Chapter 10
FIRST DATE
"Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now."
-Mattie Stepanek
Oliver stood in the basement of the club looking utterly amused at the sight in front of him. Katie and John sat crossed legged on the sparring mat, their eyes closed meditating. He didn't expect the sight when he walked in, which made it that much more bizarre. Soon high heeled feet rushed down the stairs and Oliver turned to see Felicity who looked slightly flushed.
"Sorry I'm late, I kind of was-" she turned to see John and Katie as well with wide eyes. "I missed something."
"You're not the only one." Oliver says turning back to the pair. "Should we come back later when you two are done!" neither one of them said anything and Oliver simply quirked an eyebrow before walking over. "Guys-" he appeared behind John about to reach out and touch his shoulder, but the moment he did John quickly grabbed his hand before he could. John opened his eyes and turned with a slight smile on his face.
"It worked." the man muttered with a shake of his head.
"What worked and can you let go of my hand now?" Oliver says to which John complied.
"This meditation stuff, I thought it was craziness, but it really does help you listen." John says before turning to Katie who still hadn't opened her eyes. "I guess it helps with other things too." They both stared at her for a few moments until her eyes opened and she turned to them.
"When did you get here?" she asked looking over to Oliver before looking back to see Felicity. She furrowed her brow before looking down to her watch. "Shit!" she yelled before jumping to her feet and running toward the bathroom, grabbing her bag as she ran.
"So I'm confused." Felicity said sitting her things down and heading over to her computer.
"She has her quarterly meeting with RI today and she's going to be late." Oliver says with a shake of his head. "Which means she has a lecture from Jeremy waiting for her." he turned to Felicity who seemed to be staring off into space. "You alright?"
"Uh yeah." she replied turning to the man with a strained smile. "I just didn't get much sleep last night. So everything is set for tonight. All you have to do is show up."
"Great." Oliver says turning as the bathroom door swings open and out runs Katie who's now in black pencil skirt, and white blouse with one arm in her blazer as she holds her heels in the other. She was about to rush by him, but he moved in front of her to block her.
"Move Liver, I'm going to be late." Katie says trying to move around him, but he just continues to block her, so she stops take a deep breath and meets his eyes. "Hi."
"Hi." Oliver replied before taking the shoes from under her arm so she can pull on her blazer fully. Once it's on he leans forward to kiss her.
"Ah ah!" Felicity interrupts before their lips can touch. "We've talked about this. I think you guys are ridiculously adorable, but the PDA is getting nauseating."
"I second that." John says now standing to his feet with a bottle of water in hand. "We're all for Twiver around here, but in moderation."
"Whatever."Katie mutters turning back to Oliver, reaching forward to grab her shoes from him. "Hopefully my cab is here. I told them I'd pay triple my fare if they're here in five minutes."
"Cab, I was going to take you." Oliver says pulling back her shoes from her reach.
"Uh, Oliver-" Felicity says and the man turns to her. "Why do you think I'm here, right now?" Oliver looked at her for a moment before it hit him. "There it is."
"The meetings." Oliver says turning back to Katie. "It's today."
"Right." Katie replied grabbing her shoes and dropping them to the floor before slipping them on. "You have two meetings and I have one very long one." she met his eyes and smile. "So I probably won't see you until late." she leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "I will call you later though." she hurried around him and ran up the stairs to the club.
"Uh, Katie." Felicity whispered as she followed Katie to the stairs. "We need to talk. You can't keep avoiding this. We have to tell him."
"I can't do this now Felicity." Katie replied with a shake of her head. "I'll take care of it when it's the right time. I promise." Katie glanced over to Oliver and just gave a final wave before rushing up the stairs. Felicity stood there for a moment with a shake of her head at the same words the woman had spoke weeks ago. Once she was gone, Oliver turned to Felicity.
"Is everything alright?" Oliver asked and Felicity turned to him with a smile.
"Yeah, and don't worry, I've already made sure these meetings don't run too late and I made some calls over to a friend over at RI and Katie's meeting is just preliminary I guess so it shouldn't be too long either. Everything should go as planned for your surprise."
"Let's hope you're right." Oliver says looking over to John who was standing with his eyes closed. "We should probably limit John and Katie's time together, because this is getting weird."
"I heard that." John says.
When Katie stepped on the elevators of RI she closed her eyes mentally preparing for her cousin's nagging that bound to occur the moment the doors opened. She heard the ding of the elevator and just as expected there he was.
"Do you know what the board thinks when you make them wait?" was the first thing out of his mouth.
"That I don't care about them or this company" Katie replied trying to mimic her cousin's voice as she stepped off of the elevator and began walking toward the meeting room. "I'm not late on purpose."
"You're not on time on purpose either." He replied reaching forward to open the door for her. "Remember just talk as little as possible and we can get this over with."
"Sure." Katie muttered planning on doing that anyway. The meetings were usually filled with numbers and projections and most of it went over her head anyway. She simply walked over to her usual spot at the head of the table giving waves to the members and awaited for them to begin. The moment she heard a couple of those words she didn't understand, she had already zoned out.
Oliver had mastered the art of looking interested even though he was anything but. He sat at his place in the boardroom, listening to information about some of the findings from their applied science division and he had absolutely checked out. He actually started thinking about tonight, and the surprise he had planned for Katie. He usually wasn't good with planning things, which is why he enlisted Felicity's help, but he did have a heavy hand on the choices made. Oliver was deep in thought when a foot kicked his shin.
"Ow!" he muttered looking to Felicity the culprit who stared at him with wide eyes. He looked around to the others to see their eyes on him as well. "Um, I'm sorry, what's going on?" Isabel let out a annoyed sigh as she looked down to the papers in front of her.
"We were just talking about possible profit making ventures and we wanted to know if you had any ideas." the woman said and Oliver wished he did. He always felt like an idiot in these meetings. He only partly knew what they were talking about half the time and the other half he would have Felicity explain to him later.
"Uh, no not at the moment." He replied and all the eyes to him didn't even look surprised. Sometimes he thinks Isabel singles him out for this purpose.
"Well I do." Isabel replied proudly. "Has anyone seen the Starling Gazette today?" Oliver quirked a brow at the question. The Starling Gazette was one of those rag mags that was filled with ninety eight percent lies and maybe two percent truth. She waved her assistant to bring in a copy of the paper before she held it up to see. "This was printed today and I'm not sure where they got their information, but our stocks have been rising ever since." She began passing it around, and Oliver watched the wide eyes of the partners as they read it. The moment the paper got to him, Oliver's eyes darkened as he looked up to Isabel who seemed to still be smiling. "I've been toying with this idea for a long time and I think Oliver and I could make it happen."
"This is not happening." Oliver says taking the paper and standing to his feet before storming out of the boardroom. Felicity jumped to her feet to follow after him. Oliver stormed down the hall toward his office before looking over to Felicity. "Why didn't I know about this?!"
"Rochev may have set this whole thing up so you didn't get wind of it. " Felicity replied following behind the man into his office. Oliver angrily tossed the paper to his desk before turning back to Felicity. "Look she can't make any moves without your approval, so we'll just pass this off as a rumor."
"I need to talk to Katie." Oliver says turning and grabbing his phone and dialing her number. "She needs to hear the truth before she sees this."
"That's not going to be possible at the moment." Felicity said just as Oliver heard Katie's voice mail. "The board meeting means total lock down for two hours. Even the hospital is only to call her for total emergencies." Felicity walked over to his desk and looked down to the paper. "Maybe we're just overreacting. What are the chances she sees this thing anyway?"
Katie had entered the land of daydreams after the first hour of the meeting. It wasn't until she heard her name, did she jolt back into the present. She looked around to see eyes on her and she cleared her throat.
"I totally agree." she said with a firm nod, hoping that was what they were looking for. She looked over to Jeremy who simply dropped his head in his hand.
"Katie, the paper." Jeremy says looking back to her. "They want to know the validity of the paper."
"What paper?" Katie asked.
"The one sitting in front of you" Jeremy replied and Katie looked down to the news paper in front of her. She grabbed the paper and read the headline, her eyes going wide. She jumped to her feet and stormed for the door. "Katie, wait-" Katie clutched the paper in her fist as she stepped onto the elevator, her cousin coming in right behind her. Before she could even press a button the man moved to block her.
"Will you move." she said her voice dangerously low.
"No, what are you going to do?"
"What do you think I'm going to do?" Katie asked looking down to the paper. "I'm going to go to the Starling Gazette, have them closed down for printing these lies and then I'm going to go home."
"What makes you so sure that it's a lie?" Jeremy asked and Katie's eyes widen because she could tell that he was serious.
"Are you kidding me right now?" she said tossing the paper at him, letting it fall to the floor. "This bullshit about Oliver using me just to get some sort of business deal, it's ridiculous."
"Is it?" Jeremy asked and Katie groaned with a shake of her head, wanting to be anywhere but on this elevator with her cousin. She was so tempted to hit him, but she was restraining herself. "I mean isn't this just history repeating itself. Oliver Queen needing something from you to succeed and to get it, he dangles this relationship to get it." Katie kept her back to the man, as minuscule pieces of doubt began to seep into her brain. There was always this small part of her, this part she wasn't proud of that would question why Oliver Queen, after all this time would want her. This could possibly answer her question. She doesn't want it to be true, and deep in her heart she just doesn't, but she does need to know to truth. Katie releases a breath before turning and picking up the paper and slamming it into her cousin's chest.
"This is a lie. Find out who printed it, and get a retraction." she said before moving around him to open the doors, but he once again blocked her.
"Are you kidding me? Do you know how good this could be for us? Showing the world the type of man Oliver Queen really is." Jeremy looked down to the paper. "I mean this guy tried to manipulate the Hero of the Glades. This not only ruins his company, but brings in more customers for us."
"Did you not hear me?" Katie asked taking a step toward the man. "It's a lie. Oliver is not conspiring to get me to merge our companies. He wouldn't do that. Get the retraction." she finally was able to press a button and the doors suddenly opened letting her escape.
Felicity stared at the plant that was placed by the elevator, just twirling her hair. She really wasn't paying attention to the plant, but it was the millions of thoughts swirling around in her head that had her attention. It wasn't until a hand was right in front of her eyes did she jolt back into her seat.
"Huh? What?" she looked up to see Oliver staring down to her with a slight look of concern. "Did you need something?"
"Felicity I've been calling you for like ten minutes. Where were you just now?" Oliver asked and Felicity let out a deep sigh as she turned back to her computer. "Is everything alright?"
"No." Felicity said not meeting his eyes. "I've been keeping something from you and it's killing me-" she turns back to him to see the confusion written all over his face. "I just-" she closed her mouth as if trying to force the words to stay in.
"Felicity it's alright. Whatever it is, you can tell me"
"I can't." Felicity replied with a shake of her head. "I'm almost positive Katie will either kill me, or never speak to me again and I don't think I will be able to handle either one of those scenarios right now."
"Felicity if this is something important, then you should just tell me." Oliver says and the woman just stares at him for a while, inwardly debating her choices.
"Fine." Felicity says standing to her feet. "But I'm only doing this because I'm seriously confused about all of this." She pointed to Oliver's office and he nodded before following her inside, making sure to close the door behind him. "I hate myself for having to do this, but she promised me that when I found something that we would bring it to you and every time I've tried to let her know, she avoids the subject." Felicity walks over to Oliver's computer and quickly types something. "A couple of weeks ago Katie invited me to her house for this favor she needed. Apparently she'd gotten some pretty interesting information about her father from Agent Waller."
"Wait, Katie's been in contact with Waller?" Oliver asks and Felicity shrugs.
"I don't know how the two interact, but I know at one meeting Waller shared some pretty surprising information about Jacob Robins." Felicity said gesturing for Oliver to come over. Oliver walked beside Felicity and his eyes went wide at the picture on the screen. It was photo copied page of a file, and picture of a man Oliver would know from anywhere. He bent down to read the file and he just shakes his head.
"Jacob Robins was an ARGUS agent." Oliver says unable to tear his eyes from the screen. "And Katie knew this?"
"I think she didn't want to. She doesn't trust Waller or anything she says, so that's why she had me look into this." Felicity looked back to the file. "I can't dig too deep into this without setting off alarms and letting ARGUS know I'm sifting through their trash, but I was able to get this and-" Felicity typed a few keys into the computer before a map appeared. "This."
" What am I looking at?" Oliver asked as Felicity expanded the screen making it easier to read and also revealing a highlighted area.
"Look familiar." Felicity said pointing to the highlighted area on the map. Oliver tilted his head to the side as he looked at the line of islands before he saw the name of a very familiar one.
"Lian Yu" Oliver mutters before turning back to Felicity. "Felicity?"
"To find information on this, Katie let me poke around her father's office, and I found this buried in one of his file cabinets." Felicity replied before clicking the mouse. "It's the back that's really weird." Oliver turning back to the screen to see the words, "Part 1" Oliver took a step back, his eyes still looking down to the screen as the implications started falling into place. "Oliver-"
"She knew about this and she didn't-"
"She didn't want to believe it."
"That's not the point!" Oliver snapped angrily walking around the desk for the door.
"Oliver wait!" Felicity called after him, but the man was already out of the office. Her high heeled feet clacked after him. "You need to calm down."
"Why, she kept this from me." Oliver says angrily pressing the button from the elevator before looking over to Felicity. "And then roped you into it."
"First of all she didn't rope me into anything. She asked for my help and I agreed and the only thing she wanted was that you didn't know until we had all the facts." The doors to the elevator opened and Oliver stepped inside, "She just didn't want you to know anything until we had all the facts." she moved to step onto the elevator, but Oliver held out a hand to stop her. "Oliver-"
"Thanks Felicity." Oliver says taking a step back. She didn't like the look in his eyes at the moment and she hoped she didn't just make a huge mistake by telling him this.
"Oliver what are you going to do?" Felicity asked, but the man didn't say anything before the doors closed between them.
That night Katie sat on the couch of her living room, trying to let the mindless reality television show distract her from the thoughts in her head. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about the stupid paper since she'd came back home and the thought of calling Oliver to ask him about it just seemed pointless. Katie knew it wasn't true, but she knew it officially when her cousin called her just moments earlier to tell her that after a lot of bribery he was able to find out that it was Isabel who fed them the story. It should relieve Katie, but she just doesn't think Oliver would be completely oblivious to Rochev's desires to merge with her company.
"This is ridiculous." Katie muttered to herself as she stood to her feet and headed for the kitchen to search for food. Before she could make it into the kitchen, the doorbell had rang stopping her. At this hour, the only person she could imagine being at her door was Oliver, or maybe Thea. The young woman had a tendency to show up after she and Roy have a fight to rant and rave about the man before leaving to make up with him. Katie moved toward the door, making sure to stop a few feet away. "Who is it?"
"It's John." came the familiar voice, and Katie was instantly nervous. She quickly pulled open the door, to see her friend standing in a very nice black suit, holding a garment bag.
"John, what's going on?" Katie asked looking between the man and the bag.
"I'm getting paid over time." John replied holding out the bag. "And I guess this is when the universe finally cuts you two a break." Katie still stood in confusion. "It's a surprise that Oliver set up." John shrugged a bit. "Well Felicity set up, but Oliver had input." Katie reached forward and grabbed the garment bag, unzipping it slightly to see a shimmering black dress with a note attached. She plucked the note and unfolded it to read it.
Dear Twinkie,
Just go with it.
-Liver
The words made her smile slightly before looking back up to John who still stood waiting for her reply. She glanced back down to the note before nodding.
"Alright." Katie says smiling up to John. "Give me forty five minutes." and with that she turned quickly and ran up the stairs.
Oliver stood in the mirror, trying and failing once again to get his tie the way he wanted it to be. He'd tied a tie a million times and now it was a problem.
"You look like you could use some help." came a voice from his door. Oliver looked over to see his mother who'd been standing there for a while watching him. She walked over and grabbed his tie before beginning to tie it. "I remember the first time your father taught you how to do this." Oliver smile slightly at the memory.
"I do too. He used to say, 'son you're not going to like wearing these things, but like everything else in life, you're just going to do it." Oliver says chuckling to himself.
"I remember you were so excited when you finally got it, there were tied ties all over the house." Moira replied chuckling as well. "Which is why I'm surprised this one is giving you trouble." once she was finished she ran a hand down the tie and met her son's eyes. "Everything alright?"
"Everything's fine." Oliver replied turning his back to her to grab his jacket and slide it on.
"Doesn't matter how old you get, your mother still knows when you're lying." Moira said and Oliver let out a heavy sigh through his nose before turning back to her. "Does it have to do with Katie?"
"She hides things from me." Oliver says with a slight shake of his head. "Important things that I should know, and I don't even know why she just doesn't tell me. I thought we were moving forward, but we always seem stuck." Moira looked to her son for a moment before a thought hit.
"Are you completely honest with her?" Moira asked and Oliver turned slightly because it was a very blunt question, but he needed to hear it. "Oliver, Katie loves you. I've seen it every time that she looks at you. She's been through a lot these past couple of years, so I can only imagine how difficult it can be to let people in after losing some important people in her life. Just give her time." Oliver simply nodded before watching his mother turn for the door, but she stopped and shook her head before turning back to him. "I came here for a reason, and I've been debating this since the idea struck me because I don't want you to get the wrong message here."
"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.
"Sit down." Moira replied walking over to sit on the side of Oliver's bed, and Oliver took the spot beside her. She looked over to a picture of Oliver and his father from a fishing trip when Oliver was younger and she smiled. "When I met your father I thought he was this pompous ass" Moira said with shake of her head. "But my parents would push me toward him, saying he's the kind of man I needed for the future I wanted. I tried my best to object and all the time I spent with him I let him know I wanted to be anywhere else, but none of it seemed to faze him. He seemed on cloud nine just to be around me and I swear I don't know when or how it happened, but I fell in love with him." she turned to Oliver with a smile. "Then one day we were having a picnic in my mother's garden and he reached into his pocket-" Moira reached into the pocket of her sweater and pulled out a small black velvet box. "And he pulled this out."
"Mom?"
"Oliver, I know you and Katie probably aren't there yet and who knows maybe you never will be. What I do know is that being in prison has taught me that I don't have all the time in the world and this is something me and your father wanted to do." she handed the box to Oliver who flipped it open to see a beautiful ring with a princess cut diamond at the top and tiny diamonds lining the band. "It belonged to his mother and now I'm giving it to you, for whenever you're ready to give it to your future wife."
Oliver looked down to the ring for a few moments. He expected to be scared in this moment, because he and Katie were no where near the moment where this ring would be needed. Yet a part of him was anxious now that the ring was in his hand. He hadn't thought about marriage, but now, this moment only one woman came to mind and it was her.
"I'm going to let you get back to getting ready for your date." Moira said before placing a kiss to her son's head and standing to her feet. "Have fun." Oliver looked over and just nodded before turning back to the ring in his hand. Once she was gone, Oliver stood to his feet and walked over to his sock drawer, pulling it open and sitting the ring inside before turning and heading for the door. He didn't expect himself to stop just short of the door, and look back to that drawer debating if he should bring the ring or not.
When Katie was finished getting ready, there was this moment where she just stopped and looked at herself in the long body length mirror and hated the fact that she didn't seem to recognize the person staring back at her. For years she felt like a monster, she felt horrible and now that she was here and putting on these fancy clothes she just felt like she was an impostor. She let her hand smooth out the material of the shimmering strapless dress, that stopped just below her knees, ignoring her hesitation about this night. This was the night she'd been waiting for and she's not going to let herself sabotage it. So she grabbed her purse, and headed down the stairs where she found John leaning against the door.
"So what do you think?" she asked and John simply stared at her for a moment before a smile pulled at his lips.
"I think you look great." John replies before glancing down to his watch. "Alright we should leave now if we want to make it on time."
"Where are we going?" Katie asked coming down the rest of the stairs and meeting John at the door.
"I think you're missing the point of a surprise." John replies opening the door and letting her pass through.
Katie rode in the back seat of the car, her eyes out the window trying to figure out where John was taking her. After a few moments, she decided to just give up and let herself be surprised. She looked over to John, seeing a seriousness in his face through the rear view mirror.
"Everything alright?"
"Yeah." He replied looking over to her. "Everything is fine." there was something in his tone that made Katie doubt if he was telling the truth, but she would let it go for now. She looked out her window once again spotting a familiar street that they had already passed.
"John, are we going in circles?" Katie asked turning back to the man who didn't answer. His eyes were going back and forth between the road, and his rear view mirror, which is why Katie turned back. John had changed lanes, and a car behind him did the same. He turned a corner and so did the car. "We're being followed."
"I know." John replies and Katie feels the car pick up speed. "Have been for a while."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Katie snapped noticing the car behind them also speeding up. "Can you lose him?" Before John could even reply the car had turned off down another intersection. "Huh? That was weird."
"Tell me about it."
Oliver stood in the middle of the park he had rented and had lit with strings of lights and decorated with flowers. He stood where he knew John would be pulling up, waiting for Katie to arrive. His eyes went back to the candle lit table, where a waiter and chef stood waiting as well. He gave them both a nod before turning and looking down to his watch. They were late, and for some reason that made Oliver nervous. John was never late. He was just about to call the man when the car finally appeared. Oliver let out a deep breath, walking over closer as John stepped out of the car.
"What happened?" Oliver asked and John just shook his head.
"I'll tell you later." John replied walking over to get Katie's door, but Oliver waved him off so he could do it. When Oliver pulled open the door, his breath hitches in his throat at the sight. All frustrations and anger he'd been holding in this day seemed to disappear when his eyes found her. He held out a hand and helped her stand from the car.
"I-you-" words were definitely failing him at the moment and so he took a deep breath and decided to try again. "You look beautiful."
"You don't look too bad yourself." Katie replied with a smile before turning to beautiful lights and the candle lit table. "Liver, what did you do?" she walked over to the table to get a closer look. Oliver looked over to John, who simply nodded before getting back into the car and driving away. Katie spun around to him with a wide smile.
"So what do you think?" Oliver asked walking over to her.
"Meh." Katie joked unable to stop the laughter from escaping her lips. Oliver, hands reached for her waist pulling her to him and she placed her hands above his chest. "No one has ever done anything like this for me."
"Well it's one of the perks of being Oliver Queen's girlfriend." Oliver replied.
"Oh, one of the perks. What are the others?"
"Play your cards right and you'll find out." Oliver says, his lips meeting hers, before moving along her jaw to her neck eliciting a slight moan from her throat.
"You keep this up and we're not going to finish this date." Katie says pulling back from him, only for him to catch her hand. She looked back to the table where the chef and waiter stood waiting. "I'm starving, what are we having?"
It was when the distance was forced between them with their table, did the day and all of it's unexpected information start to creep back into their minds. It's why most of their dinner was filled with just the clanking of their forks hitting their plates and no real conversation. Katie decided to finally acknowledge the sudden awkwardness.
"Ok what just happened?" Katie asked dropping her fork to her plate. She looked over to the spot where the car had pulled up over. "I got here. You opened my door." she looked over to Oliver who stared in confusion. "We kissed and now we're eating and suddenly no ones talking. Which is strange because I talk to no one as much as I talk to you." Oliver dropped his eyes to his plate as he picked at the remnants of his chicken with his fork. "Something's wrong. What is it?" Oliver met her eyes once again and opened his mouth to speak when Katie's head turned suddenly to look out to the trees that surrounded them. There was distinct sound of a twig breaking, and Oliver stood to his feet. "You sent the waiter and the chef off for an hour right?"
"Yeah." Oliver replies narrowing his eyes into the darkness of the park.
"It could be an animal." Katie says dropping her napkin onto her plate and standing to her feet as well. "I mean you did choose a park for our first date." Oliver turned to her with wide eyes. "What?"
"Do you remember this park? That quarry over there, when we came here-"
"That night after the middle school Halloween party where you lit those fireworks you stole. I remember ending up in jail and almost ruining my life because of one Oliver Queen."
"We weren't even arrested. We were just detained, and you know what that's not the point." Oliver replied turning to her. "That night-" suddenly the sting of lights that illuminated the area went off, and all that was left were the candles on the table. Oliver turned, pulling Katie behind him as he let his eyes scan the area. "Is someone there!"
"Because serial killers always respond to that question." Katie muttered, placing her hands on Oliver's back. "I think we should probably go now." which is what they were about to do before they heard what sounded like something being sprayed and before they knew what was happening the air started to burn their lungs. Oliver turned to Katie, who like himself erupted into a fit of coughing. He pulled his arms around as the world around them seemed to blur before all at once, it was just gone.
Oliver's eyes flickered open and the first thing he saw was the familiar sight of being surrounded by nothing but trees. These trees were the familiar walls of his unwanted home for so many years, and since the last thing he remembers is holding Katie in his arms, this is not the first thing he should be seeing. Oliver jolted awake, quickly standing to his feet and spinning around in search for only one person as he ignored the confusion and fear pulsating inside of him. He finally stopped spinning and just stood there hoping he would be able to hear her calling for him, but nothing. His heart beat was drumming in his chest as his breathing quickened at the possibility that Katie was somewhere lost on this island. The thought that his hell now had her made him sick to his stomach. He took a slight step forward, scanning the area once again.
"Katie!" he yelled, hoping...no praying that she could hear him.
A hard slap to the face brought Oliver back to reality and away from the hell that he usually visited in his dreams. When he flicked open his eyes he was met with the eyes that stared back at him through a ski mask.
"Hello Mr. Queen." came the accented voice that Oliver recognized as British. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your evening plans, but-"
"Where is Katie?" Oliver growled angrily.
"Don't worry." The man said stepping aside, allowing Oliver to see that Katie was just a few feet away, tied up just like he was. Her head was down on her chest, and her eyes weren't open. "The good doctor is still with us. For the time being anyway."
"What do you want with us?!"
"Me? Me I don't want anything from you. It's not me who wants you here." said the man with a slight shrug. "If I were you my good man, I would get comfortable." and with that the man disappeared out of the room through a door leaving him and Katie in some kind of dark room with only a dim lit light above them.
"Katie wake up!" Oliver called trying to pulled the ropes the held his wrists to the arms of the chair, but they were too tight to even loosen. "Please, Twinkie, wake up! I'm right here and I need you to wake up for me."
It's strange how the distinct smell of blood can find it's way into a person's memory at some of the most unexpected times. Katie was sitting in that same conference room where Amanda Waller told her that her only way home was to finish what she'd started the day she was taken in Bosnia. Agent Michaels sat in the chair across from her ever since Waller was called elsewhere.
For some reason, the smell of blood sifted through Katie's nose at that moment, and flashes of her sword piercing the bodies of Ra's league hit her one after the other.
"What are you thinking?" Lyla asked breaking the brutal silence that had filled the room. Katie's eyes lifted to meet the woman, but she didn't say anything. "I'm just as surprised as you by all of this, but I don't think it's as bad as you think."
"There was this boy in this shack of a hospital in Barimo, he was shot through the chest in an attack on the village while I was there. After all this time I still remember his face as I had my hand on the wound trying to stop the bleeding and pleading with the nurses who understood nothing I was saying to bring me gaus." a chuckle escaped her lips because today the whole thing seemed so unreal. "My hand on his chest slowing that blood from leaving was the only thing keeping him alive and then-" Katie turned away swallowing the lump in her throat as the memories kept coming in waves that made her want nothing more than a bullet in her brain. "These men, the men Agent Waller sent for me, pulled me away and I had to watch the life leave that little boys eyes." Katie's eyes once again looked over to Lyla, who stared with both a look of guilt and sadness. "That was my first impression of this agency. That was the reason I vowed to kill the person responsible. So yes Agent Michaels, I'm afraid this will be as bad as I think."
"Katie, wake up!" Oliver yelled and this time Katie jumped slightly in her seat. "That's it. Open your eyes baby." Katie's eyes cracked open and the first thing she saw was her wrists tied to a chair. "Look at me." she finally lifted her head to see Oliver staring back at her, tied up as well. "Are you alright?"
"I'm tied to a chair." Katie says letting her eyes scan the unfamiliar room. "In strange room. How alright could I be right now? Please tell me this is a part of the date." she looked back over to Oliver who was looking around as well. "You trying to add some spice to our relationship."
"If anything our relationship could use less spice Twinkie." Oliver replied looking back to her. "I know there is one man, there may be more. I think he works for someone else."
"Of course he does." Katie muttered trying to loosen the ropes from her arms, but they were seriously tight. "Any ideas on how we're going to get out of here?"
"I'm still thinking." Oliver replied letting out an exhausted breath. When he met Katie's eyes, she was still staring at him with an expectant look. "What?"
"Anything now?"
"It's been like a second. Give me time."
"Time sure." Katie muttered working on her rope once again. "Are you sure you don't have a plan and you're just not telling me about it."
"Excuse me?" Katie just glanced over to him and shook her head.
"Nothing."
"No, it didn't sound like nothing. It sounded like there is something you want to say and since neither one of us is going anywhere at the moment, I would say now is the perfect time."
"You don't want to do this now." Katie replied dropping her head and deciding to focus on getting out of here rather than playing whatever game Oliver's trying to start at the moment.
"Fine, then I'll go." Oliver replied, but Katie still didn't look at him. "Felicity told me about the little project you drafted her in." and that caused Katie to stop moving. "I still don't understand why I didn't hear it from you."
"Can we not do this now?"
"I mean this was big. It was huge, and it wasn't just about you. It was about me too and you didn't think I deserved-"
"I was told by a woman, I wish to god I could kill with my bare hands, this unbelievable story that all my troubles and all of your troubles were created at the hand of one man. The one man in the world I loved more than anything. I was told by a woman, who has lied to me countless times, a story I couldn't just believe, so yes I asked for Felicity's help and yes I asked for her not to tell you until we knew the truth."
"And when she found out that it was true, what stopped you then?"
"You don't know?" Katie asked with a tilted head. "Should it have been easy for me to look you in your eyes and tell you my father was the reason you ended up in hell? I was scared." she dropped her eyes from his. "I am angry at what he did, but the only person I can blame is dead. You-you have someone you can blame and-"
"You think I would blame you for what happened?!" Oliver interrupted and Katie just turned away from his eyes. "I wouldn't. Katie-" she turned back to him. "I wouldn't. I just need you to be open with me. This only works if we're honest with each other."
"Or if I'm honest with you."
"what does that mean?"
"The Starling Gazette." Katie spoke and Oliver let out a frustrated sigh. "Ring any bells?"
"Do you believe what they wrote in that paper is true?"
"No, but I think you may have known about if for a while now, since I found out it was Rochev who fed the story to the paper." Oliver groaned once again turning away. "Honesty has to work both ways if we want this to work and I do. I want this to work, I love you and I don't want to look at you and wonder what you're hiding and I don't want you to look at me like that."
"Well neither do I." Oliver replied once again trying to pull from the ropes.
"I'm sorry." Katie said and Oliver stopped and looked back over to her. That was definitely not something he heard often from the woman in front of him.
"Me too."
"Ok." Katie replied with a nod. "Now we should figure out a way out of here." Katie glanced down at the ropes on her wrists before looking over to Oliver, whose ankles and wrists were tied to the chair. "My ankles aren't tied to the chair are they?" Oliver looked over to see that her legs were indeed only tied together in front of her.
"No." Oliver replied with a shake of his head. "You could-" Before the sentence had came out of Oliver's mouth, with all the energy Katie had, she used her feet to pushed herself back to the floor letting out a pained groan. "Are you alright?"
"Sure." Katie replied noticing a slight loosening of one of the chair's arms from the impact. With a couple of tugs, the arm finally popped from the chair, allowing Katie to use her free hand to remove the ropes. Once the ropes were removed from her arms and legs, Katie quickly got to her feet to run over to Oliver to free him as well. The moment the last of the ropes fell from him, Oliver stood to his feet before wrapping his arms around Katie in a tight embrace. "I would love to have this bonding moment, but we should really get out of here."
Oliver grabbed Katie's hand, as he pulled her to the door. He pressed his ear against in hopes of hearing how many people could possibly be on the other side.
"Anything?" Katie whispered and Oliver turned back to her and just shook his head.
Oliver grabbed the doorknob, turning it slowly only to be surprised that it was indeed open. With a furrowed brow, Oliver pulled open the door carefully, peeking out to see no one. Once the door was opened completely, Oliver stepped out, Katie's hand still firmly grasped in his own as he let his eyes scan over the place. They were in some sort of abandoned house. The place was dark and everything seemed to be covered in dust as if know one had lived here in a long time. Katie placed a hand on Oliver's arm and he turned back to her to see her point down the hall. He followed her gaze to see the glow of some sort of light coming from a room further down the hall. They slowly walked down the hall, careful to keep their steps light and soundless. When they finally reached the room, it too was void of any persons. The light seemed to be coming from a laptop that was sitting on a table. They walked over to see the screen showed the room they were just in. Katie reached down and clicked a key on the laptop only for black screen to appear, the words "Good Job" appearing in bold white letters. Oliver and Katie shared a look of confusion before turning back to the screen.
Escaping was easier than they thought it would be. A little too easy, but that is something they would worry about later. They arrived back to the foundry, calling both John and Felicity to meet them. After telling them the story of their date that went from eating dinner to being kidnapped and ending with their abductors abandoning them only leaving behind some weird message, everyone was expectantly confused.
"Since when do people kidnap and then just leave their victims?" John asked breaking the silence everyone had fallen under trying to make sense of the situation.
"It could've been a prank." Felicity suggested and they all turned to her. "A weird, sadistic prank, but I mean maybe hurting you wasn't the purpose. They just wanted to scare you."
"No, this was something else." Oliver replies with a shake of his head, stripping off his jacket and tossing it on the table. "I think this was some sort of test."
"A test for what?"
"To see if we could escape." Oliver replied.
"No." Katie says and they all looked over to her. "I think it was to see if I could escape. I was tied up differently then you. Given more of opportunity to escape." They all turned to the laptop the Katie and Oliver had brought back with them. "And when I did-" she pointed to the screen that still held the cryptic message. She shook her head before turning back to them. "My head feels like someone sat on it and I have to pee, so if you all would excuse me." Katie turned around and headed for the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
"Awesome first date huh?" Felicity asked only for Oliver to turn to her with a very unamused look. "Sorry, but hey at least it's done, and the next one can be better."
"Let's hope there will be a next one." Oliver muttered letting a hand slide across his face as the events of the night replayed in his head.
"Why wouldn't there be a-wait, you didn't." Felicity said walking over to him. "You told her what I told you?" Oliver didn't answer, but his silence spoke volumes and so Felicity punched him in the arm. "Are you crazy! That is not first date conversation."
"No, it's being tied up in a room, and being so upset that things just fly out of your mouth conversation ." Oliver replied angrily, stepping away from the woman. "She brought up the Gazette thing and I brought up the other thing-"
"What other thing?" John finally asked in confusion. "What's going on?"
"I guess you're the only one who doesn't know." Felicity replied turning to him. "Katie's father was a former ARGUS agent. All evidence points to him being behind Katie's kidnapping and Oliver ending up on Lian Yu." John stared at the woman for a few moments as if waiting for the punch line, but nothing but seriousness showed on Felicity's face.
"You're kidding."
"I wish I was." Felicity said turning back to Oliver. "Katie was told this by Agent Waller who she doesn't have a very good rapport with since the woman kidnapped her. She asked me to find the truth and she didn't want me to say anything to Oliver until I did."
"Look, right now all of this has to happen between me and Katie." Oliver replied and Felicity and John just nodded. "Once we do, we will all come together to try and figure out what all of this means and the reason behind it." Oliver glanced over to the closed bathroom door. "Right now I'm going to take her home." John tossed the keys to the car to him, before the door finally opened, an obviously exhausted Katie walked out and Oliver walked over to meet her.
"You know I've dreamed of what a first date with Oliver Queen would be like and tonight wasn't even close to what I imagined." Katie said as she walked over to the man.
"Which part? The being kidnapped or having to escape being tied to a chair?"
"You know what it was? It was the chicken. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of dry." Oliver couldn't help but laugh as he brought an arm around her. "Are you taking me home now?"
"Yes I am." Oliver replied as they turned back and waved goodbyes to Felicity and John. As soon as they walked out of the door, Felicity noticed the suit jacket that Oliver had left behind.
"He forgot his jacket. I should catch him before he leaves." The woman said picking up the jacket about to scurry to catch them, but she had only picked up the jacket when something fell from the pocket. "Oh my god." the woman couldn't keep the words from flying out of her mouth as she and John looked down to the small box that had fell to the floor. Felicity reached down to pick it up just as the door to the basement pulled opened.
"I forgot my-" It was Oliver, who stopped when he saw Felicity standing there with his jacket in one hand, and the box that held his mother's ring in the other. The woman tore her eyes from the box to look over to Oliver who look absolutely petrified in this moment. "Felicity-"
"Oliver, this is-" she looked back down to the box, a smile coming to her face. "This-" she looked back over to him. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's a ring, but-"
"Oliver it's a ring!" Felicity screeched a little louder that Oliver would've wanted seeing as Katie wasn't too far from the building. Oliver quickly went over to Felicity taking his jacket and the ring.
"Oliver it's a ring." John says finally getting over his own shock.
"Yes it is, but I wasn't planning on giving it to her yet." Oliver replied sliding the box back into the pocket of his jacket.
"Yet." Felicity said the smile on her face growing wider and wider as she turned to John. "He said yet. Did you hear him? He said yet!"
"Felicity calm down." John replied still looking to Oliver. "And isn't it kind of early in your relationship for this to even be an option yet."
"What, no it isn't!" Felicity said with a shake of her head before turning back to Oliver. "Don't listen to him. You love her, she loves you, and I love weddings. I could help-"
"Felicity stop talking." Oliver finally said before looking between his friends. "Look, my mother gave me this ring. It was given to her by my father and she said they both wanted me to have to give my future wife. That's it."
"Oliver it's in your pocket. I don't think that's it." John says and Oliver lets out a tired sigh. "You may not be planning to ask Katie to marry you, but I think you carrying that around with you means it's something you're seriously considering."
"Well maybe I am." Oliver said looking over to John. "At some point. Nothing too soon, and it'll have to be the right moment, but yes I will ask her." he pulled his jacket back on before looking between John and Felicity. "This conversation never happened." he looked over to Felicity. "And Katie doesn't hear about this at all."
"My lips are sealed." the woman said as she mimed zipping her lips. Oliver simply nodded before turning and once again leaving. Once he was gone, Felicity turned her smile to John, who still looked way too serious after what she believed to be exciting news. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just-" he shook his head as he turned to the woman. "I care about Katie too, but I get the feeling there's more to her story and I think Oliver marrying her would not be a good thing for him."
"I think it would be the best thing. Do you remember when we first met Oliver, and he was this dark, reclusive guy who believed his life's purpose was that hood? Katie showed him there is more, and he's finally seeing that his life isn't some dark tunnel that can only lead to death."
"Well I hope you're right Felicity."
Once they arrived to Katie's house, Oliver went in first to just look things over even though Felicity had told them that there hadn't been any breaches.
"You're being paranoid." Katie said walking into the house, just moments after Oliver told her to wait outside.
"No, I'm being cautious." Oliver replied following behind the woman to the kitchen.
"I knew I left this in here." Katie muttered spotting her cell phone on the kitchen counter. She picked it up to see a couple of missed calls, and a few voice mails. "Crap." she said before playing the first voice mail, and putting it on speaker before going over to the freezer to grab her ice cream.
"Hey, it's Becks. Sorry for blowing up your phone and don't worry, I'm not calling you in or anything, but I had some good news. Ok, so there's this medical conference every year, but only the more popular hospitals are invited. But guess what, a letter came to the hospital today and we've been invited. This is so great. These conferences are the perfect opportunities to get exposure, and funding, so we just have to go. Which is why I'm calling you. I want you to go and represent for us. You're well known and people throw themselves at you, I think you could really help us here. There's only one catch and it's not even that bad. This year the conference is going to be held in Metropolis next weekend. Please, please, please say yes. Call me in the morning, alright bye!"
Once the message ended, Katie looked over to Oliver whose expression was very serious as he looked over to her phone.
"Did she just say Metropolis?" Oliver asked and Katie simply nodded. "Katie-"
"This is going to be a big thing isn't it?" Katie asked and Oliver turned to her with a quirked brow. "How about we save all of that for tomorrow and tonight we try to salvage the last remaining moments of our date." she placed the ice cream on the kitchen table and went to get spoons. "We were taken before dessert and I think we could both use something sweet." when she turned around Oliver was standing right behind her. "What are you doing Liver?"
"Dessert." he replied before he simply scooped her up into his arms, bridal style and began carrying her out of the kitchen. "You know I still have to explain why I chose the park."
"I figured you just have a very warped sense of humor." Katie replied as Oliver began carrying her up the stairs.
"No, that night we were at the quarry, and we were watching those fireworks in the sky, I looked over to you and for the first time ever a question passed through my mind."
"And what question was that?"
"I wondered what it would be like to kiss you." Oliver replied as they reached the top of the stairs. He stood there for a moment, looking at the woman in his arms wondering how he let himself wait so long to get an answer to that question. Katie smiled before leaning into kiss him.
"So what's it like?" Katie asked pulling back.
"When I find the words I'll let you know." and with that the man continued down the hall toward the bedroom.
Author's notes:
A chapter filled with shenanigans befitting for a Twiver first date. I heart the ending so much. I love writing the cutesy stuff so much, but a storm is coming. I won't say much, but know it's coming.
PS... "Did she just say Metropolis?"
Review Replies
Crazybookgirl: Well Bruce and Felicity are quite a different kind of pairing. Bruce has been in the vigilante game for quite some time now so he's already pretty much written off relationships, but then he meets a babbling blonde and a flicker of hope is ignited. Now we're going to see if it will last, because like Oliver and Katie, this pair will also have some challenges to face. As for putting faces to my characters, I tried and failed at adding links to my profile so I guess I can just tell you that for my story Bruce Wayne is the Christian Bale version, and for Katie I'm imagining Michelle Monaghan when I write her. I do have faces attached to my characters in my head, but I think I'd take up alot of space here. As soon as I figure out how to add links to my profile, I definitely will post them.
GhostofaGirl03: Yes we do know why Moira is out and we also knows that she will not be caught under anyone's thumb again and so she makes a call that brings some very dangerous people to Starling. A League in fact.
Hayden (guest): Marriage has definitely crept into Oliver's head thanks to his mother. Like Oliver said he isn't planning on asking her anytime soon, but hasn't planned for a lot of things that have happened so far. I like Katie's potential sacrifice as well, but I hope you saw the foreshadowing there. In the next couple of chapters, Katie's going to have to make a very tough decision concerning her place at the hospital.
Ashilz: I absolutely loved that scene because he doesn't even realize how big a gesture it is. For so long Katie was his secret and he did the one thing she never expected and that was tell the world that she's his girlfriend. Oh, and the message is very ominous, but don't worry we're going to figure out what it means.
Alright, as always I want to thank everyone who is trekking along with me through this craziness I call a story. I really do appreciate everyone. Special thanks to those who have found this story and decided to add it to your fav and follow lists. And a very, very special thanks to the few of you who left some reviews. I love hearing your thoughts and answering your questions. So please keep them coming. I'm getting closer and closer to my first milestone of one hundred reviews, so keep them coming!
And now for your sneak peek
"You weren't even going to say hi." he said, slightly out of breath. She doesn't turn to him, but she does stop her incessant pressing of the elevator button. "Katie-" he takes a step forward, but she holds up a hand to stop him.
"Don't." Katie says once the elevators doors finally open. She steps on and turns to him, finally meeting his eyes. "Hi Lexie." he smiles a bit at the ridiculous nickname that only she seems to call him. She lifts her hand and slightly waves as the elevator doors begin to close. "By Lexie."