Aubrey POV

I sped home just about as quickly as I had to the hospital, parked the car and ran inside to find Thea. Sure enough when I entered the house and made my way up the stairs I found Thea in her room. She was sitting on her window ledge with her headphones in staring out onto the back of the property. I gently placed a hand on her shoulders to get her attention.

"Jesus Aubrey! You scared the crap out of me." Thea shouted out as she jumped up from where she stood and quickly removed her ear buds.

"Well Speedy that's what happens when you deafen yourself with music.." I said with a laugh as I dropped myself down onto her bed.

"So...is it true Bri? Is he really alive?" Thea asked suddenly remembering why I was home so early from my date.

"It's true Thea." I said sort of starting to cry all over again. "I saw him with my own eyes. He's really alive Speedy. He came back to us."

"Thank god." She said before coming over and enveloping me into a hug. "How did he seem?"

"He seemed different, but the same." I said with a sigh. "I know that doesn't make much sense, but it's the only explanation I've got. They'll be home soon kid."

"I guess that's all we can ask for right?" Thea said before knocking my shoulder. "So you going to tell my big brother you're madly in love with him or what?"

"THEA!" I shouted practically knocking her off the bed. "I am not...okay I am, but now is definitely not the right time to lay that on him. He has a lot of adjusting to do. Let's give him time to do that first okay."

"You know what happens when you wait it out Bri." She said with a questioning look. All I did was raise my eyebrow at her and smirk. She rolled her eyes at me before speaking again. "Fine, keep your emotions to yourself, but I am serious Aubrey. Do not wait too long, because knowing you, you will find a way or reason not to tell him if you do."

"I will do my best to not do that this time Thea." I said with a weak but genuine smile. "I already lost him once. I can't lose him again."

At that moment Thea heard the front door open and I could barely get a word out before she was out of the room and down the hall headed for the grand staircase. I decided to stay back and give them some time alone. I was suddenly feeling nervous at the idea of seeing Oliver again. I decided that I needed a few moments to myself so I headed out to the one spot that Thea and I would go to for the last five years to find peace...Oliver and Roberts graves. I must not have realized that it was so late, or I guess in this case early, because before I knew it the sun was coming up. So I decided I better head into the manor. Turns out I wasn't the only person out late, because I saw Oliver sneaking back into the manor as well. I decided to let it go for now, but I would have to remember to keep an eye on him. Afterall, Starling City isn't the same safe place it used to be and he needed to watch out.

I allowed myself to sleep for a couple hours before greeting the day. When I headed downstairs in a nightie and robe to grab coffee, I was not the least bit surprised to see a huge feast laid out and Rasia working on cooking one of Oliver's favourite meals for dinner.

"Morning Rasia." I said with a stretch. "Looks like Ollie really got the welcome wagon greeting this morning."

"He has not gotten up yet actually Miss Martin. Would you mind maybe going to get him, Mr. Tommy called and said he would be coming to see Oliver today." She asked. "Oh and here maybe take him his coffee as well. He always was a hard one to drag out of bed."

"Sure Rasia." I said with a laugh. I took the cup from her and headed up towards Olivers bedroom. I didn't bother knocking since I assumed he was still sleeping so I just opened the door and headed on in. To my shock Oliver was very much awake and was stepping out of the bathroom in a tower, which caused me to nearly drop one of the cups I had in my hand.

"Bri...shit sorry." He said as he darted over to try and help me balance the cups.

"It's okay. Just didn't expect you to be awake." I said as I collected myself, which was short lived as I realized that he was still in a towel. "He Rasia wanted me to bring you some coffee. She also has quite the spread going on down there for you."

"Rasia always was like a mother to me. Where did you go last night? Came up to look for you but you were not here." He asked in a blank tone.

"Just needed some air. It was kind of a whirlwind night last night." I said with a sigh. He stepped back out of the walk-in and seemed to be taking in my appearance. I thought for a moment I saw him lick his lips, but quickly shook the idea away. "Oh shit. Sorry forgot what I was wearing. I'm going to go get dressed. Do you mind if I tag along with you and Tommy today on the Starling City reunion tour?" I asked with a laugh.

"Yeah sure, wouldn't be a reunion if the three amigos aren't back together." He said with a smile. I left the room and had to take a moment to get my composure before heading off to get dressed. I had just hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my body and began to towel dry my long brown hair with my back to the doorway when I heard the door open.

"I'll be down in a few minutes Rasia." I said without looking at who had entered the room. She usually reply with an alright miss, or something so when she didn't I suddenly got worried that there was some kind of intruder. I quickly turned around, nearly losing my towel in the process and was shocked when I saw Oliver standing there. "Oliver..shit sorry. I will be down in a few minutes."

"Oh yea sorry. Tommy's here I will just go wait downstairs with him." He replied as if I had just pulled him out of some kind of daze.

I got dressed quickly, and did my best to do something with my mop of brown hair. I decided that mascara and lip gloss would be sufficient today, and then grabbed my phone, jacket and then headed downstairs. I had thrown on a pair of light wash, distressed jeans, a white T-shirt and some sneakers. Deciding that casual was probably best when it came to hanging with those knuckle heads. I headed down the main staircase and Tommy smiled up and said hello, and then Oliver turned to see me and it was the strangest thing. Almost as if I had taken his breath away or something. He genuinely smiled up at me and stared for a moment before suggesting we hit the road. I sat in the limo facing Oliver and Tommy, and noticed while Tommy talked about all that Oliver had missed while he was away Oliver simply stared out the window. Taking in the sites around him, and the decay that had become the city. It seemed as if his face dropped or contorted in anger at each new site.

"What's going on in that head of yours Ollie?" I asked as I felt it might be impolite to continue staring at him.

"Just taking in all that has changed. Seems like the city has really come under fire almost." He said sadly.

"Unfortunately not all of the elite in Starling share our position of charity or what actually will help the city." I said moving closer to the window.

"Well maybe we can change that Bri, that's something I really want to work on. Changing the city and its perception of me." Oliver said with a smile.

"That sounds like a really nice idea Ollie." I said with a soft smile. I hoped we really could make a difference in this city. It needed it. If our future children, or childrens children had any hope of living in this city, we had to make it better for them. "So Tommy, does this tour you have planned include caffeine? Because I am in desperate need of some."

"Yes, we are going to have a pit stop for coffee and then walking tour around the city." Tommy said with a smile. We pulled up to a coffee shop that we had all frequented before Oliver had gone missing everything seemed to be the same according to Oliver, which was a nice change from everything else that had changed. Unfortunately, in addition to getting our caffeine fix we ran into none other than Laurel Lance. I could feel Oliver tense and when she brushed past him angrily he ran after her. I rolled my eyes, figures nothing had changed. In that moment I decided to erase any moment, or idea I had since Oliver came home about us every being together. He was still in love with Laurel and probably always would be. I decided to walk over and suggest that perhaps he give her some space.

"Laurel, I'm sorry. I will keep saying it and prove to you how sorry I am." Oliver said, once again causing me to roll my eyes.

"Ollie, maybe you should give her some space. There's a lot of history here and it's not going anywhere." I said as I placed my hand on his arm gently. Oliver turn to look at me and I could see the sadness in his eyes. He still cared about her, and the fact that she was not easily forgiving him was really breaking his heart.

"Aubrey, I see some things never change...nevermind I don't need to reminice about the past. I have to get to work." Laurel said before practically running away.

"Well that went well." I said with a sad smirk. "You okay?" I asked Oliver as I placed a hand on each of his arms and stood in front of him.

"I just need her to know how sorry I am. For everything." He said sadly looking ahead to where Laurel had walked away.

"You still love her don't you?" I asked him. He moved his eyes to mine. It was almost as if he was reading them before answering. I decided not to bother letting him say it. Even if he denied it, we all knew it was Laurel and Oliver forever. "Don't worry, she will come around eventually. Then it will be Laurel and Oliver against the world all over again." I said with a laugh, trying to hide the sarcasm.

"Bri.." Oliver began but I interrupted him.

"Well boys let's get this tour on the road." I said with a smile as I rounded the corner off to see the rest of the city. "Oh shit." I said to myself as a man grabbed me and covered my mouth with a gloved hand.

"Mister Queen, welcome back to Starling City. Pretty brave of you to be out and about without any protection, don't you know that times have changed?" The man said to Oliver as he and Tommy rounded the corner shortly after me. "Come with us or I'll blow her pretty little head off." I tried to struggle for a moment not wanting my friends to give themselves over to this creep. He smelt like bad colgne, liquor and cigarettes and the scent was making my stomach turn.

"Let her go!" Oliver said in a dark and menacing tone, as he took a step toward us. "I'll give you whatever you want! Just let her go, you don't need her."

The rest of the crew seemed to appear at that moment and grabbed Oliver and Tommy, who both began to try and fight them. They were knocked out and then the three of us were bound and thrown into a van. The guys came to just as we pulled into what I can only assume is some sort of abandoned warehouse.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked as he began to shake the haze from being unconscious.

"I'm as good as someone being kidnapped can be I suppose." I said sarcastically. "How about you?"

"I'll be fine." Oliver said before really looking at me. "I'm going to get you out of here Bri."

"I know." I said very matter of factly. "What do they want? You just got back, how could you have possibly pissed someone off so quickly? This has to be a record even for you."

"Leave it to you to crack a joke in a hostile situation. Not sure what they want. I assume money. Don't worry we are going to get out of this." Oliver said with a laugh.

"Get the girl." I heard one of the thugs say. Then the doors to the van opened up and one of the guys grabbed me and yanked me out of the van.

"Let go of her! Leave her alone." I could hear Oliver yelling from the van. The thugs began pulling him and Tommy out too. Tommy was still out cold, and Oliver was trying to fight to get free.

"Ah I don't think I will be doing that Mr. Queen...and let's remember I ask the questions. You provide the answers." The leader said as he pulled me up to him, placing a blade up to my throat. "So let's begin shall we...You're father, did he make it off the gambit? Did he survive?" Oliver didn't answer just stared at him, so he pulled the blade a little tighter to my skin, just slightly breaking it. "Mr. Queen I would hate for your little friend here to lose her pretty little head."

"No he didn't make it." Oliver said angrily, still staring at me.

"Did he tell you anything? What did he say to you while you were on the boat?" The man asked.

"Yea he did." Oliver said looking down for a moment.

"What did he say? What did he tell you?" The man asked, as he once again pulled the blade closer to my skin. I could feel some blood begin to trickle down my neck. I was genuinely scared that this was not going to end well.

"He said I'm going to kill you all." Oliver said as he looked back up into the eyes of my captor. Something in Oliver's eyes told me that it was the truth. Then I noticed that he was able to move his arms a bit more, something the idiots holding us hostage didn't seem to catch on to. He gave me a wink, I guess as a signal to try and brace myself.

"You must be mistaken, because you are tied up and I'm holding the weapon." The man said.

"Not exactly." I said as I had managed to pull the gun out of the guys side holster and shot his leg, causing him to let me fall to the ground. Seeing as my legs and arms were still sort of bound I couldn't get my balance and collided with the side of a desk. It didn't quite knock me out because I could hear Oliver yell my name. Then I could vaguely see Oliver kicking an entire crew of masked mens asses. It took him maybe 10 minutes to beat the crew up, but one decided to make a break for it. So Oliver chased after him. I was able to locate the blade that had previously been stuck in my throat and managed to cut myself loose. I quickly rushed over to Tommy, who was finally coming to, and cut him loose. "Tommy it's okay. I'm here." Oliver came running back in and picked me up and pulled me into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked before putting me down and checking my neck. " That doesn't look too bad, maybe a stitch or two."

"Oliver, we have to talk about this." I said as I tried to look into his eyes. He avoided mine, clearly not interested in talking about it.

"We will okay, eventually." Oliver said with a sigh. "Look a guy in a green hood came and saved us okay?"

"Okay. Fine, but we will talk about this." I said as I forced him to look at me. He scanned my face, and then his eyes fell to my neck again, and I could see so much guilt in his eyes.

The officers came and took our statements back at the Queen manor, with Moira and Walter by our sides. Moira was quick to defend all three of us, especially Oliver. Detective Lance was really pressing us to get some other kind of story, I assume one that would allow him to arrest Oliver. He never really liked Oliver, and that like became hate the moment he lost Sara on the Gambit. Moira was clearly agitated by the insinuation that Oliver had anything to do with these men abducting the three of them, and so was I. I decided I was done with the interrogation and I stood up to speak. I was usually a very respectful young woman, and detective Lance was not a bad man, he was actually a really big asset to this city, at when he wasn't drinking. But I just could not sit her and listen to him verbally beat Oliver up anymore, he had more than paid the price for what went on with Sara, and it was not his fault that he came back and she did not.

"Stop!" I said as I stood and looked down at Detective Lance. "Enough, Oliver had nothing to do with why those goons took us, none of us did. They were a bunch of idiots attempting to con a couple rich kids families into paying for their release." I continued with a sigh. "This is all about Sara and it's enough! It is not Oliver's fault she got on that boat and it is certainly not his fault that she did not come back. I am still so very sorry for your loss Detective Lance, I knew Sara well and you need to stop punishing Oliver for the decisions she made. It's not his fault that both your daughters fell in love with him. Now are we done here?"

"Yes Miss Martin, please be sure to contact me if any of you have anything to add to your story." Detective Lance said before standing up and walking out of the manor with a huff.

"Aubrey! Wow I didn't know you had that in you." Tommy said with a laugh.

"It had to be said. I'm going to lie down, it's been quite a tiring day." I said with a sigh before heading up to my room. Once in the comfort of my room I decided that sleep wasn't going to come easily so I sat down on the window seat and gazed out onto the property. I saw Oliver and Thea walking out through the gardens, and then eventually over to his and Roberts headstones. It was weird that his had not yet been removed. I eventually seemed to fall asleep, and it wasn't until I felt strong arms wrapping around my body, that I realized I had fallen asleep on the window seat.

"It's okay Bri, I've got you." I heard Oliver whisper as he laid me down on the bed. I didn't feel like really talking or doing much of anything so I figured it was best to just stay as I was and try and sleep away the memory of today's events. I would make Oliver tell me what all the ninja and green hood business was eventually, but I was just too tired to have the conversation today.