A/N: I do not own Arrow. I wrote this because Oliver made a critical error when he agreed to double-up with Tommy and Laurel during the first Huntress arc. This is how it should have gone. I apologize for any OOCness.
I'll Have To Pass
Oliver Queen was nervous.
This was his first true date since coming back from an unplanned five-year exile on an island. He'd been a boy when he was stranded there, but returned from the island a man.
Now, he had a choice to make.
He and his date, Helena, who he was slowly trying to show that rage, anger, and vengeance could be channeled for positive purposes (a la the Batman in Gotham), were going to go to a nice restaurant and catch a movie, but Oliver was having a bad feeling about it.
So, he did what any gentleman would do, and call ahead to run it past them.
"Hey, Helena, it's Oliver," the playboy-by-day, vigilante-by-night said.
"Hey, Oliver. What's up?" Helena asked.
"Oh, nothing. I just had a bad feeling about the restaurant we're going to. I know a great little mom-and-pop place. Makes the best milkshakes in town."
"OOOH," Helena answered. "I love shakes. Same time, I presume?"
"Yes," Oliver said. "See you at seven."
"Wait," Helena said, remembering something. "What about our reservation? It takes two weeks to get a seat."
"Oh," Oliver said nonchalantly. "I have that taken care of."
Twenty minutes later, Oliver and Helena sat in a diner, contentedly sipping down two milkshakes.
Across town, Oliver's best friend, Tommy Merlin, was enjoying a nice dinner at the very restaurant Oliver and Helena would have gone to, with his own girlfriend Laurel.
Thanks, Ollie, Tommy thought to himself.
Several weeks later, Helena Bertinelli made her debut as the Hood's partner in crime. Her codename? Huntress.