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The first thing Ava noticed when she stepped through the portal was how incredibly cold it felt. The second thing she noticed was that she appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. The only thing in front of her was snow covered rolling fields and the sun slowing dipping behind a hill in the distance. She looked up towards the sky and let out a sigh, a cloud of her breath covering the brilliant shades of orange and pink the sky was turning for a moment.
When Sara had dropped by her office this afternoon and told her they were going on a date tonight and to dress warmly, this was not what she was expecting. She was thinking maybe a nice dinner and a stroll through the park at night, or maybe a fancy trip to an ice castle, not knee deep snow and freezing cold temperatures. Not to mention she was alone. No girlfriend to be seen. She pulled out a small piece of paper from her pocket Sara had given her before leaving this afternoon and then looked down at her time courier to make sure she set the date correctly. Both said ‘December 24th, 1995’ and a set of coordinates which Ava had traced to being just outside of Star City. So she was in the right place and time, but Sara was nowhere to be seen. Ava let out another sigh, coming to the conclusion that maybe Sara had pranked her, or maybe she wrote down the coordinates wrong. She was getting ready to open a portal onto the Waverider when she heard a voice in the distance behind her.
She turned around, trying to find the source of the voice and noticed for the first time she was standing at the base of a giant hill. Ava stood there for a moment, a little dumbfounded at the size of the hill when she noticed a pink blob jumping up and down on the top of the hill waving at her. She waved back at Sara so she knew she saw her before starting to trudge up the enormous hill. Luckily there was a little trail going up the side of the hill so she didn’t have to walk through the deep snow all the way up.
After walking for about five minutes, she finally made it to the crest of the hill where she could see Sara leaning against what appeared to be nothing, but she in fact knew it was the jumpship camouflaged. Upon seeing her, Sara pushed herself off of the ship and walked over to her.
“Took you long enough.” She said teasingly.
“Have you seen the size of this hill! And there's so much snow!” Ava said, embarrassingly out of breath. She prided herself on being in top physical fitness but this hill had just made a mockery out of her.
Sara let out a laugh, “Sorry babe, guess my coordinates were off a little bit. Meant to drop you off up here.”
Ava couldn’t help but smile back at her girlfriend. Any ounce of tiredness or bitterness from climbing the hill vanished from within her instantly. She would never admit it but Sara’s laugh was one of her favourite sounds and it was impossible for her not to feel happy when she heard it.
“It’s okay.” she said, finally regaining control of her breathing, “but why exactly are we here?”
“I told you, it's date night!”
“I know that,” Ava said, glaring slightly at Sara, “but why here, exactly? It’s freezing cold and there’s at least three feet of snow.”
Sara closes the distance between them and hooks her arm through Ava’s, as her hands are currently shoved deep into her coat pockets to keep them from freezing. Sara starts walking, pulling Ava towards the jumpship.
“I knew you probably wouldn’t have dressed warm enough so I had Gideon fabricate some stuff for you.” She hit the side of the jumpship, which really just looked like she hit the open air, and the door slid open. “Go on and change, I’ll wait for you out here.” Sara slid her arm out of Ava’s and stood up on her tippy toes and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Ava felt warmer already and wanted to just pull the smaller girl into an embrace and kiss her on the lips, but she went inside the ship instead. Curiosity of what they were doing tonight got the best of her.
A couple of minutes later she stumbled out from the ship, cheeks red from embarrassment over how ridiculous she felt. She was wearing a purple and pink puffy ski jacket with matching snow pants. She also had on a purple hat with a massive pom pom on top and bulky boots and gloves. She felt like she could barely move with everything on.
Sara had heard the door of the ship open and turned to look at her girlfriend from where she was sitting on the edge of the hill.
“Oh Aves, I knew you were gonna look cute in what I had Gideon fabricate but this is even better than I thought.” She said while getting up and meeting Ava halfway.
“Cute? Sara I look ridiculous!” Ava could feel her cheeks heat up even further, the cold air doing nothing to cool them down.
“No, babe you seriously look cute. Plus we match.” Sara said while motioning to her body, showing off what she was wearing.
Ava finally noticed what Sara was wearing and they were in fact matching. Sara had on a pink and purple ski jacket with watching snow pants. Instead of a hat, Sara had on a bright pink headband that covered her ears, but she also had the same clunky snow boots and gloves. Their outfits complimented each other, a matching set just in different colours. Seeing this made some of Ava’s embarrassment dissipate, replaced with a warm feeling in her chest towards her girlfriend.
“You look cute, I however still feel ridiculous, I can barely move in all of this!”
She takes a step forwards Sara, and immediately started to fall forwards, not used to the feeling of loose snow under her feet. She squeezed her eyes shut and was bracing for impact when suddenly her fall was halted. When she opens her eyes again she’s greeted with great big blue eyes, the exact colour of the afternoon sky.
“I got you babe, don’t worry.”
Ava can feel her body starting to come alive with being so close to Sara. They had been dating for about 6 months now and her body still reacts the same way when she gets this close to her. Taking advantage of how close they are, she starts to lean down to kiss Sara, who meets her halfway. Sara breaks from the kiss shortly after their lips touch, but as she’s pulling away Ava brings her hand up to pull Sara back into the kiss. She can feel Sara smiling against her lips, sending butterflies flying around her stomach. Sara deepens the kiss, somehow pulling Ava in even closer, but Ava is the one to break the kiss this time. She pulls back a couple of inches and waits to watch Sara slowly open her eyes and pout at her for breaking the kiss.
“As much as I’d love to stand here and make out with you, I am curious as to what you have planned tonight.”
Sara lets out a small sigh and then quickly pulls Ava back in for a quick peck before stepping back and linking arms with her. She guides them over to the edge of the hill where Ava sees an assortment of sleds lying in the snow. There's a long wooden one meant for more than one person, some round plastic looking things, and some that just look like big colourful pieces of plastic.
“You brought me to Star City, Christmas Eve in 1995, to go sledding?” Ava couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at how ridiculous this suddenly felt.
“We’ll technically it’s Starling City since we are in the past.” Sara said smartly.
“Okay fine, Starling City. But why here, why now? We could have gone sledding anywhere in 2018.”
Sara turns to look up at Ava, joining their gloved hands together the best she can.
“I brought you here because this is where one of my happiest childhood memories happened. It was the day before my 8th birthday and all I wanted to do was go sledding because it had snowed so much the night before. I bugged my dad so much he finally caved and took me and Laurel here. We spent the whole day here, just the three of us. Laurel and I would race each other down the hill, seeing who could slide the fastest and the furthest. Then we started building jumps when my dad went back to the car to warm up and he damn near had a heart attack as he watched me catch the biggest air off of that jump.” Sara let out a small chuckle and looked down the hill towards something and Ava followed her gaze. She could just make out a mound of snow halfway down the hill that must have been the jump Sara was talking about. Ava returned her focus back to Sara, but Sara was still looking down the hill, sadness starting to creep over her features.
Ava tugged on their hands a bit, getting Sara’s attention again, “what happened next, babe?”
Sara closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them again the sadness that had been pooling in her eyes was starting to fade. “That was pretty much it. My dad didn’t want to watch us break our necks going off of those jumps so he took us home.” Sara had a hint of a mischievous smile on her face, all traces of sadness gone.
“Dare devil since a young age. Everything makes a lot more sense now.” Ava couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Sara broke out into a genuine smile now, one that reached all the way to her eyes. “As it gets closer to Christmas I think about this memory more often. It was genuinely one of the happiest days of my childhood. Laurel and I had so much fun, so I thought rather than sit in some stuffy restaurant telling you this story, I would bring you here so we could kind of recreate it together. Make our own memories together.”
Ava could feel her heart start to swell in her chest again. She didn’t think she could love this girl any more than she already does but then she goes and pulls something like this and she can feel herself falling deeper for her.
“Sara I-”
“And before you go all Time Bureau on me for time travelling for a date and possibly screwing up the timeline by coming to a place where younger me could see older me I want you to know that we are here well after my family left, it's Christmas Eve so no one else will be coming here and I left Zari in charge of the Legends for the night so we could have the whole night to ourselves.” Sara said in one breath, interrupting Ava.
Ava let out a genuine laugh, “I was going to say I love it, but thank you for being so meticulous about preserving the timeline for once.”
“For once! Jerk!” Sara exclaims, playfully smacking Ava’s arm.
Ava just laughs and leans in to give Sara a quick kiss.
“There’s just one problem… I’ve never been sledding before.” She says while looking down at her feet, negative thoughts starting to flicker to the surface of her brain. Thoughts about why she’s never been sledding, that she doesn’t have any real childhood memories.
Before she can spiral too deep into her thoughts, her chin is being tilted upwards. Sara has her bare fingers under her chin, gently lifting it up until she’s looking her in the eyes. She’s giving her such a soft and loving look she can’t help but let her negative thoughts start to slip away.
“I figured you’d never been.” She stretched up on her tippy toes again and gave Ava a chaste kiss on the lips. “Come on.”
Sara helped Ava closer to the sleds before letting go to grab the long wooden sled and then dropping it in front of Ava. “We’ll go down together the first time.”
A couple minutes later Ava had situated herself on the sled and Sara was behind her. Ava was sitting between Sara’s legs, her torso pressed up against her back. Despite the bulkiness of both of their jackets, Ava could somehow still feel every inch of Sara pushed up against her. She was trying to ignore the pulling feeling growing in the pit of her stomach when suddenly she was flying through the air.
“Sara I wasn’t ready!!” Ava yells.
Her answer is Sara laughing from behind her and the feeling of her arms snaking around her stomach and holding her tight. After what felt like ages the sled finally comes to a stop and she opens her eyes. She didn’t even realize she had them closed. She feels Sara slide away from her to stand up and she can’t help but feel a little sad at the loss of body contact.
“So, how was it!” Sara says excitedly.
“I don’t know, I had my eyes closed the whole time.” Ava says while struggling to get onto her feet.
“Ava Sharpe, are you telling me that you can fight an army of Roman soldiers, a clan of Vikings, and take on a serial killer in the form of a puppet but you can’t handle tobogganing!” She teases.
“Fighting and flying down a hill with nothing holding you in are two completely different things.” She huffs out as she finally manages to get to her feet.
“Right, sledding is a lot scarier.” Sara rolls her eyes, continuing to tease Ava.
Ava chooses to ignore the taunt and turns to look back to where they came from and lets out a groan. They had slid further from where Ava had originally portaled in. It was going to be a long walk back up to the top.
Before she can think Sara is ripping off her left glove and pulling up her sleeve, “Hey! What are you doing.”
But soon the familiar sound of a portal being opened fills the air around them. Normally Ava would condemn such selfish use of the time courier but right now she didn’t really want to struggle through all this snow. Sara picked up the sled in one had and slid her other hand around Ava’s arm again, continuing to help her through the knee deep snow towards the portal.
Once they were through the portal Sara dropped the sled onto the ground again and immediately sat down on it.
“Come on babe, were going again,” she looked back at Ava, “and this time you’re going to keep your eyes open.”
“Is that a threat Miss Lance?”
“Keep your eyes closed again and find out.” Sara winked at her before turning back to look down the hill.
Ava didn’t delay it any further and slowly made her way over to the sled to settle in behind her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting her chin on Sara’s shoulder.
“Aves?”
“Yea?”
“You need to give us a push to get going.”
“Oh, right.” She had forgotten what they were doing, content with just having Sara in her arms.
Ava reluctantly lets go of Sara’s waist and digs her hands into the snow before gently pushing them forwards. They move about an inch which causes Sara to giggle in front of her.
“Harder!”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.” Ava winks at Sara as she turns around to glare at her a bit.
“Stop delaying it. Come on and give us a big push.”
Sara is right, she had been delaying going down the hill again. She had seen countless dumb Christmas movies where they go sledding and figured it would be fun, not a terrifying death trap. She takes a deep breath, calming her nerves and pushes off hard.
They’re flying down the hill again. Her hands instinctively snake around Sara’s waist, clamping down hard and she’s shut her eyes again. But then she hears Sara’s laughter and whoops and hollers of joy. She opens her eyes a bit and she sees Sara laughing and enjoying herself. The sight is enough to give Ava a burst of courage and she opens her eyes all the way and is relieved to see they’re sliding on the flat part at the bottom of the hill. Shortly after the sled stops and Sara is up a second later, leaving Ava clinging onto empty air before she gets her bearings and stands up as well.
“So Aves, how was the second time?” Sara is absolutely giddy. Ava doesn’t think she’s ever seen her girlfriend so happy and carefree.
“Equally as terrifying.” Ava says frustratedly.
Her tone immediately halts Sara’s giddiness and Ava can’t help but regret how she said it. But she really is frustrated, more so at herself.
“Babe, if you aren’t having fun we can take the jumpship back to the Waverider.”
“No,” she sighs, closing the distance between them. She slips her gloves off so she can move the stray pieces of hair off of Sara’s face that have escaped her ponytail. “It’s okay. I’m just frustrated at myself. Like you said I can take on countless dangerous enemies but sledding is terrifying me.” She breaks their eye contact, too embarrassed to look at her girlfriend right now.
“Ava, it’s okay to be scared.” Sara says softly.
“It’s embarrassing.” Ava mumbles.
“Hey, no it isn’t. Ava, please look up at me.”
Ava slowly brings her gaze back up to look at her girlfriend and is met with Sara’s soft eyes. There’s so much love and concern in her eyes, she couldn’t help but give her her full attention.
“This is a new experience for you,” Sara continues, “and it’s okay to be scared and frustrated. I’m always terrified whenever I do something new.”
“That’s kind of hard to believe.” Ava says, doubting her girlfriend.
“That’s because I was trained for so long to mask any emotion I had. I’m always scared when I lead the Legends into a new mission, scared I’ll mess up and loose one of them. I was terrified when I was adrift at sea after the Queen’s Gambit sank, I was terrified when I joined the League, and believe it or not I was also scared when I first went sledding.”
Ava smiles a bit at the last statement, feeling more reassured.
Noticing that Ava had calmed down a bit, Sara pushes the conversation forward. “So are you ready to keep trying, or would you rather go home babe?”
Her response was opening up a portal for the two of them to go back to the top of the hill. Sara lights up at the sound of the portal opening behind her. She stretches up and gives Ava a quick kiss on the cheek before running through the portal with the sled. When Ava walks through the portal she sees Sara is already loaded onto the sled again, ready to take another run down the hill.
She smiles at her before taking a shaky breath, “hey babe, I think I wanna do this run alone.”
Sara hops up off the sled, looking at Ava with concern, “you sure babe?”
“Yea… Some fears you just have to tackle head on, and as much as I love having you there when we go down the hill, I’m using you as a security blanket.”
She walks over to the sled, pleased that she seems to be getting the hang of walking in the loose snow. She sits down on the sled and mentally prepares for what’s to come. After a moment she lets out a deep breathe and lets Sara know she’s ready. She feel’s Sara’s hands on her back, sending her rushing forwards to nothingness. The sled breaks over the edge of the hill, tilting Ava downward, the sled starts to pick up more speed. She keeps her eyes open this time, noticing how the world is rushing past her, noticing how little friction there is between the sled and the snow, causing her to really feel like she’s flying. She feels the cold wind whipping harshly against her face, threatening to take her hat at any second. In what feels like no time at all the sled is levelling out again and suddenly she’s stopping. Her heart is hammering in her chest, threatening to break out. Suddenly she’s laughing. It starts out as a chuckle and quickly escalates to a full on belly laugh. She lays back, staring up at the sky, euphoria taking control of her body.
“Ava! Babe! Are you okay?”
She hears her girlfriend calling out to her, she rolls onto her stomach and sees Sara running towards her through the snow, carrying one of the round sleds she had seen before. Upon seeing Ava’s smile, Sara slows down a bit. Concern is quickly replaced with irritation.
“I thought you had passed out!” She stops walking towards her. Dropping the sled onto the ground so she can place her hands on her hips and glare down at Ava.
Ava gets up out of the snow, starting to laugh again. She feels so carefree.
“Why are you laughing so much!” Sara says, trying to maintain her irritated look but her lips are betraying her and keep trying to pull them up into a smile.
“Because I did it! I’m not scared anymore!”
She walks over to her girlfriend and pulls her into a tight hug. When she pulls back she can see Sara is smiling now. Before Sara can even reply Ava is opening up a portal. She breaks free of Sara’s loose embrace and walks through the portal. Once through, she turns around to look back at her girlfriend.
“Come on! Let’s race!” She calls out.
Sara just rolls her eyes before breaking out into another smile before making her way through the portal as well.
The two of them spent the next couple of hours sledding. Sometimes they would race, sometimes they would share a sled. Occasionally they took breaks to warm up in the jumpship, Sara had brought along a thermos of hot chocolate for them to share. On multiple occasions Sara had found Ava just lying in the snow, staring up at the sky with a look of pure ecstasy on her face. Finally the night was winding down, the two of them were sat on the edge of the hill. Sara was curled into Ava’s side, Ava’s arm wrapped around Sara pulling her close. They were sharing the last little bit of the hot chocolate and watching as the stars started to shine in the sky. The temperature had dropped even more, but Ava didn’t care. She could have sat here forever with her girl in her arms. However, Sara started to stir in her arms. She pulled her arms back, letting Sara sit up all the way. Ava placed her hand on Sara’s thigh, turning to face her.
“Thank you.”
“For what, babe?” Sara replied, confused.
“For tonight. This not only has been the best date of my life, but probably just the best day of my life.”
The two were quiet for a bit, content with just smiling at one another.
“I felt like a kid.” Ava continued, “and while I don’t actually know what it feels like to be a kid, I guess what I was feeling today was as close to being a kid as I’ll get.”
“Well I could get Constantine to whip up us some more of that potion to turn us into kids again.” Sara interrupted.
“Ugh, no.” Ava protested. Mostly because Constantine had been brought up. Sara just chuckles as a reply, knowing mentioning Constantine gets a rise out of Ava.
“As depressing as it is that I don't have any real childhood memories, I would much rather create these new amazing memories with you.” Ava continues.
Sara gives Ava a look that is nothing but love. She brings a bare hand up to grip Ava’s coat, pulling her in close so they can kiss. After a while Ava pulls back, the need to breath triumphing her desire to keep kissing her girlfriend.
“I love you.” She whispers against Sara’s lips.
“I love you too.” Sara whispers back.
Ava leans back in to kiss Sara again, when she’s met with nothing but cold air. She opens her eyes and sees Sara is standing, looking down at her mischievously.
“As much fun as this has been, I can think of somewhere that would be a lot more fun to make out on. Also we could wear a lot less clothing.”
Ava just smiles up at her girlfriend, trying to ignore the fire that feels like it's been lit in her body. She stands up, wrapping her arms around Sara’s waist.
“Your place or mine?”
“Yours please.” Sara said, a tone of desperation in her voice.
Ava just looks down at her girlfriend, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Zari and Charlie have been hooking up and I don’t think I can take another night of hearing them.” Sara sighs.
Ava just laughs at her girlfriend. They walk up to the jumpship together, ready to escape to the warmth and comfort of Ava’s apartment.