Star city seemed peaceful as the sun began to cast an early morning glow upon its residents. As Dinah Lance opened her floral shop she glanced at her old sign above the door. The gently swinging sign read "Sherwood Florist" in bold curly print. She heard the familiar tinkling of the bell and smelled the familiar but still slightly changing scent of her shop. Depending on which flowers were in season, the shop smelled a little different each day. The familiarity soothed her. She had had a rough night with a particularly hard drug bust and tonight did not look any more promising.

She opened her laptop to take orders online and try to get ahead before February and Valentines Day swamped her. As she was finishing an order for Bruce Wayne she heard the bell ring as her assistant came in. She tied the last of the fop's outrageous box of every flower you could think of and greeted Millie. "Hey Mill' do you have that order for Mr. Sanders? He should be coming to pick it up today. Oh! And can you please send out the emails to the customers that need to pay and pick up their orders."

Millie, who was never much of a morning person, grumbled as she did what she was told. "Hi Mill' how was your morning? Good thanks and yours? I'm fine, you know you are such a good and loyal assistant I should give you a raise." Dinah rolled her eyes and smiled fondly at the girl. She was about nineteen in comparison to Dinah's twenty-four.
"Sorry Millie I'm just trying to keep us from getting pummeled on Valentines day from all the poor unfortunate souls who forgot about it and now must suffer."

"Well those 'poor unfortunate souls' deserve it," Millie said a bit more civil now that she had settled at the laptop with her coffee and flicked on the news on the TV. "It isn't right for a guy to forget Valentines Day. How would you feel if your boyfriend forgot it?"

Dinah winced at the mention of the word boyfriend, she hadn't had one for a year and the subject of her last boyfriend was still sensitive. Oliver had gone on a business trip by boat and had never been seen again. It was suspected the small ship had been captured by terrorists, its passengers robbed and left on some godforsaken island to rot. She had loved him and still hadn't gotten over the pain. She had never told Millie this. So instead she smiled and answered "I guess your right."
Millie however wasn't listening, paying close attention to the news. "Hey Di' come take a look at this, isn't he dreamy." Dinah strode over from the counter to the TV and stifled a gasp. There In the headlines read, "Star city's wealthiest most eligible young bachelor 'back from the dead" and under that, smiling charmingly, was Oliver Queen.

"Oh my God it worked he's back!" Dinah cried a wide smile on her face, her bright blue eyes shining happily. "Oh I can't believe it!"

"Ooh," Millie chimed "you were an Ollie fan too huh? Yeah, he's cute alright." Dinah ignored the almost possessive impulse to slap her and ran to turn up the volume on the television set

.
The TV announcer looked as though she were about to faint at being in his presence. "So," she gushed "how in the galaxy did you get off that wretched island?"

"Well believe me it wasn't easy. The island I was on happened to be one of the rougher ones, but I stuck it out until I got a signal from one of the radios I presumed was washed out. It allowed me to contact the source and call a ship for rescue. I don't know who sent it but I will always be grateful." Oliver sounded ... Off, stiff, like he was faking it. Well whatever he was doing he didn't sound like the fun loving Oliver she knew.

They had met in college and while they initially detested each other they eventually fell very deeply in love. The only problem with their relationship was the league. As the Black Canary she was on call twenty four seven, leaving Oliver in the dark about where she disappeared to all the time. it put a strain on their relationship but they worked it out. That was her only regret when he was lost, not telling him. She didn't tell him who she was, mainly because it would put him in danger should worst come to worst.

After about six months of trying to reach him she quit, except for the occasional radio signal every now and again. She signaled every island she knew, even learning some new ones, but to no avail, until now. In despair she had quit the league to live a life as a florist, not truly seeing much to fight for anymore. This meant not seeing the heroes that had been like aunts and uncles to her as much. Sure she had still fought crime, but not in costume and not until recently when the crime scale had risen too far. It was still her territory after all and the fear she had once instilled in the criminals of Star City was waning.

She listened intently as the reporter stuck the microphone back under Oliver's nose "so how long have you been back Mr. Queen?"

"About a month and a half now. I've just been contacting old friends, unfreezing my accounts, and getting my company back up and running. Basically getting back to what's really important to me." Dinah's jaw dropped. Her heart dropped. She walked quietly to the back room as soon a she closed the door she slammed her fist hard into the wall denting it. "Well at least he's got his priorities straight" she muttered darkly wiping the fast coming tears from her eyes her voice breaking. She slid down against the wall heartbroken.