Hope ya'll enjoy the chapter, and tell me if you have anything you want to see. Have a great weekend. Sorry it's taken so long to update, I hope this longer chapter helps to make up for it – ScruffyPalace

Oliver kneeled on the ground as he held Shado's body close to his. He couldn't believe what had just happened. In the last few moments, Oliver had lost not one, but two of his closest friends who had walked through hell for him. Sara stood close by Oliver as she comforted him, but also gave him his space to say goodbye. After a few moments, Sara stood and said, "I am going to go back and get Laurel, you stay here with Shado."

Right before she turned around, they both heard a gruff voice behind them say, "Looking for this?"

Oliver's eyes widened as he easily recognized the voice. Sara ran and took Laurel from Slade, kissing every square inch of her face as she as she held her tight. Slade walked up behind Oliver and hit his hand against the other man's shoulder happily, until he noticed the body lying in Oliver's arms. He too, fell to his knees as he picked her up and held her closely in pain. His pain quickly turned to rage as he asked, "Why?"

"I-" Oliver started, but was cut off by Sara.

"Ivo just shot her. He didn't say why."

"Whoever did this to her," he said as he picked up her body, "is going to suffer."

PRESENT DAY

Oliver held Mei's hand as they walked out of the house toward their car, when they were stopped by Moira.

"Oliver, I want to introduce you to someone - John Diggle, he will be accompanying you from now on."

"I don't need a babysitter," Oliver protested.

"Darling, Oliver's a grown man. If he says he doesn't need protection-" Walter tried to intervene, but was quickly cut off by Moira saying, "-I know, but this is something I need."

Oliver looked over at Diggle and considered what his mother was asking of him, before he gave up and agreed with her, figuring he could humor his mother, and still ditch him when he needed to.

Oliver strapped Mei into her car seat, before asking, "So what do I call you?"

"Diggle's fine. Dig if you want," he answered.

"You're ex-military?" Oliver questioned.

"Yes sir, 105th airborne out of Kandahar, retired. Been in the private sector for a little over five years now. I don't want any confusion, Mr. Queen. My ability to keep you safe may outweigh your comfort. Do we have an agreement?" he asked.

Oliver nodded, but then sent a wink to Mei who giggled.

"Where will I be taking you, sir?" Diggle asked.

"I need to go to a friend's apartment - Laurel Lance." He handed Diggle a sheet of paper with an address on it, then sat back and tried to forget about the awkward conversation that he had on the phone the previous night with Laurel.

THE PREVIOUS NIGHT

Oliver threw Mei into their bed, before wrapping the blankets around her securely, and kissing her on the forehead.

"Are you going to bed yet, daddy?" she asked, her innocent eyes staring up at him hoping he would say yes.

"Soon. I just have to do a few things first. We have a big day tomorrow, and you need some sleep." He hopped off the bed and made his way to the kitchen where Raisa had left out some cookies for him, and he threw one in his mouth. He needed a moment to breathe and take in the past couple of days before he could start what he came back for. Though, before he could grab a breath his phone rang. His eyes widened when he noticed the name that popped on his screen.

Laurel

He slid his thumb across the screen and put the phone to his ear. "Hello."

"Oliver?" he heard her whisper.

"Yeah," he answered, then waited for a few moments in silence.

"I…I wanted to talk to you, about…Mei."

Oliver's eyes widened in surprise. He had been expecting a call from her, but not so soon. He thought she would a take a few days at the least, before calling, but he was glad she did so.

"Okay."

She took a deep breath. "My father told me he met her today. He told me she looks just like Sara."

Oliver smiled as he glanced back at his bedroom. "Yeah, she definitely does."

More silence followed that, before she took another breath, then said, "I'm sorry that I just walked away when we were talking, I was just confused, and it was so much information I just-"

"-I get it," Oliver said, cutting off her endless rant.

"Tell me about her."

"What?" Oliver asked, surprised.

"Tell me about my niece."

"Okay, um well, she is tiny, but her personality is enormous. She is very smart, of course she gets that from her mother, I mean she started saying 'dada' at like, six months. She can speak two languages at a much better level than other kids her age, and don't even get me started on her math skills. She is the spitting image of Sara, and boy does she use it to her advantage. She gets away with everything possible just by looking up with her big innocent eyes."

Laurel was silent, and Oliver let her have as much time as she needed. "Can you…can you send me a picture of her?"

Oliver nodded, but then remembered he was on the phone, so he said "Yeah," before he tapped his screen a few times. "Done."

"I got it I-oh my gosh. She looks just like Sara did at that age." Oliver could hear her voice crack as she said Sara's name. "This is just, it's crazy Ollie. I don't know what to feel. I mean, I want my sister back, but I know that is never going to happen, and I should just accept that I have this amazing little niece that is a part of her, but I still can't accept that she is gone."

"I know. I haven't been able to accept it for the three years she's been gone. Every day after she died, I would wake up with Mei in my arms, and I would look around for Sara, but then I had to remind myself that she was gone. Eventually I woke up without any hope of seeing her again, as I had subconiously accepted that that was my life now, but I still miss her every day. The only thing that keeps me going is Mei."

They both stayed on the line listening to the other one cry, until there were no tears left. Then, Laurel finally gathered the courage to ask what she was going to ask. "Can I meet her?"

"Of course. Whenever you'd like."

"Are you free tomorrow?"

Oliver thought it over for a moment. "Yeah, we are totally free."

"Great…see you then."

"Yeah. Bye, Ollie."

"Goodby,e Laurel."

Oliver hung up the phone, let himself stuff a cookie into his mouth, then walked back into his room and laid down bedside his daughter. He was starting to believe that things were going to be at least a little easier than expected. Sure, they both had a long road ahead, but they both have family that would do anything for them, and Oliver hoped it was going to last.

Even with the mission.

FOUR YEARS AGO…

They laid her next to Oliver's father. Her grave was made of rocks and her headstone was part of a log, just Like Robert's. Sara watched as we buried her. She held Mei as tight as she could as she used the t-shirt she was wrapped in to dry her constantly flowing tears.

"Shado always told me that I wouldn't die here. Looking back, I realized that she never once said that about herself," Oliver said as he stared down at the grave with grief stricken eyes. "I just hope she is with her father now."

Slade closed his eyes as he stood and walked over to Oliver. He looked up at him wit his swollen red eyes and held out Shado's green hood for him. "Here, kid."

Oliver couldn't even look at it. "She'd want you to have that."

Slade shook his head. "You're the one she cared for," he said.

Oliver gulped. He knew that they had developed a deep relationship over the past year, but he hadn't realized how much she really loved him until she stood in front of that gun and told the man to shoot her to save Sara. He didn't deserve to be the one she cared for, it should have been Slade. Oliver took a deep breath, before taking the hood out of Slade's hands and watching him walk away.

"Slade wait," he said as he started to go after him, but was almost immediately stopped by Sara grabbing his arm.

"Hey Ollie, just give him space."

"We can't keep lying to him Sara. I need to tell him how Shado really died."

"Ivo killed Shado. He pulled the trigger, and she gave her life, so that we could be together as a family. Listen, Slade has been infected wit the Mirukuru. I read all the journals about the studies. The ones who died, they were the lucky ones. The ones who survived were deformed, if not in their bones, then in their minds. They were different people. If you tell Slade that Sara died because it was between my life and hers, he may not take like it he would have before the mirukuru. He might try to kill me, or worse, our daughter. Please, you are a father now Ollie. It's time to start thinking for her." Sara transferred Mei from her arms to his, making sure that Oliver knew where their priorities lay. He nodded softly, letting her know he wouldn't tell.

PRESENT DAY…

Diggle parked out front of the apartment building, and Oliver unbuckled Mei before he led her into the building. They walked up the stairs all the way to the fourth floor, but just as Oliver held up his hand to knock, he started to get nervous. What if she changed her mind? What if she stared yelling at him right in front of Mei? He didn't want to subject her to that, she'd already been through so much in her young life of four years, he didn't want her to have to go through any more stuff so soon. He didn't have much longer to consider it, though, because Mei took charge and rapidly pounded her tiny fist against the door. Oliver's eyes widened as he grabbed for her hand, but before he could stop her, Laurel opened the door.

Mei smiled up at her. "Hi," she said with a wave.

Laurel's expression went from welcoming to shock as she looked down at the little girl she had heard so much about in the last few days. The little girl who was the product of her sister and her ex-boyfriend. She squatted down to her height and said, "Hi."

She waved at her. "Hi, I'm Mei."

"Hi Mei. I'm Laurel."

Mei's eyes widened with delight. "That's my name too, but daddy just calls me Mei cause of he had a friend that died an-"

Oliver shoved his hand over her mouth. Laurel looked at him questionably, but decided not to push.

"Well, come on in. I didn't know if you'd eaten or not, so I made some cinnamon buns." She pulled out two plates, one plastic and one that was much fancier, and placed two cinnamon buns on them.

Mei took her plate and started pulling large chucks off and shoving them in her mouth. Oliver's cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he nudged her with his elbow. "Smaller bites, and say thank you," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said while her mouth was full, only furthering Oliver's embarrassment.

"She umm, isn't used to normal table manners," Oliver explained to Laurel.

She shook her head with a smile and said, "That's okay. I don't think many children her age can resist stuffing their face in a Cinnabon." She grabbed a plate for herself then sat at the table next to Mei and across from Oliver. After a few moments of semi-awkward silence, Laurel spoke up again "So, what kind of stuff do you like, Mei?"

She thought it over for a second, before licking her fingers and saying, "I like animals. Birds are my favorite, and dogs."

Laurel's eyes glistened with tears at what she said. "Bird's huh?"

Mei looked confused as to why she was crying at such a simple answer. Laurel excused herself from the table before quickly running into the next room. She returned a few moments later with a picture frame, which she placed in front of Mei.

She pointed to the young girl who was not any older than seven, sitting on a porch while holding a small canary.

"That's your mommy when she was just a little older than you are. She loved birds too. That was her pet that our dad had given her."

Oliver's heart stopped when he looked at the picture of a young Sara. A girl who had yet be riddled with pain and had everything about her lovable personality ripped to shreds before being killed and taken away from her daughter and him. He hadn't looked at her picture since he'd returned, so he hadn't seen her face since the day she died. His heart threatened to break into a million pieces, but he couldn't take his eyes off the picture. He didn't realize he'd been crying until he felt Mei's tiny hand brush against his cheek to whisk away the tears.

"It's okay, Daddy. Don't be upset. Mommy doesn't want you to be sad," Mei told him with her gentle voice.

Oliver placed his hand on Mei's head and combed his fingers through her hair. "I know, you're right." The silence was filled by Laurel clearing her throat and regaining their attention.

"Well, I was thinking that if you two didn't have any plans for this afternoon, we could go to the park," Laurel suggested.

"I would love to do that, but I have something I need to get done." When he noticed the disappointed frowns on both of the girls' faces, he said, "Why don't you two go to the park without me, and maybe I can meet up with you later."

Mei bounced excitedly as she gave Laurel a high-five making Oliver glad knowing things were going well on both ends.

Once they finished their breakfast, Oliver gave Mei a long goodbye and then waved to Laurel, before heading out. He had Diggle drive him back to his house, the bag he'd packed that morning laying at his feet so that Diggle wouldn't notice it. Oliver got Diggle talking again long enough to distract him, before opening the door and hopping out of the car with his bag in hand.

Walking down the streets of the Glades was a weird experience. He knew that these people were probably looking at him with distain, and honestly, he didn't blame them. Knowing all the things that his father helped do to this city made him sick, and that's why he was here to fix it.

He walked up to the closed gate, threw his bag over, then ran up the pile of wooden slates, pulling himself to the top of the fence and flipping over. Once his bag was secure in his hands again, he walked into the building. He was looking around at the paper covered floors and equipment that hadn't been used in years, when he stepped something. Upon future investigation, Oliver noticed it that it was the Queen Consolidated financial report with Roberts face plastered on the cover. He squatted down and picked up the pamphlet, his eyes meeting those of his late father's, reminding him of what he came back for.