starting to decline so they're saying everyone's going to be fine." She assured her dad who sighed in worry,

"Let's hope," he muttered.

It has been a long time since Sara felt true fear. Not even the thought of dying could truly bring it on the way that it should, and even during her mission in the middle ages she hadn't felt truly afraid because the whole situation had still felt unreal to her and hadn't fully processed. But now, as she lay on an operation table with Len standing right beside her wearing doctors scrubs, she remembered what true fear felt like.

The doctor's had already given her an extra dose of the epidural, just enough to numb the lower half of her body completely while allowing her to stay awake. They had also blocked off her view of her stomach with a blue tarp like surgical cloth, which she was grateful for because her insides were the absolute last things that she wanted to see right now.

"Hey," Leonard said, snapping her attention to him as he ran a gentle hand through her hair while the other hand held hers. "It's going to be ok," he whispered to her and she nodded with fear.

"Ok Sara, we're going to start." Her doctor informed her and so again she gave a nod.

"Ok," she replied in a weak voice that resulted in Leonard giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. She squeezed back and as the operation went underway, not that she could feel anything more than a few slight pinches, tugs, and the occasional pressure in certain areas. She tried to distract her worried mind and ended up thinking about everything that had led her to this table.

She thought about the haze of pure bloodlust she had been in when she awoke from the pit, about how it had all cleared when she got her soul back. She thought about the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that was constantly pushing her to kill, and about how she left in order to try and get rid of it. She remembered waking up on that rooftop in Star City after a bar fight in Tibet. She remembered how her first day on the Waverider she was so sure she would have to teach Leonard a hard lesson after she caught him staring at her ass, and then about their trip to the 70's when she asked him to dance and then danced alone to show that she didn't need anyone. She thought about how, just when she was starting to feel like she was making progress against her inner demons, Rip asked her to kill one of their own in cold blood. She thought about Len talking her out of it, showing her that she could be more than a killer, and how that was when she knew she wasn't a monster. She thought about freezing with Leonard in the engine room of the ship, about how after everything she'd been through she didn't want it to be a cold room that took her out the second time. She thought about the 50's, about Lindsay, and how she showed her that she could still feel. She thought about her two years spent without Leonard, and how desperate she was for him when she got back. She remembered her world spinning before she fainted in 1901, and the sinking feeling in her chest when she found out why. She remembered all the stress she had over telling Leonard, and then how it came out in the worst possible way. She remembered prison at the vanishing point, saving Laurel's life, telling her parents about the baby, Mick's supposed death, Nyssa's brief return, her baby shower, betting at Thanksgiving, how pissed she had been this past week; all of it. She thought about everything she had been through as of late, and how after everything she was about to become a mother.

Shoe looked up at Len to notice him staring right back down at her, and she smiled at him. Nine months ago they had been the Waverider crew's resident crook and assassin, and now they were about to officially become the parents of a little baby.

Smirking as though he could read her mind Len ran his free and through her hair once again, and it wasn't even two minutes later that they both heard the high-pitched sound of something wailing like a siren. Looking up they saw the doctor holding up the crying baby so that Sara could see, and Len smiled as brightly and proudly as Sara at the sight. Obviously, after months of not knowing their baby's gender, one of the first things that they both looked at was the space between their baby's legs; they had a perfect little daughter.

Author's Note: And it's a girl! Thanks so much to everyone who voted on the pole, with the final results girl had 75% of the votes while boy had 25%. Also, sorry for the little bit of a delay on this chapter, it gave me wicked writers block and i ended up rewriting the first half two or three times! There is still some more to come so stay tuned! Also, thanks so much for the great reviews that have been left, you guys rock!