Disclaimer: see part one.

Part Two

Laurel's case was delayed due to the defense calling for a recess. She had no other pressing work to complete, so she took an early afternoon from the office to get in some extra hours of training. She thought she'd have the Bunker to herself, only to find Oliver there and pounding at a bag. His expression was less than tranquil. She wondered what had happened at breakfast with the Danforths to put him in such a mood.

"I'm sorry. Do you want me to come back later?" she asked awkwardly when Oliver paused to greet her.

"No, stay. I actually don't want to be alone," he grabbed a sleeveless tee he occasionally wore when working out. Laurel watched his six-pack disappear in disappointment, realized what she was doing, and jerked her eyes back to his face.

To her luck, he hadn't notice her ogling and she refrained from blushing as she went to change. The gaze she felt on her backside was totally in her head. He's taken and there are plenty of other attractive, single men out there, she reminded her libido. Other men just weren't as attractive to her as Ollie. A fact she was reminded of when she returned to the mats to see him drinking from a water bottle and felt a strong pluck of desire. She bottled up her attraction for her ex and chose to focus on something else instead – anything else.

"Do you want to talk about that?" she offered, nodding towards the punching bag

"Not really," Oliver deflected abruptly, then smiled apologetically at her. "Would you like to spar?"

She nodded her agreement and quickly stretched. They squared off on the mat and Laurel had to admit she was excited at the opportunity. She hadn't matched against Oliver since she completed her training under Nyssa. She didn't expect to beat him, but she hoped to at least make him sweat a little for his victory – a feat she hadn't been able to accomplish before.

Laurel struck first. Oliver blocked her jab and came back with an upper cut. She evaded and then blocked his next punch. She struck back rather than let him think he had her on the defense. They circled each other. Then he swept his leg low. Laurel barely managed to jump out of the way in time and had to quickly counter his following hook. Punch. Weave. Jab. Block. Thrust. Dodge. They trained more blows. He landed more hits than she did, but she didn't give up and gave back as much as she could.

Eventually, he caught her arm and forced her into a kneeling position. She landed a surprise kick to his ankle and tackled him onto his back. Before she could pin him down, he rolled them over. He straddled her, pinning her arms above her head. His face was inches from her as they panted. Breathing in time with him, peering into his eyes, Laurel realized how physically close they were, and she recalled the last time they'd had as little space between them, in Nanda Parbat.

Oliver released her and hurriedly climbed to his feet. "I'm going to just, uh, get ready for patrol," he scrubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck and walked away.

Laurel sat up but didn't watch him go. She started her cooldown stretches, pretending nothing had happened. Maybe if she practiced being unaffected, her body would get the memo. In the meantime, she smiled at her success. She'd held her own against Oliver for nearly half an hour. That was a personal best – and one she wouldn't be beating anytime soon.

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After the Danforth situation was resolved, and Lonnie Machin lay in the ICU, Thea revealed a secret of her own. Ollie hadn't gone into the details about how Ra's had saved Thea, only that he had in exchange for Oliver's surrender. Laurel had had no idea the Pit which rebirthed her had saved Thea as well. It made sense though, and now Laurel regretted not asking Nyssa for more information about the Pit when she had the chance. The moment she grasped the potential power of the Lazarus Pit, a spark of hope filled Laurel. She saw a chance to help Thea and right a wrong done to her family and she took it.

Putting her idea into action took some time, as Laurel couldn't simply take off from the DA's office without notice. While she set her plan in motion, keeping mum about her true intentions to everyone, the team continued to patrol with extra vigilance over Thea in the field.

One night, as they were gearing up for patrol, Laurel reflected at how normal things felt again. Oliver and Felicity were running several minutes late, but the others made no comments when they finally arrived. In fact, they barely noticed the couple, as John was busy regale Laurel and Thea with a story about his latest client's antics – he'd gone back to private security after Oliver lost Queen Consolidated, but he kept to day-shifts only.

"Well, at least he isn't another Xavier," Thea teased and Dig and Laurel both chuckled at the reminder.

"Who's Xavier?" Felicity inquired, wanting in on the joke.

"He was a taxidermist that we busted a few months back for selling drugs inside his wares. He was a couple screws loose," Laurel explained. Felicity frowned, not seeing the humor.

"You had to have been there," Diggle shrugged apologetically. Oliver tilted his head in acknowledgement, his face unreadable as he walked to their locker room to change.

"Oh, that's okay. It's not like we don't have any crazy cases of our own," Felicity replied a touch too brightly. "Like that time the Dodger came to town and strapped a bomb-collar around my neck. Crazy times those were."

Diggle nodded, humoring her. Laurel and Thea were saved from answering when the police scanner went off, reporting gun shots in a nearby store. They were dressed and armed, so they headed out to handle the situation. If it also forced John and Oliver to work together, to hopefully overcome their differences, well, that wasn't a coincidence at all.

The men failed to make up that night and their discord jarred the normalcy Laurel had been feeling, but she didn't give up on her friends or her sister.

After reminding John that Oliver was still a good man who'd made mistakes, Laurel and Thea headed to Nanda Parbat in secret. Asking Malcolm to right the wrong he'd done to Sara was difficult, but having Nyssa be disgusted with the plan was harder for Laurel to swallow.

"How can you be against this? A chance to have someone we both love brought back?" Laurel questioned Nyssa in her quarters.

"What you're proposing to do to Sara isn't love, it's barbaric. You're letting your grief rule you, sister."

"Malcolm is the reason Sara's dead. Now he had the power to make it right, to absolve Thea of her guilt in the crime. What is so wrong to want that? – I would do it for you or Thea if I could."

"And I would not thank you for it any more than Sara will. She is at peace, sister, and you wish to rob that from her. How is that love, Dinah? Look at Thea, she was near death when she entered the Pit and she suffers for it. Even you have been changed by your immersion. If you were to do this to Sara, the one who comes back will not be the one we lost."

"Malcolm said he knew a cure for Thea's bloodlust," Laurel reiterated, and Nyssa scoffed. "That pretender lies, as he does in all things. I know the secrets of the Pit better than he. There is no cure here."

Laurel wanted to argue, to deny Nyssa's words, but she knew her sister was right. Malcolm lied even to those he loved when it suited him; Nyssa did not. Laurel collapsed on the edge of Nyssa's bed. She choked back a sob. The fragile hope she'd been nurturing, flickered, and died. Nyssa sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. "I miss her. . . so much," Laurel trembled.

"I missed her too, sister. My heart grieves as your does, but this is not the way to honor Sara's memory. Your deeds as Black Canary, that is Sara's legacy, and she would be so very proud of you."

Laurel retracted her request, but Malcolm went ahead and revived Sara against Laurel and Nyssa's objections. He did it for selfish reasons, to make amends with Thea, and Nyssa was right in the end. The Sara they got back wasn't the same. Nyssa made certain Malcolm couldn't make that mistake again. She destroyed the Pit. He wanted to kill her, but Laurel stood by her blood-sister, prepared to fight, and though Malcolm would've happily killed them both, when Thea joined them, he relented and let them all leave with Sara sedated.

"I'm sorry about the League, Nyssa, but you know you will always have a home with me," Laurel promised.

"As much as I would like to join you, I cannot. Malcolm may have let me go today, but he will send the League after me. If I stay with you, I will only bring bloodshed to your streets."

"Is there something we can do?" Thea asked.

"Not now, not here," Nyssa shook her head regretfully.

"Be safe, sister," Laurel wrapped Nyssa in a hug; "I know this isn't what you wanted for Sara, but I promise, I'll keep fighting until the Sara we love is brought back to us."

Thea wanted to tell the team the truth about Nanda Parbat immediately upon their return. Laurel convinced her to wait until after she had a chance to work on Sara alone, and tell her dad. Ollie's announcement of his mayoral campaign was so . . . Ollie. He was jumping headfirst into an idea, wanting to do more for the city, to be a beacon of hope for their home in the light of day. Laurel had her doubts – he really had no idea what he was getting into – but she would support him. Thea's reaction to the reveal required a quiet interrogation, she'd clearly been expecting to hear different news and Laurel wanted to know why. The result of which hurt less than expected – she really did want Oliver to be happy, even it wasn't with her.

They worked with her dad next, to stop the dirty cops that Liza Warner led. Telling him about Sara was hard, but Laurel stopped him from killing Sara. Then he pulled himself together and convinced Warner to turn herself in rather than die in shoot-out with him. Laurel and Oliver were busy during the showdown, fighting together against six former SWAT members who never stood a chance. Working side-by-side with Oliver, completely in-sync, felt wonderful.

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Laurel answered her door a few nights later to find Oliver on the other side. It was a couple hours before they had to patrol, so she hazarded a guess as to why he'd visited. "Thea's not here."

"Actually, I'm here to talk to you," he replied with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, okay," she moved back to let him in. Part of her went on the defense immediately, believing this was about Sara. But no, Ollie wouldn't be acting embarrassed if that were the case. He didn't know, which put her at a loss as to why he wanted to talk.

"Felicity and I had a fight and I could use some advice."

"Did you try talking to John?" she asked on impulse, because her first instinct was to not get involved. She regretted the instinct, remembering how supportive he'd been when she was dating Tommy.

"I don't need to. I know what he'll say and while the advice will be good, it won't help my problem. – The irony of what I'm asking isn't lost on me." Oliver shook his head at some internal thought and moved to leave. Laurel stopped him.

"What exactly is the problem?" she'd promised herself she'd be a better friend. That included supporting Oliver as he tried to build a healthy relationship with Felicity.

"It's a recurring problem actually. Whenever I ask her about Palmer Tech, she tells me about the various projects she and Curtis are working on. She gets excited and forgets that I only understand about one word in ten when she goes full-science mode. It frustrates me because I want to be able to talk her, but when I ask her to speak in terms I can follow, she gets upset with me," he grimaced at the end and Laurel suspected there might be a little more he wasn't mentioning. After all, some of Felicity's simplifications to the team tended to come off condescending.

"If you want to share this subject with her, I'd suggest reading up on the stuff she talks about or asking her to teach you."

The wounded look he shot her way implied he'd thought of one or both on his own and his attempts hadn't worked. He was looking for an idea outside the box.

"Or you could always try asking Donna for help," Laurel mentioned. She'd met Felicity's mom over the summer. While Felicity might not have always gotten along with her mother, Donna certainly understood her daughter better than anyone else.

"That might actually work. Thank you," he said and smiled gratefully at her.

As she showed him to the door, she believed they stood a chance of being great friends again.

Then Oliver found out about Sara and had the nerve to judge her. It irked her that he would stand there, condemning her for messing with forces she didn't understand when he was no better – five years on an island didn't give him the right to play superior to her mistakes. "For the record, I changed my mind. I realized it was selfish of me to want to bring her back, before Malcolm put her in the Pit." Laurel snapped at him before leaving to search for her sister again.

She may have changed her mind about the revival, but Sara was alive now, and Laurel was going to fight tooth and nail to get her sister back the rest of the way. Ollie was still acting superior when Sara put Thea in the hospital. Laurel had had enough, she loved him, but she was done taking his judgements lying down. She called him on his hypocrisy, told him he'd never treated her as an equal, and how she wished he'd care for her family the way she did his. Then she left for a bit and snuck back to check on Thea when he was gone.

He pulled her aside before they tried to use Thea as bait. He told her that he did care about her family. "Not the way I care about yours," Laurel corrected him; "You and Thea are my family, Ollie. I will fight for you to the ends of the earth, die for you, but you've never felt the same about me or my family."

"That's not true," he denied.

"Isn't it? You fought against me becoming Black Canary, but you've been supportive of Thea, even with her bloodlust. You want my dad to see how you've become a different man but refuse to acknowledge how he's changed. How I've changed. In Nanda Parbat, after all the secrets, all the lies, I still trusted you. I backed your plan. Yet the second you found out about Sara, you were ready to crucify me, you wouldn't even listen to my plan." They came back around to the fact that he didn't think of her as an equal, didn't treat her as one.

"I was trying to protect you," Oliver responded weakly.

"I don't want or need your protection. I need you to support me, to trust me."

"I'm trying."

They caught Sara, or rather the shell of her sister. The truth that Sara's soul had been lost nearly tore Laurel to pieces, but she stayed strong. She had been prepared to end her sister's second life, but Ollie stopped her. He called in an old friend, John Constantine, and together they rescued Sara's soul. Then her sister truly was back, and she and Ollie were on a firmer page in their friendship. Maybe it wasn't the life she would've picked, especially with her dad under Damien Darhk's thumb, but it was the life she had, and she was going to make the best of it.

A/N: I try to let my writing show rather than me tell you want I'm trying to convey in the new dynamics of the team. If it's unclear, let me know and I can include a quick note on what's different – if anyone has suggestions on how I could get my ideas across better, that would be awesome!

Also, the part about Felicity and her simplifications – that comes from the fact that I don't like some of her lines about how "intelligent/better than others" she is, and her "I told you so" attitude. I've encountered people who talk like that and to me they usually come off condescending. That doesn't mean Felicity is or is trying to be that way, just that she's rubbing some of the others the wrong way and not realizing it.