Day 1: Making a Snowman together

Summary: After Dahrk stabbed her Laurel fell in a coma. Roughly six months had passed and Oliver still visits her every day. During a snowing day he remembers their first date.

The hospital room was quiet. There was no sound except the whisper of the man sitting in a chair near the only bed talking quietly with the woman lying there, hoping that today she would wake up. In that room every day was like that: quiet except for the whispers of the man. Sometimes other people came to visit the woman, more in the beginning, but he was always there.

Laurel Lance had fallen into a coma after Dahrk stabber her in May and in the next six months Oliver Queen had come to visit her every day. Before killing Dahrk he stayed there only an hour, but lately he'd started spending almost his whole day there, talking with her.

He left the room when visitation hours were over and then he quietly slipped back in after his night patrol. He left again before the nurses started their round. In the morning he took care of his company ( Felicity had singed it back to him before leaving in September, after realizing that there wasn't any hope for them to figure things out cause he was still in love with Laurel ) and by lunch he was back at Laurel's bedside.

Thea and Diggle had tried multiples times to tell him that Laurel wouldn't want him to stop living waiting for her to wake up. They had tried to tell him that the doctor weren't even sure she would wake up. But he just brushed them off and kept spending all his free time with Laurel.

Even Quentin, that in the beginning had been right there everyday with Oliver, was starting to lose hope and after six months it was too hard for him to see his daughter like that. Sara came from time to time, when her time travel allowed her, but it was too hard for her too. It was hard for Oliver too, sitting there day after day talking to Laurel and praying she would wake up. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done, but he owed her as much. Laurel had unknowingly kept him alive on the island, now he couldn't give up on her.

One day, almost three weeks before Christmas, it snowed for the first time that year. Oliver sat on the chair next to the bed, holding Laurel's hand and looking at the snowflakes falling outside the window.

- It's freezing cold outside today, Laur. And guess what? It's snowing. It's the first snow of the season. – He whispered leaning in and kissing her forehead.

Laurel had always loved the snow. Oliver never understood why. The snow was cold and in the city it turned almost immediately in iced pool of dirty water that made walking without falling a challenge, and of course driving in the city when it snowed was a nightmare. He had never saw the appeal of the snow, but Laurel saw magic in it. She had tried over and over again to make him understand the beauty hidden in that white cloak that covered the city, and she had always failed.

The only magic that Oliver could see in the snow was the way it made Laurel smile, the gleam in her eyes when she saw the first snowflake, her laughter when she ran outside letting it falling over her.

In the last years since he'd been back from the island it had snowed just one time, one year ago when he had gone fight against Ra's Al Ghoul.

All Oliver wanted right now was for Laurel to wake up. He wanted to see her smile again, that bright delighted smile that only the snow coaxed out of her.

Instead he would stay there, sitting in that uncomfortable plastic chair, holding the cold hand of a sleeping Laurel, talking to her, telling her the story of their first date, hoping that the memories would wake her up.

It had taken Oliver a while to finally ask Laurel out. At first he didn't realize what he felt for the girl. She was pretty and smart and she was one of the few people in the school that didn't treat him and Tommy like celebrities or weren't intimidated by their families richness and influence. This was what had firstly drawn them to her. Her honesty, her taking no crap attitude and the way she had of always calling their out on their bullshit. Laurel wasn't his type. She was witty and funny and quietly attractive, she liked to party but she also was a good student and she always tried to convince them to party less and study more. Oliver usually went out with girls that showed off their beauty and followed him in whatever crazy party he'd planned to go. Girls who never tried to stop him from doing whatever he wanted. So when his feeling for Laurel had firstly made themselves known Oliver hadn't recognized them. It had taken him a month to finally accept that what he felt for her was more than friendship and finally ask her out.

Their first date happened on a cold December day and the city was covered with snow. Oliver wanted to invite her to dinner and maybe to a movie. But her father had been irremovable, he wouldn't let his daughter go out with Oliver in the night. No one had really understood why, Laurel's mom had tired to change her husbands mind, but in the end Oliver had thought that it was best to not upset the Detective too much. A day date could be as good as a dinner date. So they had settled for coffee and then a movie.

He picked Laurel up at 3:00pm. The coffee part of the date went smoothly. Being out with Laurel felt natural and amazing, there wasn't the pressure of a first date, it felt like a normal coffee with his friend. Laurel smiled when he took her hand over the table, she smiled when he flung his arm around her shoulder while they were walking, she simply burrowed herself closer to him and they kept walking.

They were walking through a park when Laurel suddenly stopped and looked at him with big pleading eyes.

- Can we build a snowman? – She asked.

- What? –

- Instead of going to the movies? Can we stay here and build a snowman? –

Oliver frowned. He couldn't understand why someone would stay out in the snow and build a snowman when they could be in a theatre warm and comfortable.

- Why? – He asked.

- Cause it's fun! – she said.

- I don't know Laurel… -

- Please? Trust me. It'll be fun. –

Oliver sighed. This was their first date and he just wanted things to work so he could have a second and a third date. He wanted Laurel to have a good time and be happy.

- Okay. – He accepted in the end.

Laurel smiled and dragged him in the snow, she knelt and started to put together a big snowball, she rolled the snow around, making the ball bigger and bigger, and the she pushed it under a tree and stopped there.

- The next one is yours. – She said smiling.

And Oliver knelt in the snow, flinching for the cold. He made a smaller ball and Laurel helped him place it on top of the other.

Then she immediately made the head and he put it on the other two.

Oliver looked down at his clothes. His pants were soaked and he was pretty sure that his shoes were permanently ruined. His jacket had little white snow spots all over same as his gloves. He was freezing and he definitely wasn't having fun.

- We need to dress him up! – She said taking off her wool hat and putting it on the snowman. She was about to do the same with her scarf, but Oliver handed over his.

- Take mine. So he'll have something mine and something yours. –

She nodded and put the scarf at the juncture of the second and the third ball.

Then she turned to walk around the park.

- Laurel? What are you doing? –

- Looking for rocks and branches so we can finish him. – She said.

It took them a while to find everything and to finish the snowman in a way that made Laurel happen.

In the end she looked at their creation and turned to Oliver with a bright smile.

- Isn't he beautiful? Our snowman. –

Oliver took in her smile, her shining eyes and her slightly red cheeks. She was beautiful.

Oliver would never see in the snow the same magic Laurel did, he would never love the snow, he would never love making snowman. But he saw the magic in Laurel when she was in the snow. He saw her happiness and that made him happy. –

- I will never love the snow like you do, Laurel. But I will always love you. – He finished his story and kissed her hand. – Wake up, please. Come back to me. – he whispered standing up to kiss her forehead.

Then he looked at his watch and turned to see the nurse in standing in the doorway. She was the one always tasked with kicking him out.

- I know. I know, Amy. I'm going – He said with a sigh.

He spent so much time in the hospital that he was on a first name basis with the nurses.

The look that Amy shot him was soft and sad, so different form the annoyed one she usually reserved to him when she had to send him home.

- You know what? Just stay tonight, if you want. – She proposed. – I won't tell, if you don't-

Oliver smiled and sat back.

- Why? –

- After such a sweet story how can I make you leave? – She walked in the room and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. – I'm a romantic at heart. – She squeezed gently before leaving.

Oliver took Laurel's hand and sat more comfortably. It was going to be a long sleepless night.

But it was okay, he would keep coming and keep watching Laurel until she would wake up.