"Top up your coffee?"

Wendy glanced up over her book. "Please, thanks."

Arriving shortly after the Glades disaster, Starling City had become Wendy's home. The disaster, known as the Glades earthquake, killed hundreds and injured hundreds more. The city was short staffed, the hospitals over capacity. As a nurse who'd served overseas in the Special Forces, Wendy was hired almost without question at Glades Memorial. The Glades is where most of Starling City's lower class lives and the highest crime section of the city. None of that meant the people who lived there weren't worth helping. Wendy actually felt they needed her more.

Wendy worked afternoons at Glades Memorial hospital and days off rare. To unwind after her shifts, she'd grab a book and head for this same diner. The current day was, of course, no different. Wendy sat in her usual booth, the first of four, facing the interior of the diner. The only other seating was about ten stools lined along the counter. The coffee was the best and the food was tops. She also loved Sue, the waitress, and owner. Sue was always there, working, always friendly; Wendy wondered if she ever left – was sure she didn't.

"Hospital busy as always?" asked Sue.

"Oh yeah," replied Wendy.

"Never a dull moment there."

"Not yet."

The door chimed, signalling another patron entering the diner. At this time of night, everyone who came through that door were regulars. He was a tall, gruff man, with friendly eyes. He was a member of the Starling City police department and in the diner just as often of Wendy. She knew nothing about him other than his name. Officer Lance. They always greeted one and other with a nod but otherwise kept to themselves.

Wendy and Sue both watched him take his usual spot in the booth farthest from her, facing the outside, which also meant he faced Wendy. This didn't bother her. It was probably some cop instinct, being able to view their full surroundings – no one able to sneak up from behind. Wendy would steal the odd glance in his direction, noticing he would do the same. She went back to reading her book while Sue left her to take his order.

"Get ya' the usual?" asked Sue.

He nodded. "Please."

After a minute of reading, Wendy again glanced up from her book. She studied him. Something seemed off about Officer Lance. His eyes usually looked a little distance and sad, but she figured that was how most police officers looked at the end of their shift. She was sure it's the way she looked after a long shift at the hospital. Tonight was different though, the lines sat deeper on his face. He looked frustrated, maybe even angry. One of his hands kept moved through his hair settling on his neck for a minute before repeating. This was a different Officer Lance from the usual. Something in Wendy told her to talk to him; she didn't like this break from the norm.

Closing her book, Wendy picked up her coffee, slid out of her booth, moved across the diner, and slid into the seat across from Officer Lance. His eyes followed her the moment she had started too moved and stayed on her as she sat. His brow furrowed even more as Wendy placed her coffee on the table. When his eyes met hers, Wendy offered a light smile and his strained expression relaxed a little.

"Officer Lance?"

"I'm off duty. Call me Quentin." Letting out a breath he added, "Wendy, correct?"

"That's me."

For a moment, Quentin forgot about his current problem. It was rare, but she'd caught him off guard. In all the months since Wendy had been coming to the diner, she'd never spoken more than a greeting to him. Not that he spoke to her either, but he'd seen her glances. Wendy was easy on the eyes, younger than him; blond hair, green eyes and athletic looking. He knew about her glances because it was hard to resist his own. She made him nervous. Since his divorce, other than his daughter Laurel, women weren't a part of his life. Quentin took in a deep breath and relaxed his shoulders. Wendy would never know he was nervous though. A part of being a good cop was the ability to hide your emotions.

Quentin released his breath slowly and leaned back. "So, what brings you to this booth?"

"You look like hell." Wendy leaned on the table. "And like you could use a friend."

"Wow." Quentin's eyes widened. "Is that your professional opinion?"

"Professional opinion, how do you know I don't just like wearing scrubs?"

"The security badge pinned to your shirt."

"Ah yes, there's that," she said with a smile and then added, "Anyways, it's not my professional opinion, but my I've seen you in here almost every night for months opinion."

"I don't want to burden you with my problems."

"Come on. What we talk about in the diner, stays in the diner," said Wendy winking at him.

Quentin let a smile creep onto his mouth. Who was this woman? For a moment he couldn't think. Even more, he was surprised when he easily confided in her. Maybe it was all the time together in the diner, maybe it was a something more.

"Do you know that part of Iron Heights prison was destroyed during the earthquake and some of the inmates escaped?"

"No." Wendy lowered her brow. "It wasn't in the news, which seems like a pretty important detail to keep from people."

"Apparently they wanted to avoid a panic."

"So, that's what's got you upset?"

"Not exactly." Quentin sighed. "A serial killer that I put away, he was one of the inmates who escaped and he's not just any killer, he is one of the worst."

"And the police really aren't telling the public?" said Wendy, then after a pause she added, "wait, you're a beat cop, not a detective. How did you put him away?"

"You're observant aren't you?" Quentin looked away for a second. "I was a detective; I was demoted, which is an even longer story than this one."

"I have a hard time imagining what you could have done to get demoted; you'll have to tell me the story sometime." Wendy leaned back in the booth. "In the meantime, won't the cops be able to catch this guy?"

"Maybe, but they're short staffed and don't want my help. This guy, he's a tricky son of a bitch." Quentin hesitated before continuing, "I'm thinking about enlisting outside help, someone I think can catch him faster than the police, before he hurts anyone else."

"I know you and me, we only just starting talking tonight, but I feel like I've gotten a sense of you over the many nights spent here. You seem like a good man, like a cop who does the right thing, so you should do what you feel is right."

Quentin could only slowly nod at Wendy. Sue came by and topped up both their coffees. They sat in silence, both deep in thought. In the many months since Wendy started showing up at the diner, Quentin found her attractive, what man wouldn't, but he never thought she might be interested in him. Now, here she was, sitting with him, giving him sound advice and making him smile. There were years between them though and he thought friends would be the furthest their relationship would go. Although, the thought of something more was in the back of his mind, but he push it away. There was no way she'd be interested.

"I'm sorry to cut this short, but you're right." Quentin got to his feet. "I've got to get in touch with someone."

"No problem. I should be getting home also," she replied with a smile.

Wendy grabbed her bag and books from the front booth and they walked out together, Quentin holding the door for Wendy. Wendy said goodnight and Quentin replied with the same. Wendy moved to walk away. Quentin's stomach tightened at the sudden realization that a serious bad guy is out on the street and he stopped her.

Quentin held out one of his cards. "My number."

"Your number?" Wendy tilted her head taking the card.

"Just in case." Quentin frowned. "This guy's got me worried."

"Too bad." Wendy turned and started walking away from Quentin. "I thought maybe you were giving me your number so we could go out on a date."

Quentin was left speechless as Wendy walked away. He watched her until she turned out of his sight. After a moment, he shook his head, pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled Felicity. As much as he would love to consider a date with Wendy, now was not the time to think about that. Felicity was his contact to the outside help he mentioned to Wendy. That outside help being the Arrow. Making a date with him was more important at the moment.

Wendy's face held a smirk as she arrived at her apartment. Unlocking the door and stepping in, it was dark. As usual, her roommate wasn't home yet. They were the perfect roommates. They got along great, from the moment they met, and it helped that they didn't see one and other too often. As Wendy was changing for bed, she heard keys in the front door; her roommate was home.

Wendy stepped out of her bedroom. "Hey Felicity, long day?"

"Of course, you?" replied Felicity.

"Yeah, but I do have some news you'll enjoy."

"Oh really?" Felicity's whole body perked up. "Just let me get ready for bed, okay."

Wendy made them both some tea while she waited and then sat on the couch. She thought about how much her and Felicity looked alike and how much it amused them the first time they met. When they were together, people thought Wendy was Felicity's older sister. Except for their eye colour and Wendy having a more athletic build, they did look very much alike. Felicity returned and curled up on the couch across from her.

"You know the officer, the one that comes in the diner as often as I do? I finally talked with him tonight."

"And here I thought you'd sworn off men," said Felicity

"He's not the usual. He's the rare type that actually seems caring and sweet. Not like your boss, Mr. Queen."

Wendy had never actually met Oliver Queen. There was the news and tabloids, gossip. Felicity insisted he wasn't the same man he once was – that he wasn't anything all those things said about him. Wendy believed her, but enjoyed getting a reaction out of Felicity.

"Oliver isn'tâ€Ĥ" Felicity trailed off when she noticed the smirk on Wendy's face. "So when's the first date?"

"No date, not yet." Wendy ran a hand through her hair. "He was distracted with a case. One step at a time."

Wendy and Felicity chatted until their tea was done and then both headed for bed. In the morning, Felicity had already left for work. After a quick breakfast, Wendy was also off to work. Arriving at the hospital, Wendy was one of the last few of her shift to enter the change rooms. As usual, there was a lot of pre-shift chit chat going on. She greeted people as she passed them headed for her locker. Lily, a friend and fellow nurse came up beside her as she dropped her bag into her locker and shut it.

"There you are." Lily leaned up against the locker next to Wendy's "You haven't heard the news yet have you?"

"No, what news?" replied Wendy.

"You got the on call position with the police department."

"Seriously." Wendy started out of the room. "You better not be screwing with me."

"Of course not." Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't know why you were even worried. Like anyone else was getting it when the competition was a Special Forces army trained medical nurse."

Leaving the room, Wendy was light on her feet, this job meant time away from the hospital. The Starling City police department kept nurses on call to come to the station to help with minor injuries. It was safer and more cost-effective than bringing inmates or officers to the hospital for injuries that could be easily dealt with at the station.

Wendy and Lily parted ways. Her shift went by as it usually did - quickly. Even though it had been months since the earthquake, there were still so many injured and new people being hurt in the clean-up. Glades Memorial also had the worst budget and a string of medicine thefts recently. This all meant every employee did the work of at least three people. None of this bothered her. The other nurses complained of being overworked and under paid, but never Wendy. This was her calling; she lived for this type of job. Plus, if any of them had been through what she had overseas, they would feel the same as her.

Walking up to the nursing station at the end of her shift she noticed a lot of people huddled around the television. The local news station seemed to be on.

"What's going on?" Wendy asked stepping beside Lily.

"Apparently, some serial killer called the Dollmaker escaped from Iron Heights after the quake. He's already killed two women since escaping. They found a second body tonight."

Wendy didn't know what to say. The Dollmaker, he had to be Quentin's escaped serial killer. She bee lined it to the change rooms, quickly got cleaned up and headed for the diner. She hoped he would still show up; he probably wasn't taking the discovery of a second body well. Wendy had got the feeling that Quentin had a colourful history with this killer; a lot more than he may ever share with her.

Entering the diner, Wendy saw Quentin was already sitting in his usual spot at the back. He looked as bad as she thought he would. His body was more slumped in the booth versus sitting, his brow was overly furled, and his eyes stared deep into his mug. Wendy couldn't help but smile a little though when she saw he had a second cup of coffee waiting across from him. Comfort was something she excelled at, obviously another reason she was a nurse. Sitting down across from him, she hesitated for a second and then took one of his hands into hers. His body straightened a little. His eyes moved first to their now touching hands and then to meet her eyes.

"This isn't your fault, you know that right?"

"Right now." Quentin sighed. "I just need to catch him before he kills again."

"Did you contact the outside help you talked about?"

"I did. He helped me figure out how he selects his victims. We have a plan set for tomorrow night."

"This outside help," said Wendy leaning in close to Quentin, "wouldn't happen to be the vigilante?"

"The Arrow, and his team, yes."

"His team, he has a team. I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"What made you think vigilante of all things?"

"You seemed very unsure, so I assumed it was someone that the police wouldn't want you to be getting help from and he's the only one I could think of."

"How do you feel about the vigilante, about the Arrow?" asked Quentin.

"That's a tough one. Coming from the military, I'm used to rules and you follow those rules, no questions. I assume it's the same for you, being a cop. And those rules, they were created for a reason. Is it right that the Arrow breaks these rules? I'm not so sure, but in this city, his ways seem to work and they seem to be changing; less killing, more real justice."

"I once made it my mission to capture him, but after some events leading up to the quake, my opinion has changed. I'm not saying I agree with his ways, but it's what this city needs right now."

They sat in silence for a while, Wendy's hand still holding Quentin's. Silence, it was the reason they both came to this diner. You could sit quietly, not being bothered, alone with your thoughts. It felt different now, but a good different. Wendy study Quentin, watching him, deep in thought. His eyes were distant, and they had heavy bags under them. In a short couple of minutes, he yawned so many times Wendy lost track.

"You should go home, get some sleep. You'll need to be rested for tomorrow." Wendy lightly squeezed Quentin's hand. "And, this time it is my professional opinion."

Smiling a little Quentin replied with, "your right."

"Of course I am."

Quentin moved to get up, so Wendy let go of his hand. Quentin's eyes lingered where her hand had been for a second before he started towards the exit. Wendy followed. She might as well head home also. Once outside, Wendy said goodnight to Quentin and started to walk away.

"Wendy?"

At the sound of her name, Wendy turned back to Quentin.

"When I catch Mathis, we'll go on that date you mentioned last night."

"You've got a deal."

A smile hung on Wendy's face the whole way home. Arriving home, the apartment was dark and empty. Wendy checked her phone. She had a text from Felicity letting her know she'd be later than usual and she also had a voicemail from her Mother. Wendy's stomach tensed. It was the third one in weeks and it was the third one she deleted without listening to it.

"How did she even get this number?" Wendy said to herself, frustrated.

Wendy had a hard time sleeping that night. First, there was this new found attraction to Quentin. She'd hadn't so much as really looked at a man since arriving in Starling City. Thinking about Quentin felt so different though. Then there were things like a crazed serial killer on the loose and the Arrow and Quentin's plan. There was also her new job. It might sound a little strange, but she couldn't wait to get her first call to the station. The thing that really kept her awake though was the voicemail from her Mother.