Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or any of it's characters or locations. They belong to DC comics.
A/N: Hey guys, here's the new chapter. Sorry it took so long to get it out, we've been short staffed at work so I've been working extra hours and haven't had much time to write. But here's the new chapter finally! Let me know what you think.
The following morning, Sara and Oliver's' apartment Starling City.
"Good morning, did you sleep well? You're the first guest we've had here I hope the room was to your liking?" Sara asks as Ana walks into the kitchen and takes a seat at the table.
"Well you can rest assured that the room leaves nothing to be desired, private bathroom with a jacuzzi, complimentary bath robe, slippers, and bags delivered to your door, are you sure this isn't a luxury hotel?" Ana asks.
"We just want our guests to be comfortable." Sara says.
"You've definitely achieved that goal, if anything you've done too good a job of making the room comfortable, you may find that your guests reluctant to leave. I'm considering moving in permanently myself." she says.
"You know you're welcome to stay as long as you want too right? You're family, as far as Ollie and I are concerned this place is your home as long as you want it to be, you want coffee? I was about to brew some." Sara asks.
"Coffee would be great." Ana responds. "Speaking of Oliver, I haven't seen him this morning, don't tell me he's still asleep?"
"Oliver? No he's not asleep, actually I don't know where he is. He was gone when I woke up, probably went to play with the salmon ladder or something, I swear he loves that thing almost as much has he loves me…maybe more." Sara replies with a wry smile.
"The salmon ladder? At 7am on a Sunday? Is he crazy?" Ana asks.
"Probably, but if his craziness manifests itself in a mild obsession with the salmon ladder I for one am not going to complain. Although it can be somewhat distracting when he's using it while I'm trying to train." she says.
"So have you and Oliver talked much about the future?" Ana asks.
"By day we're focusing on settling back into life in Starling city, reconnecting with our family and friends, getting used to being in the spotlight, well Ollie's used to it…or was…it's all still pretty new to me. But if being the subject of gossip columnists and celebrity bloggers is the price I have to pay to be with him I am more than willing to pay it. He's definitely worth a few cringeworthy pictures…even I they are online for everyone to see." Sara says.
"I refuse to believe any of the photos of you are 'cringeworthy', and even if there were some Oliver would beat the living daylights out of anyone who dared to say anything even remotely negative about you. But your vigilante goals are not what I was referring to when I asked about your future." Ana says.
"Then what were you referring to?" Sara asks.
"Well I was wondering if you two had ever discussed the 'm' word." Ana replies.
"Money? It's come up once or twice, I think that's part of the reason he opened Verdant, to make some money on his own, so that he isn't solely dependent on his trust fund." Sara says.
"Not that 'm' word. The other one. The one that rhymes with carriage, and traditionally requires a white dress, a priest, vows, a church, flower and rings." Ana says.
"Marriage? No, we haven't really discussed it. Not properly anyway. I mean it's come…once or twice, usually either really late at night when we're on a stake-out looking for one of the scum-bags from the list or when we're drunk." Sara replies softly.
"So it's something you both want?" Ana asks.
"If you'd asked me that a few years ago…I would have said no right away. Before the gambit, I never thought I was the marrying type, I just figured I'd have a string of meaningless relationships with guys that didn't really care about me. The one guy I actually thought I might have any genuine feelings for was dating my sister and Laurel was the golden girl, all the guys wanted her, all the girls wanted to be her, she could do no wrong and then there's me. The screw up little sister, always getting into trouble, never sticking with anything. Who in there right mind would want to be with that girl when they could be with the prom queen who wanted to become a lawyer and save the world?" Sara says.
"And now?" Ana asks quietly.
"Now? I can't think of anything better than one day being Mrs Queen, and that's all thanks to Oliver." Sara replies.
"Have you told him that?" Ana asks.
"Not in so many words. But he knows how I feel. He told me I was crazy to ever think that all I was destined for is meaningless relationships. That some guy was bound to fall in love with me, and want to spend the rest of his life making me happy" Sara says "Then he immediately followed that up by saying if that were ever to happen he'd rip said guy's head off and hurl it off the top of the Space Needle."
"Classic Ollie, equal parts charm and violent tendencies. That's probably why both Ra's and Anatoli are so eager to have him as part of their organisations. I don't know anyone else who could convince Anatoli that aligning himself with the League is a good idea, and I don't know Ra's that well but I doubt he's easily swayed into forming allegiances with other criminal outfits." Ana says.
"You'd be right in that assumption. The League isn't one for forming allegiances." Sara confirms.
"Which goes to show how much faith they both have in Oliver. Plus, the fact that he's one the highest ranked non-Russian members possibly ever, and definitely the only former playboy billionaire." Ana says. "And definitely the highest-ranking member who couldn't speak a word of Russian when he started training."
"Also he had the added bonus of being Anatoli's favourite American." Sara adds.
"Yeah, Anatoli might be one of the most feared men I Russia, and doesn't particularly like strangers, but he sometimes makes exceptions, like for example when someone saves him from a mad scientist hell bent on finding a mythical Japanese super-drug that may or may not be hidden on an uninhabited island in the middle of the North China sea."
Abandoned warehouse somewhere in Starling.
"Thank-you for agreeing to meet me on such short notice." Malcom Merlyn says with a smile.
"Anything for a friend." Chien Na Wei says with a smile stepping out of the shadows with two men behind her. "How can The Triad be of service to you Mr Merlyn?"
"I have a proposition for you. One that I am sure will be mutually beneficial for both of us." Malcom says sitting down casually in a chair against the wall and propping his feet up on a discarded bucket.
"Well that sounds intriguing, would you like to tell me more about this proposition of yours?" Wei asks.
"It's quite simple really, I provide you with the necessary funds to expand your little corner of the illegal narcotics trade in The Glades, and you give me forty percent of your profit." Malcom says.
"Merlyn Global moving into the drug trafficking business, is it?" Wei asks.
"No, because the money for this venture of ours will not be coming from the company. It will be coming from my private off-shore account. Let's call it my 'rainy day' fund. One that can't be traced. Should you choose to accept my offer I will pay you up to three million a quarter for your narcotics trade. "
"You're a billionaire Mr Merlyn, clearly you don't need the money, so why are you offering to fund the expansion of my organizations drug empire?" Wei asks.
"My reasons are my own, all you need to know is that I am willing to fund your operations. I know you've been looking to expand I'm willing to invest in that expansion, so the way I see it you have two options, you take my money and start expanding your drug empire, or you leave it and look for other funding options." Merlyn says.
"I'll talk to my associates to discuss the merits of your offer and how it will tie in with our current ventures.." Wei responds.
"I look forward to hearing from you. Call my private number, this deal is off the books so it should be discussed outside of the office." he says.
"I'll be in touch by the end of the week." Wei replies with a bow to the Merlyn magnate.
"I look forward to our new partnership." Malcom says.
"You're very confident Mr Merlyn. I haven't agreed to join your venture yet." Wei says.
"No, you haven't. But I know enough about you and your organization to know that you're smart enough to recognize a golden opportunity when it comes your way. This a golden opportunity, one that will make us both a lot of money, and I'm willing to let you in on the ground level, we'll build our new empire together and spilt the prophets equally. I can even set you up with an untraceable off shore account if you need it." Malcom says.
"I assure Mr Merlyn we are quite capable of acquiring our own off shore accounts. I have another meeting scheduled, but I will be in touch by the end of the week with our decision." Wei says.
A/N: Thanks for reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think. The next chapter will be up soon.