A/N: I am shocked and over joyed by the continued love and support from you all, my loyal followers/readers/reviewers. Amazing! Thank you so much. Now, just to let you all know this story is not going to be a very long one. I only have about two, maybe three, more chapters to do before it's finished; and now that finals week and exams are finished I plan to have it done before the holidays end.
A slight change however is that (before I had Laurel not be aware of Oliver being the father of the Olicity Love Child but now I've decided to have her know that) Laurel does NOT know that Oliver doesn't know yet. With that said, this chapter is Laurel-heavy, but I really wanted to try writing a chapter about her that did NOT bash her character, kept her in-character, but also gave Laurel Lance the ending she needed for the Arrow story. I can honestly say I wish this version of Laurel happened of the show, but the show writers seem desperate and determined to continue shoving her unrealistic storyline down our throats (I speak only for those who agree with me, of course). So, in conclusion I hope this chapter is good for both Felicity/Olicity fans as well as Laurel fans. Thank you.
As always, please read and review!
What the Ever Loving Fuck?!
To say that Dinah Laurel Lance was in shock was an understatement. Felicity Smoak was pregnant was…well, she didn't really know how she felt about it to be honest. There had always been this small aching part of herself that always believed that she and Oliver would find their way back to each other…somehow. Whenever Laurel imagined Oliver Queen settling down, getting married, having kids, actually having an honest-9-to-5-job…she had always imagined that it would be with her. It would be her he would settle down with, put a beautiful four karat pear-shaped diamond ring on her finger, she'd wear an Oscar De La Renta goddess-cut wedding dress, they'd have two beautiful children, and while she'd be some kick-ass lawyer for the people, he'd be running Queen Consolidated.
Yet, everything was upside down. Laurel's life had become somewhat like the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. Every time she'd catch herself and put herself right-side-up again, she would tumble back down in a frenzy of chaos.
Now, instead of seeing that future with her "Ollie" Laurel saw it with Tommy, only Tommy wasn't there anymore. In fact, she wasn't even sure her big dream of what she saw her future as even existed anymore. Instead, Ollie was mooning after some blond IT girl, Tommy was dead, and she was currently dating an ex-vigilante named Ted Grant. Instead of becoming the District Attorney of Starling City through her own hard work and brains, she was simply filling in the rest of her boss' term since Liz died six months ago. After that, there would be a new election for Starling City's DA and Laurel could honestly say that no one in their right mind would vote for her if she ran. She was just a fill in. Something temporary. Everyone in the city knew of her drug and drinking problem, and many had voiced their negative opinions on whether she was even responsible enough to hold the DA's office temporarily let alone permanently.
Everything in Laurel's life had changed in the last seven-and-a-half years…
Oliver left on the Gambit with Sara.
Oliver cheated on her with Sara.
Oliver and Sara died on the Gambit.
She went to Law School in order to avoid her own emotional pain.
She and Tommy decided to hook up.
Oliver was not-so-dead and decided to return.
Starling City gets its own vigilante.
She and Tommy became a couple.
She and Tommy broke up.
She and Ollie had a one-night-stand that she really wished meant more than it really did in the end.
Tommy died. Tommy died saving her. She killed Tommy.
She blamed the Vigilante in order to cover up her own guilt over Tommy's death.
She turned to drugs and alcohol to cover her own guilt.
Her sister returned from the dead, too!
Sara and Ollie hooked up despite the fact that everyone knew it ouldl never end well for them.
She got help for her addictions.
The City fell apart…again.
Ollie was the Hood…is the Arrow. Ollie has become a Hero without her.
Sara left; her dad got sent to the hospital.
Her dad becomes Police Captain; she fills in for her, now-dead-boss Liz, as the DA.
Sara died…again…in her arms.
The rabbit hole is never ending. And so, Laurel just sits there, on her couch, staring at the expensive bottle of vodka that she'd picked up while on her way home after she had overheard the conversation that she wished she could erase from her memory about Felicity being pregnant with Oliver's kid.
Since Sara's death, Laurel had done everything she could to fill the gaping hole that had been left behind with anything but drugs and alcohol. She fought, she was angry, she raged about the unfairness of the universe. And now there was no one else there for her to blame for the sorry state her life was now in.
Sara and Ollie had always been the screw ups, the drinkers, the drop-outs, the mess ups. Yet, here she was, Laurel Lance, trying to talk herself into being like them, because being them had to be better than being herself right now. The ironic thing was that Sara and Ollie had accomplished more in their pathetic lazy privileged lives than she ever had in hers. Sara was a hero. Ollie is a hero. And they had both done it on their own, without her. What exactly did that say about her? What did that say about Laurel? I mean they were the ones that had ruined her life.
Weren't they?
Ok, if she really thought about it...there were some things that she just had never really thought about. Sure, Ollie had invited Sara onto the Gambit with him…but Sara had said yes. Had Sara truly hated her that much all those years ago to go behind her back and hurt her like that? The more Laurel thought about her relationship with Sara and Ollie – the two most important people in her life – the more she realized…maybe she hadn't really known them at all.
All those years of thinking about how close she and Sara had been and yet Sara had never even given it a second thought to betray her like she did. All those years wishing and hoping Ollie would ask her to marry him, or hell, for the two of them to just move in together. And yet, Ollie – at the first chance he got – hooked up with yet another woman behind her back, only this time that woman had been her sister.
No, Laurel hadn't really known either one of them at all.
The signs were there. They were always there, but she had been so focused on what she had wanted for her future…she'd never even considered what they'd wanted for themselves. The truth was, she never really understood Sara, and she'd never truly had Oliver…not like Felicity did. Felicity knew the real Sara, and Felicity had the real Oliver.
And with those thoughts, Laurel felt the guilt of her actions and the guilt of her selfishness. The guilt of Tommy's death and the guilt of blackmailing her job back as a lawyer. The guilt of lying to her father every single day about Sara's death.
Especially the guilt about lying to her father. Because she was keeping her sister's death to herself, and therefore her father couldn't mourn; and he deserved to. Her dad deserved to mourn the death of his daughter. It wasn't fair of her to keep something so profoundly precious from him.
Laurel's hands began to shake as she reached towards the Vodka that sat on her coffee table in front of her. The cap was off and the rim was at her lips. The bittersweet taste of alcohol on her tongue washed over her and…
It was the wakeup call that she needed.
She jumped from her couch and ran towards her kitchen to vomit the alcohol out of her system. The Vodka was emptied into her sink along with her pride. The guilt she felt would take longer to get rid of, but she'd work through it.
At long last the rabbit hole had ended and she was finally standing on her own two feet, ready to make the climb back up towards the surface.
The next morning was hard, but she eventually rolled herself out of bed and got herself ready for work. Just as she was about to leave her apartment, Laurel reached into the front hall closet to grab her jacket when she caught sight of her sister's black leather jacket. The jacket Nyssa had given to Sara.
"It's a perfect fit." That's what Sara had said, but Laurel didn't think so. She reached into her closet and pulled it out, letting her fingers grip the leather and mesh of the fabric. The legacy of this small article of clothing was huge, and Laurel had for a brief moment in time thought that she could carry that Legacy. But she wasn't Sara. She couldn't take Sara's place on Oliver's team of Vigilantes no matter how hard she tried. She knew she'd never take Sara's place in her parents' eyes either. Sara was Sara…and she was dead. Laurel wasn't her sister. Laurel wasn't Sara.
To be honest…she didn't really want to be.
Like the alcohol and drugs, her sister's jacket had been just another vice; her need for vengeance just another addiction. "Justice is about harmony; revenge is about making yourself feel better." Laurel had overheard Felicity tell Oliver that before he and his team had left to put Slade Wilson back on Lian Yue – this time in a cage – and Ollie's blond IT girl had been right.
Revenge was a selfish act, and Laurel was tired of feeling selfish.
Oliver was not expecting to see Laurel in his Lair; she always seemed to look so out of place in his world, both then – before the island – and now. If he were to be truly honest, they'd never truly fit together. Not then, and most certainly not now. So, to see her standing there holding Sara's jacket, looking relieved was the only description he could give for the way she was now looking at him, was…surprising.
"Laurel, how are doing?" it was a stupid question considering what he knew she'd been through recently, but he felt compelled to ask.
"You know, for the first time in a long time, I feel…good," said Laurel as she stood in front of him while he sat in the bright orange office chair that was so obviously Felicity's. When she'd walked into the Lair she'd caught him gazing forlornly at a bright green fern that sat at the corner of the desk full of computers. For some odd reason. Laurel was not about to try to understand the importance a fern could possibly have in Oliver's life.
"I believe you," said Oliver, and he really did. For the last two-and-a-half years, every time he'd asked that silly unnecessary question, Laurel had always said, "I'm fine." But, he'd never really believed her. Now, however, it seemed that Laurel really was fine.
"I just wanted to give this to you," said Laurel as she held out her sister's jacket towards Oliver. He took it hesitantly, with a questioning looking on his face. "I thought that if I could be more like Sara that it would keep her alive for me somehow, but I can't do that. I can't be her and still be happy and…I would like to be happy."
"I think she'd want you to be happy, too," said Oliver with a sad but understanding smile.
"I also wanted to say that I'm happy for you…and Felicity and I wanted to wish you both congratulations."
"Congratulations…for what?" asked Oliver, his brows furrowed into a frown as he placed Sara's Canary jacket in a small drawer in Felicity's desk.
"On Felicity's pregnancy. I don't think I could have honestly said this seven years ago when we were together, but with her…you've really grown and I think that you will be an amazing father. I honestly hope for the best with you two," said Laurel. She figured the look of confusion and shock Oliver was now giving her was based on the fact that he was just surprised that she knew.
"T-th-thanks," choked out Oliver on a gasp of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Anyway, I should go before I'm late for work. Goodbye, Ollie," said Laurel as she turned to leave. The Goodbye felt more solid and permanent than she had intended, but maybe that was a good thing.
Oliver was in a daze as he collapsed back into the chair that Felicity usually occupied while in the Lair.
Pregnant.
She was pregnant.
Felicity Smoak was pregnant!
How? When? Who?
The last question was the one he most dreaded. Especially its answer.
Felicity was having a baby, Laurel obviously assumed he was the father and the fact that he really did wish that were true, the truth remained that he was not making a family with Felicity. And he really wanted to.
A/N: I hope I held true to Laurel's character without bashing her or being too harsh. I feel like this would have been a good way to write her off the show and out of the Arrow storyline.
Does anyone else feel like Oliver's life is just one big self-fulfilled prophecy? I mean, his parents and Laurel always treated him like a screw-up and they all always expected him to do selfish things and screw –up his life, and now…he has. Because that is the way he has lived for his entire life. Felicity and Digg are pretty much the only ones that expected anything good from Oliver. They are the ones that helped him grow into a better person in ways that the island never could.
Anyways, please let me know what you all thought of this particular chapter. I know it was Laurel centric but I felt like it needed to be done.
Next: This is it folks! Oliver will finally learn the whole-dirty-turkey-baster-truth. Let's not forget the fact that Roy and Digg annoyingly found out before he did; as well as the mystery as to why in the world Oliver would donate his sperm.
