++++++ Merry Christmas to all!

I hope you all get spoilt rotten and get just what you want.

Please enjoy

I do not own ++++++

Four

The Arrow and Arsenal went out into the field to take a look at where Sara had been killed, Suki and I started helping Laurel clean her sister up and Felicity tried taking Charlie's mind off what was going on.

Suki went to collect some hot water to clean away the blood whilst I searched through the clothes to find something to put Sara in. We were going to have to tell Detective Lance sooner or later-that none of us were looking forward to.

Before we started, I stepped aside to call Tessa again, getting her voicemail once more. It was exactly this type of event that Laurel would need her wife more than anything.

"You know, Sara used to have a stuffed animal," Laurel sniffed, holding her hand. "It was this old, worn out shark that she got from the Starling Aquarium. Every time something awful would happen to her, I would always find her holding that stupid little shark close to her chest. And now that my sister's dead, again the only thing that I can think about is finding that dumb stuffed animal and putting it in her arms."

"I'm sorry Laurel," Suki whispered.

"You have nothing to apologise for," Laurel told her.

"Laurel, whoever did this, we'll find them," I told her. I sponged some of the blood off Sara's chest. "We're going to find them. Oliver and Roy are out looking at things now to see what they can find."

"You know, when I thought that Sara died on The Gambit, the only thing that I could do was scream at the ocean," Laurel confessed. "I had so much anger and rage, and I didn't know what to do with it. But I do now. And I'm going to help you catch whoever it is that did this."

"You're already helping Laurel," I told her. "You told Ollie and Roy where to look."

"Stupid, cursed phone!" Tessa shouted, letting herself into the lair. "You know American products could use a decent amount of improvement-oh hello Sara," she stopped mid rant. Each of us turned around or looked up to see what she was looking at, the magician was looking into the middle of nothing. Tessa bit her lip and looked down at the table where Sara's body was lying. "Oh-oh crap. Laurel-"

Laurel crossed the room and she slapped Tessa. "Where the hell were you? I called and called and called. Bring her back!"

"I can't!" Tessa objected.

"You bring her back right now!" Laurel screamed.

Suki looked at me and raised an eyebrow in question, I shrugged not knowing what was going on at all.

"I can't, Laurel!" Tessa objected, grabbed Laurel's wrists when she went to hit her. "Dinah sweetie, I can't bring her back. You know that life has balance. I'm not going to defy that balance and bring her back. The ground will quake, the skies will bleed-it's serious magic resurrection."

"You said the rules don't apply to you!" Laurel screamed. "You lied! You're a liar! I hate you Tessa Morgan! I hate you, I hate you! What good are you if you can't bring my sister back from the dead!"

"You can tell me that now," Tessa deadpanned, "but you'll thank me later. I will not bring your sister back. You can kick and scream and hate me all you want but I won't do it out of the love I have for both of you. I can't."

Laurel ripped her arms out of Tessa's grip and slapped her again. "I hate you!" She turned around and wrenched the sponge out of my hands. "Get away from her!"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Okay-we'll be outside if you need us," I told her. Standing up, I walked over to the fridge to grab a couple of beers. Motioning for Felicity and Charlie to follow us, the four of us walked out leaving Tessa and Laurel alone with Sara. We went and sat down in the middle of the dusty boxing ring, I popped open the beers and handed them out-even giving one to Charlie. I held mine up and sighed. "To Sara Elizabeth Lance."

"To Sara Elizabeth Lance," they all chanted.

"You know, I first met Sara half naked at sixteen," I spoke, sipping my beer. "She snuck onto the Queen's Gambit to spend the weekend with Oliver. She even spoke with me a few times when we were getting dinner. It was strange. Then we didn't see her again for over a year. Only we lost her again. When I was recruited to the League of Assassins by Nyssa ah Ghul, she was known as Ta-er al-Safar. Arabic for Yellow Bird."

"Black arrow means the league," Suki whispered. "But they wouldn't kill one of their own."

"Black arrow means Malcolm Merlyn," Felicity corrected her. "Only we don't know where Malcolm and Thea are."

"We soon will," Suki replied. "I sent a text to Bruce asking for him to find them. If anyone can, it's that computer in the Batcave."

I grinned at her. "Well that's some forward thinking there Suki. Good for you. That's the kind of thing that Oliver wanted you to learn. Thinking before running off."

Suki blushed a little. "Thanks, River."

Charlie sighed. "This sucks…what a way to spend my last few days in Starling City." In three days, Charlie would be heading back to Central City for good. Now with Barry awake she had a chance to take when she'd learnt here and apply it in the city where she grew up. It would be sad to see her go, even more so now that we were down Sara as well. "Is her old tombstone still up in the cemetery?" the girl asked. "What are we going to do with the body?"

I ran my hands through my hair. Good point. "We can't do anything with Sara's body until Laurel lets us. Tessa will take good care of them both. She loves Laurel. It's all over her face. Those two are forever." I drained my beer and sat it down beside me. "We need to do something. Like tattoos or something. In memorial to Sara."

"Guys," Tessa spoke, cutting into our little group chat. She stood there, hands tucked in her pockets. "Laurel's sleeping. Can you please watch her?"

"You're not going out to look for the killer," Suki objected.

"No," she answered. "Sara's ghost keeps appearing in the room but she's getting pulled back to the scene of her death. If I don't release her soul she's stay here and become a vengeful spirit. And it's as bad as it sounds. Her soul is torn between her body and where she died."

"Are you alright?" Felicity inquired. "You're looking like you could break down at any moment."

She sniffed. "Well, I have to be strong for Laurel. She's going to need that strength here and in the future. It took me a long time to get over my sister's death. Just please watch out for her and don't let her go to any bars or anything."

"And Sara?" Suki questioned. "Does she still need to be cleaned up? We'd gladly do it."

"Please?" Tessa whispered. She rubbed her eyes. "Excuse me."

We got to our feet as she rushed out.

Laurel was indeed asleep on one of the cots beside Sara's bassinet. Felicity went and sat back down with the computers whilst Charlie and Suki helped cleaning Sara's body. Staring at the black arrow, all I could think of was the death of whoever had killed Sara Lance.