A shorter chapter just to round off Sara's day spent with Poppy and Ava.

After what Ava would describe as the tastiest ice-cream, she'd ever had the pleasure of trying and another run around the park, Sara had to carry the small child back to Ava's apartment. As the trio stopped outside of Ava's door, the memories of a few weeks ago came flooding back. Sara's cocky smile as Ava opened the front door topless, the way Sara pulled Ava into her arms and how safe they both felt. The Agent's lips tingled as if every kiss was consuming her all at once.

"You too?" Sara whispered while gently securing a sleeping Poppy in her arms.

Ava shook the heart fluttering memories away and grounded herself back in her crippling reality, a reality where she was stood heartbroken in front of the woman who broke it.

"Ava, can we just-"

"I should get her to bed." Ava fumbled with the keys, dropping them as she tried to ignore Sara's piercing glare. The blonde agent made no move to retrieve the small child as the door swung open. "She's claimed the spare room as hers." She threw over her shoulder before stepping into the cold apartment. Silently the awkward pair tiptoed into Poppy's room and Sara set the still snoring child down on the bed, while Ava dug through her overnight bag for her new kitten onesie.

"I guess I'll leave you to it." Sara smiled meekly, as she cast one last glance at the sleeping child. "Give the kid a hug from me when she comes back to life."

"There's wine in the fridge." Ava didn't need to look up to know that her statement had caused the shorter woman to do a double take.

Sara couldn't help but smile as she padded into the bare kitchen. Her heart raced with anticipation. This was the olive branch she had been hoping for, a proper chance for her and Ava to finally talk and get things out in the open. Sara knew that one chat wasn't going to fix everything, that it wasn't going to wipe the slate clean completely. But it was the start that Sara had craved.

The blonde Captain sat solitary at the breakfast bar, her short fingernails tapping gently against the cold marble. She could hear Ava soft voice creeping through from the spare room as she cooed a whining Poppy into a peaceful slumber once again. Sara could feel herself growing fidgety, she'd never been one for sitting still. Wandering from the kitchen, she smiled softly as she caught sight of Ava's award resting on the shelf. Carefully she lifted the heavy trophy as her fingers traced over the inscription. Sara had often found herself thinking back on the short time spent together that night. She'd daydream about what might have happened if Ava's Mother hadn't of mentioned the picnic, if they'd actually ended up back at Ava's place. Sara wasn't one for dwelling on the past, not when she had the future within her grasp. Setting the trophy back on its resting place, she began to study the pictures that sat beside it. Sure she'd seen them briefly during her last visit, but each one of them seemed to hold a different meaning now. The smiling faces of the Sharpe siblings warmed her heart, while Poppy's toothy grin made Sara's lips turn up into her own grin. There was a family photo just left of the award, Ava's college graduation, Daniel baby-faced, Annie's hand resting on a small bump and Ava…her face gleaming with pride and her eyes dazzling with anticipation. Then there was a new frame that had caught Sara's attention. It was a group shot from Poppy's party. Sara remembered it like it was yesterday, Paul had gathered everyone to the middle of the yard and happily began to arrange them into 'optimal picture stances'. Sara tried to duck out, figuring that neither Ava nor her family would have truly wanted her in their family photo, but Ava was having none of it and happily laced their fingers together, pulling Sara softly into the camera's line of sight, before wrapping her arms around the smaller blonde woman. Sara never thought she'd see the photo again, let alone find it sitting proudly on Ava's shelf.

"Annie gave me it before I told her about us. Ava's voice startled the blonde, causing her to drop the picture momentarily before grabbing it just as it was about to hit the ground. "Sorry."

"Kid alright?" Sara asked as she set the photo back in its place.

"Snoring her little head off." The taller blonde rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "I'll grab us some wine, make yourself at home."

With a rather large glass of wine each, the two women settled down on the couch, putting as much distance as possible between them.

"Ava-"

"It's my turn now." Ava interrupted, before draining her glass, standing and stalking her way over to the picture filled shelf. "I really wanted to hate you, Sara." She muttered as her fingers traced around the metal frame.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did."

Ava chucked lightly to herself. Maybe before this mess she could have gotten on board the 'I dislike Sara Lance' train. But too much had happened between them and even though Sara hurt her, she couldn't bring herself to hate the blonde woman.

"I could never hate you. Not entirely anyway." She smiled softly at Sara. "There were so many things I've wanted to say to you since that night…but standing here, I can't think of even one."

"I know what you mean. It took nearly dying and breaking down in my Dad's office to really clear my head." Sara chuckled nervously, lightening the mood between them.

"At least you didn't have you brother send you out on a blind date." Ava matched Sara's chuckle, as she stalked back over to her seat and refilled her glass. It baffled both women as they thought how easy it suddenly was to be near each other again. How finally being honest – mostly, Ava thought – had brought them closer.

"Yeah, you win." Sara said into her drink as the last few drops disappeared.

"That night…" Ava started but found that the words were stuck in her throat, never to escape.

"I've done some pretty shitty things before…but what I said to you, I didn't mean a word of it."

"So I've heard." The taller woman smirked mischievously, enjoying the comfortable banter between them.

"Amaya?" Ava nodded. "That little…" She trails off, not exactly mad at her teammates interference.

"She was only trying to help." Ava's chuckles filled the apartment, before a soft silence fell over the pair. "Why did you…why did you say it if you didn't mean it?" Her voice turned into a gentle whisper as she spoke, the feelings she'd been hiding breaking through.

Sara sighed nervously as she twiddled the ring on her finger, "You said you wanted to have a talk and I...I panicked. I-"

"Wanted to protect your heart?"

"Something like that." The smaller blonde nervously rubbed the back of her neck. "Look, Ava, I'm not someone who does feelings...not in the normal sense anyway...and when I started to feel things for you, I was terrified of what that meant."

Ava could feel her heart racing as Sara's word sunk in and while the pain in her chest that the blonde had created still remained, the agent somehow felt lighter. "And you don't think that I was too? Sara, I...I'm still afraid of all this."

"You don't get it...I wasn't afraid of having feelings, I was terrified that I'd..." Sara stops, thinking the words over and over in her head. "I hurt people, Ava...that's what I was trained to do...and something like, something like who I am, it messes with you and...I didn't-"

"Relationships don't come without risks, Sara." Ava slowly reaches out, her fingertips graze Sara's leg. "Why didn't you just talk to me? Why didn't you trust me, or respect me enough to let me make my own mind up about all of this?"

"I fucked up, Aves. And you deserved better,"

"You weren't the only one...and it's unfair of me to put all of this on you." Ava smiles softly as Sara finally tears her eyes away from her ring and meets her gaze.

"We could have been great..." The smaller blonde whispers as her body feels the urge to move closer and her hand moves up to gently stroke Ava's hair.

"I know..." Ava whispers back, making no move to move from Sara's touch and instead leaning into her warmth. Ava can feel herself moving closer and closer to the blonde's lips, her craving for them becoming increasingly hard to ignore. Sara feels it too, but just as she finds herself leaning in, her phone jumps to life and the two women practically jump away from each other like two teenagers who'd been caught making out.

Scrambling to get her phone out of her back pocket, Sara silently curses as she reads the message from Gideon informing her of her teams latest mishaps. "Shit...I gotta get back."

"I'll walk you out." Ava smiles shyly as she stands with Sara.

"Umm...I know that one talk doesn't fix everything, but I'm glad that we took this step, even if it ends here." Sara mumbled once they reached the door.

"Me too..." The taller blonde nodded as she opened the door for Sara and watched as she padded into the hallway.

"I hope she makes you smile." Sara turned to face the confused blonde. "You're breath-taking when you smile."

Ava's breath hitched in her throat as Sara smirked and continued on her way. "Sara!" Ava found herself shouting, causing the blonde to stop in her tracks and turn to face her for the second time that day. "I'm really glad that you didn't die." She practically vomited out the words before jumping back into the safety of her apartment before Sara could respond. Leaning back against her door, Ava's breathing mellowed as the soft sounds of Sara's chuckles filled the hallway, until eventually they were no more.