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There was a knock on the door, jerking Dinah away from her dinner preparations. The knock was almost hesitant, and quiet enough that if she hadn’t been in the kitchen, she probably wouldn’t have heard it. Wiping her hands on her dish towel, she rounded the counter to her front door, wondering who would be visiting this late-- nearly 9 PM, home late after getting caught up on her current paper.
She opened the door, a cheerful greeting dying on her lips when she saw the completely unexpected figure on the other side.
“Sara?”
The woman looked up, startled, as if she didn’t expect her mother to actually answer the door. Maybe looking a little like she was regretting her decision to be standing there in the first place.
“Hey, Mom.” Sara tried to grin, and the awkwardness dissolved as Dinah broke the distance and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug.
“I like your nose ring.” Dinah said as she led the way into the front room, grinning secretly.
“Oh, yeah.” Her daughter raised her fingers to the metal. “It's actually fake.” That earned a hearty chuckle from Dinah. She didn’t particularly care-- it was her daughter's body, she could do whatever she wanted. And besides, the jewelry actually did suit her quite well.
“It's a new look.”
Sara winced, biting her lip.
“I didn’t say it was bad.” Dinah smiled warmly-- her daughter was clearly worried about something. “Just unexpected. Undercover thing?”
Sara nodded her head. Dinah knew that she was a part of a vigilante group-- although Dinah much preferred the ‘superhero’ moniker herself-- that required the frequent use of undercover work. She couldn’t quite admit it to Sara, but the look really suited her daughter, and a part of her had felt disappointed that neither of her daughters had had even a phase for goth or alternative styles.
“Is everything okay?” Dinah asked, offering a glass of water which Sara actually took and sipped at gratefully.
“Yeah.” Sara said, rather unconvincingly. Her gaze shot to the ground when she caught Dinah’s skeptical look. “I’m just... anxious.”
“Okay.” Dinah leaned on her elbows on the counter, trying somehow to appear smaller. She knew PTSD plus anxiety was a hell of a drug, and wanted to try to make her daughter feel as at-ease as possible, eye level.
“I want to propose to my girlfriend!” Sara blurted after a few silent moments of her chewing on her lip, fingers tapping the glass, gaze fixed on the ground, frantically trying to pick the right words.
“That's wonderful, honey!” Dinah beamed, reaching out to take Sara’s hand across the counter. “I’m so happy for you!”
“I just... I want to do it right, you know? And... I want the ring to mean something.”
“I think I have what you’re looking for.” Dinah replied, joy surging through her chest as she stood and moved to retrieve something from her jewelry box.
Memories came floating back to her as she examined the ring set in the palm of her hand before returning to her daughter’s side.
“Aquamarine?” She raised her eyebrows with a small snort of laughter.
“Yeah, well, the diamond didn’t work.” Quenton said, his disgruntlement clearly playful. Dinah wrapped her arms around him, kissing him fiercely before laying her head against his chest and closing her eyes. He felt so much like home. “Besides, the aquamarine means more.”
“Oh yeah?” Dinah teased, pecking him on the cheek again.
“Dad proposed to you with aquamarine?” Sara asked, smile starting to curve her lips.
“Yeah, I know. It was super cheesy.” Dinah rolled her eyes fondly, thinking about the night at the edge of the pier. “But I think it suits you in a completely different way.”
“What do you mean?” Dinah held the ring up the balance against her daughters face.
“Aquamarine-- the sea?” She replied, looking her daughter in those ocean eyes. “The endless blue ocean?”
“Mom, I almost drowned. Twice.” Dinah’s own eyes widened as she realized, but Sara chuckled. “Its okay, I’m sorry. I forget... I’m teasing. I’m mostly okay now.”
“I didn’t even consider that. I just meant-- your eyes are the bluest I’ve ever seen. The first moment you opened them as a baby, I remember gasping. The endless blue...” She trailed off. “Stunning. Besides, lots of important meaning in aquamarine I figured you’d like.”
“Oh yeah?” Sara teased, smile broadening to flash those adorable dimples.
“Trust.”
“You need to trust in me, Di. Trust that I’ll be safe, that I’ll come home to you every day no matter what. I know its dangerous-- life is dangerous. But what’s the danger for if there’s no love, no beauty, no trust? I’ll always come back to you.”
“Letting go of those bad feelings, the kind that get in the way of your happiness. The kind that tell you you don’t deserve any.”
“I know you’re not keen on marriage. I know ‘cause you’ve rejected me a few times. I know you don’t feel like you’re worth it, but you are. You are worth sticking around for, and I don’t know how else to say it other than to do it. I know you’re scared-- and thats okay. But let me show you that there’s nothing to be scared of, Di, not with me.”
“Facing yourself, and your soul head on, no matter what you see. To start to see good things.”
“You might think you need to change, Di, but you don’t. You’re perfect the way you are. I don’t care about the past, I care about the present: you, us. I know the past hurts, and it wont stop hurting. But it didn’t ruin you-- you are perfect, you are everything to me. You didn’t deserve that pain, but you do deserve to see a happy ending.
“Our battles, our pasts, our traumas. They don’t define us, Sara. You are boundless like the ocean, strong like the ocean, beautiful and mysterious and incredible like the ocean. You hold it all in your eyes. The aquamarine... it contains multitudes. Just like you.”
Sara, you are not a monster. You are a survivor. You are the strongest woman I know.
Lets face it: neither of us needs anyone, but I want you.
I love you, Sara Lance.
“ I love it, mom.” Sara whispered, her throat tight and tears burning at her eyes. She held the ring reverently, gently. She cradled the ring like a delicate baby bird before falling into her mothers arms, tears streaming down her face silently.
“Aquamarine brings inner peace, relaxing calm, exhilaration and joy. You deserve calm, you deserve peace. You deserve love. ”