/A/N: I don't own Arrow or Flashpoint! I love reviews! :) Thank you so much for reading!
The following morning, Oliver awakens to echoing gunshots. Dread replaces confusion as he quickly slips on a shirt, puts on his sneakers and runs out of the cabin.
He stands in the clearing behind their home, studying each tree, hoping to spot where his little sister has made her perch. He knows standing in the open like this is extremely dangerous at the moment, but he has to find her. And fast.
He hears rustling from his right and he turns. Jules steps out from behind a tree, a Remy clutched in her hands, pointed straight at his head. Her chocolate brown eyes are blank and her posture intimidating.
He slowly raises his hands in the universal sign of surrender and takes a couple steps back. He swallows the lump in his throat at seeing his baby sister in the clutches of her demons. This isn't the first time but it doesn't mean it hurts any less.
"Juli? It's Ollie. Juli we're safe."
He hopes calling her by her childhood pet name will clear some of the fog, but it seems it's too thick to penetrate because a glint of anger enters her eyes when he speaks.
Jules clutches the gun in her hands, her weapon against the man standing in front of her. Slade Wilson.
Isn't he dead? Didn't Ollie kill him in Lian Yu?
Looks like he didn't, she thinks bitterly.
Slade speaks, his trademark predator grin firmly in place. "Juli? Look at you, still so beautiful. Where's that murderer brother of yours?"
Jules places her finger on the trigger. She will kill him. Once and for all. The man that caused her and her brother so much pain and suffering must die.
Oliver panics slightly when his baby sister places her slender finger in position to pull the trigger. He knows she won't miss. He also knows she won't hesitate to kill whatever monster her mind is making her see.
What he doesn't know is who that monster is. Or how to bring her back without risking a bullet to his head.
"Juli! It's Ollie, Juli. Whatever you're seeing is not real. It isn't real. Please put down your gun Juli."
The girl narrows her eyes and he knows he has to act. Now.
Suddenly, with no warning, he darts forward. He feels the bullet as it grazes his arm, but feels no pain. He and pain came to an understanding a long time ago.
He tackles his sister to the ground by her legs. She smacks the gun to the side of his head and he feels disoriented for a second. He wretches the gun from her hands and throws it far from her reach.
He feels a strong kick and then he's on his back. She's standing now, the gun aimed at his temple again.
"You can't beat me. I'm stronger now."
"Julianna. It's Ollie. Please sis, put the gun down. I don't want to hurt you."
Jules sees Slade speaking but can't hear what he's saying. She hears Ollie's distant voice instead, as if he's whispering from far away. Confusion ripples through her being.
Oliver can tell she can hear him now. He saw her brows furrow minutely and the dark fog in her eyes clear slightly.
"Juli, remember my promise? Remember what I said that day we found the island?... I said that I would never let anything bad happen to you... But I broke my promise, Juli." He slowly stands. He can see she's fully listening now. "And I'm so sorry for that, Juli. I'm so sorry." He whispers, his voice breaking. "But I want to make you a new promise and I won't break it even if I'm dead. I promise Juli that I will not let the monsters take you, I will not let the demons haunting us win. I promise that you and me, we'll get through this together. I promise to keep us safe, to do anything and everything in my power to keep them away. Slade, Fryers, Waller, the Russians ...they can't hurt us. Because it's me and you against the world sis." He feels tears in his eyes and he doesn't bother wiping them away. "Always has been."
Jules drops her gun and falls to her knees, her eyes misty with unshed tears.
"I'm sorry, Ollie. I could've killed you." She whispers brokenly. "I...I thought it was Slade. I, he..."
"Ssshhhh, it's okay. You didn't hurt me." He falls to his knees in front of her and wraps her in his arms. "Slade's dead. He can't hurt us anymore."
She avoids his eyes, staring at the ground. "I know. But I almost did."
He takes her face in both of his hands, forcing her eyes to meet his. He can see the pain, the remorse, even the fear she locks away. His heart breaks a little more. "You didn't hurt me. Because of you I'm still here. I'm not even gonna try to count how many times you've saved my life."
"Not more times than you've saved me." She answers honestly. A sad smile pulls at her lips. "Remember that time I was so hungry, I snuck away from you to pick some berries? God, I remember you got so angry when you saw me. You practically ripped them from my hands. I remember telling you that I hated you. I remember feeling so hurt because it was the first time you had ever screamed at me." She looks intensely into his green eyes. "But all you were trying to do was save me from eating poisonous berries. All you've ever done is try to save me, no matter how hard headed I got. Or how dangerous the situation was...Like now." She smiles softly. "Thank you, Ollie."
He hugs her hard. "Anytime sis. Anytime."
"You're late."
Jules freezes in her steps and turns to look at her team leader. "Hey Ed."
Ed raises an eyebrow. "And?"
"And..."
He narrows his eyes slightly. "And I'm late because..."
"You were late too?"
Ed tries to glare but fails when a smile spreads across his lips. "Don't let it happen again Constable Callaghan."
She flashes him a grin and resumes her steps to her locker room. Once inside, she goes straight for the showers. After the incident this morning, she didn't even have time for breakfast.
She lets the cool water wash away the memories 'seeing' Slade evoked from the dark recesses of her mind. She takes a moment to lock them back in and carefully craft a mask to face the day. She then steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her slender body.
She looks up to meet a pair of dark eyes, watching her from the mirror. Her eyes. They seem to judge her and question her. You could've killed your brother this morning.
But I didn't, she reminds herself.
Maybe not this time but what about the next time?
Movement from her left pulls her from her dark thoughts and she sees her teammate step into her locker room, his blue eyes widening when he realizes all she has on is a towel.
"Sam?"
"Hey Jules."
She raises an eyebrow.
He looks sheepish as he offers an explanation. "I knocked."
"What are you doing in here?"
Jules feels that strange emotion surging from her heart again, spreading all over her body. She tries to push it back, but it's stronger than she is. A tickling sensation flutters in her stomach and tickles her heart; she bites her lip to keep from smiling.
"I..We were worried when you didn't show up this morning. I just wanted to make sure you were okay." He looks genuinely concerned but there's a predominant emotion in his eyes that she can't read.
"And I'm okay."
His eyes narrow slightly and he frowns. She follows his line of sight to the scar on the side of her arm. Its smooth line deceiving from the pain it caused.
She quickly moves her hand to cover it and the towel almost slips from her grip.
She quickly meets his worried blue eyes. "I'm okay."
He ignores her false assertion and walks toward her, his hand gently prying her hand from the scar.
She trembles slightly as the pad of his thumb smoothes over it. He then gently grazes her arm with his hand, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind.
Her heart beats in a wild frenzy and the odd sensation intensifies.
She's losing control of herself. She has to make it stop.
She pulls away from him. From his touch. From whatever he makes her feel.
"And I'm okay."
His normally light blue eyes look darker. His look pierces through her heart and she realizes that it isn't just his touch that affects her. It's his presence.
She feels again that sensation of drowning as he keeps her eyes locked in his. He seems to look into her soul and it scares her. Finally, he breaks contact, nods softly and turns to leave without another word.
As soon as he leaves, she struggles to get her heart rate and breathing back to normal. Struggles to gulp air as she rises from the tides.
She can't let him have that effect on her. She can't let him in. She can't get hurt again. So she decides then and there, that she will stay away from him. From his piercing blue eyes. From his gentle touch.
She's gonna stay as far away from Sam Braddock as possible.
"Last night, an explosion shook the night from these coordinates." Sgt. Parker presses his finger to a location on the map behind him. "A small storage unit belonging to John Cardbough was situated there and it contained a large quantity of guns. A laptop was recovered from the wreckage containing a catalog of the weaponry and messages from and to Cardbough. Now that we have evidence, and a confession from Cardbough, he's being charged for gun trafficking and will be going to jail for a long time."
Jules tries to hide her grin as she remembers Oliver threatening Cardbough to confess or he would end up among the charred metal from his storage unit. The man had thought it an empty threat at the time, saying they didn't even know where it was. Jules had then lifted the laptop and the man's face had paled. Good thing he did confess, because when Oliver makes a threat he follows through.
"Think it was the Arrow and his partner?" Spike asks.
"The who?" Sam asks.
"Two wannabes in masks and leather that have been terrorizing Toronto for the past 5 years." Ed growls.
Jules bristles. "Terrorizing? They've done more to help this city than we have."
"By killing and threatening?" Wordy raises an eyebrow.
Sam can tell this is a sore topic.
Greg clears his throat. "About that, team. They won't be a problem anymore. Toronto Police is putting together a task force to capture them and bring them to justice. Anyone interested in joining can speak with Commander Holleran."
Sam sees a mixed set of reactions from the team. Wordy, Boss, and Lew look relieved. Ed looks happy and it wouldn't surprise Sam if the man wanted to lead the task force. Spike looks shocked and a bit angry. Jules looks neutral, carefully hiding her reaction.
"A whole task force for two people?" Sam turns to Ed. "If they're just wannabes why haven't they been captured yet?"
Spike grins slightly. "They're really good. Nobody has ever even seen their faces and those who have, well, they're..."
"Dead." Ed bites out. "They're killers."
Jules stares out the window numbly. After all she's survived, words can't hurt her.
"Team One! Hot call!" Winnie's words cut through the tension like a knife and the team shares one last look before heading out of the room to gear up.
Time to keep the peace. Legally.
Jules quietly walks into the cabin, it's warm glow a stark contrast to the cold darkness outside, and closes the door quietly behind her. She looks around at the kitchen and living room, searching for her brother, and frowning when she doesn't find him.
But then she hears the familiar sound of arrows being released and heads down to the basement. Oliver is shirtless, his skin glistening with sweat, muscles taut as he pulls the arrow poised on the bow. And releases. Bulls eye.
"Hey."
Oliver puts down his weapon and wipes some sweat off his face with a towel. "Hey sis. How was work?"
She sighs. "I got news."
He gives her his full attention.
"The police is putting together a task force to capture us. We're labeled as dangerous criminals." She chuckles bitterly. "They want us dead or alive... How cliché."
"We've escaped worse." Oliver supplies. "But keep an eye out just in case."
She nods. "Gotcha." She slips off her jacket and grabs her bow. "So who's next?"
He smirks as he raises his own bow. "Andrew Smoak."
She raises an eyebrow. "Who's he?"
"CEO of Smoak Hotels. Filthy rich guy that cheats people out of their money and bribes government officials in his downtime."
Jules nods. "So what's the plan?"
"We pay Smoak a visit tomorrow night. Get a confession."
"I have the night shift tomorrow. You go."
He shoots her a look. "You don't wanna ditch?"
She laughs. "Cute, Ollie. But I like my job." She smirks. "Both of them."
He grins. "Alright, sis." He motions to the bulls eye. "I know you're thing is a gun, but wanna see if you can beat me with an arrow?"
She smiles. "You're on."
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