Chapter Text
They’re now in Fresno, and the campaign trail is in full swing, Ava originally refused to go there, but Zari convinced her that it would be good for her to go back to her hometown. The schedule is jam-packed, and they’re on their way to the hotel. Sara is sitting in the driver’s seat, she glances in the rear-view mirror and sees her girlfriend who looks very nervous as she looks out of the window.
Girlfriend. Ava is her girlfriend, the word is going to take her a little getting used to, every time she thinks of it her stomach does flips, and she has to fight so hard to keep a giant grin off of her face.
The entire ride to the hotel, Sara wishes that she could do something to ease Ava’s nerves, but there’s the whole team in the car with them and she doesn’t think that Ava would appreciate her bringing it up in front of them. So, she keeps quiet and makes a silent note to talk to her about it later on.
After sitting in a little bit of traffic, they finally make it to the hotel. There are a few reporters dotted around, but Zari made sure to call ahead and make sure that they weren’t allowed to get close to the entrance.
Sara puts the car into park, before hopping out and opening Ava’s door for her. Ava gives her a grateful smile before she follows Zari towards the front desk. Leaving Sara to deal with the valet people, while Charlie and Behrad accompanied the rest of the team to the front desk.
It doesn’t take long before the whole team is gathered near the reception desk, and Zari is handing room keys out to everybody. She tries her best to hide the disappointment on her face as Zari hands a key to Sara. Realistically she knows that she and Ava have only been dating for a few weeks and that this trip is incredibly important for Ava and she shouldn’t have any distractions. But, there’s still a pang of disappointment there, that she works hard to push down as she grabs her bags and heads up to the room along with everybody else.
She makes it to her room and drops her bags onto the bed before dramatically. Her hands come to rest on her stomach as she stares up at the ceiling for a short while just enjoying the peace and quiet. Until her attention is pulled towards her phone as it vibrates in her pocket. She sits up and pulls it out to see a thread of texts from Laurel. Asking her how she and Ava are, how Fresno is, and then a video of her nephew showing off a new toy that he got.
She shoots back a few texts responding to her sister’s questions, and then she writes out a text responding to her nephew, but before she can press the send button there’s a soft knock at her door. With a huff, she hops off of the bed and stalks across the room to answer the door.
On the other side is a very shy-looking Ava, who’s wearing light-gray sweatpants and a matching sweater, with her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. The slight annoyance that Sara felt, before opening the door, dissipates and all she can do is smile at the woman in front of her.
“Hey-” Ava starts before she’s gently tugged into the room by Sara, who swiftly brings their faces closer together and pulls Ava in for a desperate kiss. They pull away from one another after a few moments, but their faces are still only centimeters apart from one another, and the shy look on Ava’s face is replaced by a slight blush.
“I’ve wanted to do that all day,” Sara whispers against Ava’s lips.
“Me too,” Ava whispers back.
They stand near the door for a little while, just enjoying being able to be so close to each other again. It isn’t until Sara speaks that they’re pulled out of their bubble.
“Come on, it’s almost nine, let’s order room service and watch a movie,” Sara suggests, in hopes that it will distract Ava a little. The taller woman doesn’t even have to say anything for Sara to know that she’s feeling very anxious about being back in her childhood town, with her biological parents in such close proximity. As much as she tries to hide it, Sara can clearly see how much it’s weighing her girlfriend down.
“That sounds perfect,” Ava says softly.
Sara nods her head and slides her hand slowly down Ava’s forearm, before lacing their fingers together, and heading over to the bed. It isn’t until they’re about to sit down that she realizes that she left her bags strewn across the end of the bed.
“Sorry about the mess,” Sara mutters before she grabs the bags from the bed and carefully places them in the corner of the room. She knows for a fact that Ava already has her bags unpacked and neatly put away in the closets and the drawers. It makes her feel a little embarrassed because compared to Ava she feels like a complete mess, and that small thought quickly spirals into the dark thoughts of her not being worthy of Ava, and that the other woman deserves somebody so much better than Sara. Somebody that doesn’t have a damaged past, somebody who has their life together.
But, she pulls herself out of her thoughts to see Ava curled up in the armchair by the bed, with her feet tucked under her as she looks at the room service menu, as she bites down on her bottom lip with her brows slightly furrowed; clearly deep in thought over what she should order. And all Sara can think about is how lucky she is to get to see this side of Ava, compared to the tough, no-nonsense, professional woman.
Then Ava speaks and all of Sara’s thoughts melt away and all she can do is focus on the extraordinary woman in front of her.
“What do you want to order?” Ava asks, not lifting her eyes up from the menu.
Sara shrugs her shoulders and steps closer to her, she perches on the arm of the chair and leans into Ava’s side to get a better look at the menu. As she reads through the food choices, she can’t help but think about how natural this all feels, like they’ve been doing it for years.
They soon decide on what food to order, and Sara calls the front desk to order it for them. As they wait for it, the two of them migrate over to the large double bed. Despite its size, Ava wastes no time snuggling into Sara’s side. Her leg is thrown over Sara’s thighs and her arm over her torso, as the smaller woman wraps an arm around her waist to hold her close.
Sara can’t remember a time when she felt this content. She presses a soft kiss to Ava’s forehead and grabs the remote, they scroll through the movie selection, before settling on some movie called Swamp Thaaang. It looks like a dumb movie, but neither women care because they both know that they will probably end up with their focus elsewhere.
Sara leans over and flicks out the lights, earning a soft whine from Ava at the unexpected movement. Sara lets out a soft chuckle before pulling Ava even closer than before. The movie is on for less than ten minutes before Sara’s phone buzzes beside them, she sees Laurel's name at the top of the screen, and without a second thought presses the answer button.
Instead of being met by her older sister's face, there’s the top half of her nephew's face. He looks a little upset.
“Hey, buddy, what are you up to?” Sara asks.
He doesn’t answer her question, “you ignored my picture,” he frowns. But the frown doesn’t stay on his face for very long, and it is soon replaced by wide eyes and raised brows. “Is that your girlfriend?” he whispers and Sara realizes that the top of Ava’s head, where it is resting on her chest, is visible on the camera.
Sara freezes for a second before a smile breaks out on her face, “yeah buddy, this is Ava my girlfriend,” Sara angles the camera so that Ava is a little more visible. “She’s super pretty isn’t she?”
“Yeah, does she like to play planes?” He asks, holding up his toy plane.
Ava lifts her head slightly and smiles at the small boy on the screen, she feels a little awkward. She hasn’t had much experience with interacting with small children in her lifetime.
“That’s a really cool plane,” Ava says softly, and Jamie lets out a tiny excited squeak.
“My daddy got it for me when he went on his work trip, he works all over the world, kind of like Aunt Sara,” he rambles.
The two women’s attention is quickly pulled away from the small boy on the screen when there’s a loud knock on the door. Ava makes a move to jump out of the bed to answer the door, but Sara gently grabs her wrist and pulls her back.
“I gotta go now, our dinner just arrived, but I’ll call you tomorrow okay kiddo? I love you and miss you so much!”
“Bye-bye, auntie Sara, I love you all the way to the stars!” He says before the call ends.
Sara hurries over to the door and the food is brought in for them and placed on the table in the corner of the room. Sara tips the young woman and they waste no time digging in.
“You know I can still answer the door right? I’m not-” Ava starts to say but is quickly cut off by Sara.
“I know you can, I just- I don’t wanna take any risks, it’s my job as your bodyguard and as your girlfriend to keep you safe Aves,” Sara says softly before taking a bite of her burger.
They soon finish eating their dinner and Sara breaks the comfortable silence between them, “how are you feeling about being back here?”
Ava’s shoulders visibly tense up at the question, “I don’t really know, I’m anxious, I really don’t want to see them, and I think there’s a part of me that’s scared of what would happen if I do see them. I worked hard to heal after everything they did to me and I don’t want all of that to just be thrown away, I don’t want to go back to being that scared teenage girl.”
As Ava speaks, Sara reaches over the table, she takes Ava’s hand in her own and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “You’re so strong Aves, I think they will stay away if they’re smart. But, if you do happen to see them then you’ve got a whole team behind you ready to support you wherever you need us to,” Sara pauses and gives her hand another gentle squeeze. “You have a family who loves you unconditionally, you have friends who love you, and you have a girlfriend who lo- who adores you so much and would do anything for you. You aren’t alone in this babe, we’ve got you.”
Ava catches Sara’s slip up, and her stomach twists and her heart is beating so fast she’s pretty sure it’s about to burst. But, Sara never actually said the L-word she just almost did, and it’s definitely too soon for them to be professing their love for one another. Even though Ava’s sure she’s been in love with Sara for a long time now, and judging by Sara’s slip up her feelings go back a little further than their first kiss. She chooses not to dwell on it and turns her focus back to the present conversation.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, I’ve been back here since they kicked me out, and I haven’t seen them. I’m just worried, especially after my mother texted me, a while back, I have no idea what they will do or how they will act,” Ava says quietly.
“That’s what I’m here for, I can give my team their pictures, and we can make sure they don’t come anywhere near you,” Sara says and Ava nods her head.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I-” Ava stops herself, the words ‘love you’ are on the tip of her tongue, so she has to quickly force the words away and think of something else to say, “I should head back to my room, we have an early morning.”
“You can sleep in here?” Sara quickly suggests, not wanting to be away from Ava, because she knows that there won’t be much time for any alone time on this trip so she’ll take all that she can get.
“Are you sure?” Ava asks, looking into Sara’s sparkling blue eyes.
“Yeah, I want you to stay, unless you don’t want to then that’s okay, I can walk you back to your room,” Sara says, and she almost looks a little shy as she looks at Ava with flushed cheeks.
“I want to stay, I’ll just grab my toothbrush and my pajamas from my room,” Ava responds with a soft smile.
Sara nods her head and Ava hurries out of the room. Sara can’t wipe the smile off of her face, and she’s kind of embarrassed that she’s this excited over being able to cuddle her girlfriend all night long. But, she has a silent argument with herself she tells herself that she shouldn’t be embarrassed, after everything she’s been through with her past relationships, being with Ava is freeing, and healthy. Sara has never experienced a healthy relationship, with Oliver it was secretive and it hurt a lot of people, herself included. With Nyssa, it was what they both needed at the time, but as Sara healed and repaired her relationship with her sister, she realized that she deserved better than that and they were only going to hurt one another in the long run.
But, with Ava, it’s all completely different and Sara loves it. She makes her happier than she’s felt in her entire adult life. They have good communication with one another and there are no ill intentions from either party. It’s pure, and Sara doesn’t know what she’s done to deserve a relationship like it, but she thanks her lucky stars every night that Ava chose her.
She’s soon pulled from her thoughts at the sound of a soft knock on the door, she shoots up from the seat and opens it. Ava is on the other side with a tired smile gracing her lips, and her arms are full of clothes and essentials that she will need in the morning.
“Come on babe, let’s get to bed,” Sara says, she takes Ava’s things, quickly hangs them in the closet, and places her other things in the bathroom before changing into her own sleep clothes and joining Ava in bed.
They fall asleep tangled up in one another’s embrace.
The following morning, they’re at Ava’s old high school. She and Nate spent three years there before Hank got offered a new job in DC and the family moved out there with him. But, Ava still remembers the place like the back of her hand. It helps that basically nothing has changed, the walls are still the same color, the lockers are still a dark blue color, and the fluorescent lighting still gives her a small headache. She feels fifteen again as she walks through the hallways, and that terrifies her.
But, the gentle hand on her lower back as she’s led towards one of the classrooms seems to immediately calm her. She offers a grateful smile to Sara, over her shoulder. The smaller woman returns the smile. It’s a subtle gesture but it helped calm her nerves.
They make it to the door leading into one of the classrooms and Ava snaps into professional mode. She clears her throat, smooths out her clothes, and straightens her back before pushing open the door. Sara isn’t sure what they’re doing here, but the second the door opens, she sees a large pride flag hanging on the wall, and each one of the kids is wearing a small pride pin.
The door closes behind them and Sara stands beside it with Charlie beside her and Behrad standing outside of the classroom. Her hands are clasped in front of her as she tries to bite back the smile that is threatening to break out across her lips, as she watches Ava interact with the teenagers. She’s slightly awkward, she doesn’t really know what to say to them, but she’s trying her best.
Ava makes sure to speak to each person, she shakes their hands and they talk for a little while before she moves on to the next person. With each conversation, she gets more and more comfortable, and soon she realizes that just because they’re teenagers, it doesn’t mean that she needs to speak to them any differently. That realization helps her a lot.
Although, when she makes it to the last girl, she looks terrified; almost as if she’s on the verge of a panic attack. Ava knows exactly what that feels like so she wastes no time in taking the girl into the corner of the room away from the others. Luckily, Zari keeps the others occupied and gets them all talking and taking pictures.
“Deep breaths honey, it’s okay,” Ava says softly. She takes deep breaths with her, so that she has something to follow, after a few moments she seems to have calmed down.
“I’m sorry,” the girl says quietly, not looking up from her feet.
Ava looks at her with a sympathetic smile on her face, “you have nothing to be sorry for, you can’t help it. I’m Ava, it’s really nice to meet you, what’s your name?”
The girl looks down at Ava’s outstretched hand and tentatively shakes it as she says, “Freya.”
“That’s a really pretty name,” Ava responds softly.
There’s a few moments of silence between them before Freya asks, “are these pictures going to be posted anywhere?”
She looks scared, so Ava quickly reassures her by saying, “no, this isn’t an official visit, I used to go to school here and I heard about this group and I wanted to come and visit, my friend just likes to take pictures.”
With a gulp, the girl nods her head, “Oh, okay.”
The girl - Freya - still looks very nervous, and Ava is starting to get a little concerned about her. “Is everything okay? Do you need to take a moment outside, to get some fresh air?” Ava asks, but Freya slowly shakes her head.
Her nose scrunches up slightly and she pulls at her sleeves to cover her hands with them before she looks up at Ava and quietly says, “I’m a- um- I’m a lesbian, but nobody except for the people in this room know, not even my family.”
Ava’s heart breaks a little at the sad look that works its way across Freya’s features. She knows that feeling all too well, and she wishes that she could do something to help her.
“My parents are homophobic and I think if they ever found out about me they would probably kick me out,” Freya continues and Ava’s heart is now shattered as she notices tears rolling down the girl’s cheeks.
“Can I hug you?” She asks and Freya just nods her head. Ava wastes no time in wrapping her arms tightly around the girl and gently squeezing her. Ava holds her until she’s sure that she’s calmed down a little. “It gets better, I promise you that it does. My biological parents were the same, they kicked me out when they found out, I didn’t have any friends at the time but my brother found me and brought me home to live with him, and my parents took me in and loved me just as I am. So, what I’m trying to say is, you will find your people Freya, you’ll find people who love you just as you are. I mean look at this group, I’m sure every person in here loves you as you are and would do anything to help you out, it’ll get better for you, I know it will.”
“Thank you, that helps a lot, I wish I could vote for you,” Freya says with a soft smile, and the comment earns a chuckle from Ava.
“That means a lot, you’ll be able to in a couple of years,” Ava offers with a smile.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Sara is still standing by the door with her hands clasped together in front of her. She’s trying to give the girl and Ava some privacy, but the way that Ava is interacting with her makes it very hard to tear her eyes away from them.
“You know you aren’t very subtle,” Behrad chuckles beside her.
She turns to look at him with a glare, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m just doing my job.”
“Sure,” he smirks and turns to look out of the window, and sees a group of boys playing football on the field.
Sara turns her focus back to Ava, who is now standing with an arm around the girl’s shoulder, as they pose for a picture. Ava has a bright, toothy smile on her face and Sara can’t help but smile to herself at the sight of it. Ava slips the girl a note before the rest of the group gathers around for a group picture.
When they finally leave the school there are only a couple of hours before they need to be at the town hall where Ava is scheduled to give a speech.
“Where’s Mick?” Ava questions once they’re all back in the car.
“He’s back at the hotel,” Zari tells her and Ava nods her head.
“I need him here, I want to make changes to the speech,” Ava says and Zari’s already tapping away on her phone before Ava can finish her sentence.
They head back to the hotel for a little bit of downtime before they have to head out again. They all pile into one room, where Ava and Mick work on the speech together in the corner, Zari is responding to a bunch of emails and is preparing some social media posts for Ava, and Sara is sitting in the corner of the room close to the door with Behrad and Charlie, while Gary is checking the schedule for the rest of the week.
“Oi boss, stop drooling, she’s literally just sitting there,” Charlie teases and an embarrassed blush spreads across Sara’s cheeks.
“I’m not drooling,” Sara says defensively, before glancing over at Ava who is deep in thought with furrowed brows as she reads through the speech.
“You definitely are, but it’s cool, you’re in love,” Behrad says with a smile, that only makes Sara blush harder.
“I’m not in love,” Sara argues but it’s not convincing at all, her voice is a little high-pitched, and the shimmer in her eyes tells them otherwise.
“You’re the worst liar in the world,” Charlie chuckles.
“Shut up, she’s right there,” Sara says through gritted teeth. “I don’t wanna scare her away.”
“So you love her, eh?” Charlie presses and Sara rolls her eyes.
“I’ve loved her for a while now,” Sara shrugs her shoulders and tries to remain casual as if she isn’t admitting the scariest thing ever. She loves Ava and she’s not sure whether Ava loves her back, that’s what terrifies her the most. What if she puts herself out there and those feelings aren’t reciprocated. Then what? She’s not sure she could handle Ava not loving her back.
Sara is ripped out of her thoughts by Zari’s voice, “Aves we’ve gotta leave in five minutes.”
“Yep,” Ava mumbles as she reads over the speech, her eyes not leaving the screen once.
Those five minutes pass by in what felt like seconds. Before they know it, they’re all piling back into the cars and are heading downtown to the city hall. It’s already full of people, they’re lining the streets and the seats are all full in the main area.
They bypass the press and go backstage. Ava is reading over the speech once more and Sara can see the stress in her eyes.
“Babe, I’m sure it’s perfect,” Sara says as she comes up behind Ava and gently squeezes her very tense shoulders.
“I decided to talk about my biological parents,” Ava blurts out and the nerves suddenly make sense. Sure, Ava usually gets a little anxious before things like this, but right now Sara is worried that Ava is literally going to chew a hole through her bottom lip with how much she’s biting down on it.
“Oh? Yeah, that’s good right?” Sara asks, hoping that Ava talking about it a little more will help to ease her nerves.
“I think so, they told me not to mention them, but the girl I met at the school earlier, she’s so terrified to come out to her parents because she’s worried about their reactions. It reminded me of me when I was that age, I was so scared of them finding out I never really let myself be a teenager, I was too worried about them kicking me out and me having nowhere to go, you know. It’s not- people shouldn’t have to live that way, not anymore,” Ava says, her jaw tensing as she tries so hard not to cry.
Sara looks at her with a sad smile, she knows how hard it is for Ava to speak about her biological parents. But, the fact that Ava is planning to address the crowd and the rest of the nation and give them an insight into her past experiences with homophobia, it makes her heart burst with pride for her girlfriend.
“Aves they’re ready for you,” Zari interrupts.
Ava nods her head and takes a deep breath to try and compose herself, “I’ll be right there.”
“You’ve got this, I’m so proud of you,” Sara presses a chaste kiss to Ava’s lips before she hurries away to stand by the stage with Charlie and Behrad.
Ava stands by the entrance to the stage, she stops for a moment and takes a deep breath. “I’ve got this,” she mumbles to herself. She smooths out her navy blue pantsuit with her hands before stepping out onto the stage with a bright smile. She waves out at the crowd before taking her position at the podium.
She greets the crowd, and wastes absolutely no time with her speech. She speaks about a few of her most important policies and they earn cheers from the crowd. Once she’s talked about them she takes a deep breath and hesitates for a moment before continuing with the things that she added with Mick earlier that day.
Sara notices the hesitation and she subtly turns to look at her and gives her an encouraging nod. Ava nods back at her and takes another breath before continuing.
“When I become President of the United States I promise you that I will do everything in my power to help our LGBTQ youth, as a country we have made leaps and bounds of progress when it comes to the community, but there is always more to be done. I strive for equality and for a country where everybody feels safe and welcomed.” Ava pauses and glances out at the crowd before looking into the camera again, “I spent my morning back at my old high school, it was strange because everything has changed yet it also feels like nothing has changed at all. I met with the LGBTQ group at the school and while most of the kids there felt happy, safe, and welcomed for their sexuality. I met one girl who was terrified, she was terrified of her parents because she knows that if that part of her is shown to them, they’ll kick her out and she will be left with nothing, no home, no family, no stability.”
Ava takes another pause before glancing down at Sara, who notices the hesitation in her girlfriend’s eyes. She gives her a subtle nod of encouragement. Ava nods back and takes a deep breath before continuing.
“I know first hand how it feels for your own parents to love you conditionally, five days after my 16th birthday I was outed at school and my biological parents found out, that day was absolute hell. My entire life crumbled before my eyes, I got home from school and there was a duffle bag with my clothes and books, there was also a note.” Ava pauses to try and hold back the tears, she hasn’t spoken about that day in this much detail since she moved in with the Heywoods. “They left a note to tell me that they never wanted to see me again and how disgusted they were with me. I didn’t have friends during high school, so I had nowhere to go; I have never been more terrified in my life than I was that day. I ended up hiding at school, I would sleep in this little supply closet that I knew nobody used, until my brother, Nate, found me there early one morning and asked what I was doing there and the next thing I knew, I was being shown around the Heywood's home. There was a bedroom with a huge bed and my mom and dad made sure that I had everything I could ever need. But, most kids aren’t that lucky. Most kids in that situation are forced to live on the streets and fall down very dark paths just to be able to survive. There needs to be more support for those kids because they deserve to have the same opportunities that the people their age have, they don’t deserve to suffer just because their sexuality is different from that of their classmates.”
Ava stops when the crowd erupts into cheers and claps of encouragement, and it is clear that they have hope that things might actually change.
She smiles out at the crowd before saying, “I’m going to implement a support system across the country, to ensure that our LGBT youth have a support system outside of their home, should they need it. This system will also be extended to any LGBT person who needs it.”
Once the speech was over everything feels like a blur to Ava. She’s whisked backstage where Zari greets her with a tight hug, Gary also takes the opportunity to hug her - for way too long - Ava pulls away from him and is immediately ushered from the backstage area to the car waiting out back for them.
When she’s sitting down she finally feels like she can breathe again. Until her phone starts buzzing in her pocket. She pulls it out and sees a flurry of texts, from her mom, Nate, Amaya, Nora, and a few other people - she figures she can just respond to them later.
They make it back to the hotel after what feels like hours when in reality they’ve only been in the car for less than twenty minutes.
Ava follows Sara to her room and belly flops onto the bed with a groan.
“You okay babe?” Sara asks with concern lacing her voice. She knows talking about her experience with her biological parents is very draining for Ava and that it was very tough for her to speak about it in that much detail in front of the world.
Ava just grunts in response so Sara sits beside her on the bed and gently rubs a hand up and down her back, in hopes that it will help to relax her girlfriend.
“Why don’t you take a nap and when you wake up we can order some food,” Sara softly suggests.
“I need to sleep for like three weeks,” Ava mumbles before sitting up and kicking her shoes off. Sara chuckles before she moves away from the bed. “Nooo, nap with me.”
Sara looks at her girlfriend who has a pout on her face and how can she say no to that?
The two of them climb into bed and Ava clings to Sara as if her life depends on it. Sara likes it though, it’s been a long time since she’s been able to trust somebody enough to cuddle with them like this. But, Ava makes her feel so safe and comfortable and she hopes that she makes Ava feel the same way.
Soon enough Ava falls asleep with her head on Sara’s chest and Sara can’t help but admire her.