Chapter 11

Two Hearts, One Beat

"It's easy to fool the eye but it's hard to fool the heart."

-Al Pacino

His breath tickled the back of Katie's neck as he stood so close behind her. It made her stomach turn, but she didn't show it. She wouldn't dare show weakness, not now when her captor/tormentor now punished every indiscretion she now made. Whether it was a show of weakness, or even the inclination of fear, then she would some how be reprimanded. At the moment, she held the cold steel of a silver .9mm, fully loaded and ready to be shot in her hands. It wasn't the first time. The first time, her hands shook uncontrollably, as the small item in her hand felt like it weighed more than what it should. Up until that point, Katie rarely even looked at a gun that wasn't held by a police officer or person of the military. That first day with the gun, when Lian saw her hands shaking, he hissed in disapproval before taking the gun from her hand. That's the day the punishments happened. He forced her her to stand with her back to the wall as he pointed the gun at her.

"What do you fear when you hold this gun?"

"What the fuck do you think?!" she snapped watching him closely. She didn't know if he were bluffing or if he was being serious. She never could. "I don't want to kill anybody. I'm a doctor, I just-" he pulled the trigger and a bullet struck right beside Katie's ear. It didn't touch her, but she could feel the heat from the impact and dropped to the floor covering herself.

"Get up!" he ordered angrily. She didn't move, she couldn't move. Sure, when she signed up for doctor's without borders, she thought she'd be alright with a gun in her face, but now when it was happening, she just knew that she wasn't. "If you don't get up, I will pull this trigger again and it will pierce some part of your body." at this point...after months, she figured being here, his words were rarely in jest and so she took a deep breath and stood to her feet, pressing her back against the wall. "If forced to make the decision whether to kill or be killed, what do you choose?" she didn't say anything, and his gun hand rose about to shoot again.

"Kill!" Katie grit through her teeth angrily.

"So if the intended purpose of this gun, or any weapon is to do just that, then what are you afraid of?" he asked and Katie looked at him long and hard before answering.

"Losing my soul! Losing everything that I knew about me. Losing everything I was taught." Lian chuckled with a shake of his head as he walked over to her, once again bringing himself into her personal space.

"Look where you are?" he asked his eyes scanning over the dark room, illuminated only by the lanterns on the wall. "You're in hell, remember?" he turned back to her with a smile that caused a chill to creep down her smile. "You lost your soul the moment you became mine." he pushed the gun in her hand. "I see any fear and we come right back to this spot, do you understand?" Katie simply nodded before taking the gun in her hand.

The nine times after she held that gun, only three times did her hand shake. After being shot at three times, all with the fear that she was going to die, it seemed, that weight in Katie's hand lightened. The tenth time in fact, her entire body was completely still as she stared down to the target. He circled around her, watching her closely as he did all the time.

"Now remember what I told" he said, his voice moving around her. "Breathe, and focus. That target maybe across the room, but to you it's staring you right in the face. Every detail, so when you take that shot, missing isn't even possible." he placed his hand on top of her gun hand, and she didn't dare flinch. "This is not a thing. It is an extension of your body. You control where it goes and where it doesn't. That target is death and you only get one shot to take it out, so make it count." he dropped his hand from hers and turned toward the target. "Shoot!" Katie didn't hesitate, she didn't shake, or quiver. Her eyes scanned over the target in one second and in the next she pulled the trigger. Lian clapped his hands slowly and loudly as he walked over to the target and looked at the perfect shot. "Bravo." he turned back to her and smile. "Next weapon"

"Next weapon?" Katie asked as he headed to the large chest that sat in the far corner of the room. "How many weapons are there?" the question made him laugh as he pulled opened the chest and pulled out a bow and a couple arrows.

"All of them" he replied smiling back to her.

Katie simply stared at him and knew then that by the time she left here, she truly wouldn't have a soul left.

"When is a good time Oliver!" a voice snapped angrily and Katie's eyes snapped open. The moment she opened her eyes she realized she wasn't at the bus station any more. She turned her head to the side, a glass case filled with arrows coming in sights and she couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips. "I get she's your friend, and you want to protect her, but how can you be sure that we're not the ones who need protection?"

"Diggle despite what you believe, I know her and-"

"Let's be honest. You don't know that woman as well as you think you do and because of that, we're harboring a murderer."

"If you think she's a murderer, I can't possibly imagine what you think of me!"

"Hey, guys. We need to cool it, alright?" Felicity interjected moving to stand between the men who were getting louder and moving closer which she knew wouldn't end well. "We don't know the mechanics of this situation, and until we do-"

"If we do" Diggle interrupted. "These secrets your friend is so intent on keeping are going to bite us in the ass." Oliver shook his head before turning to see Katie standing on her feet.

"Katie-"

"He's right. You know he's right." She grabbed her jacket from a nearby table. "You shouldn't have brought me here." she was about to move toward the door, but he stalked over to block her. "Oliver-"

"Did you kill that man out of on some sick, twisted, enjoyment you have for killing people?" she looked back at him like he was crazy.

"What, no. They must have followed us and when I went to the bathroom, they followed and-" she shook her head not even wanting to think back on that moment which was hard. It was still playing on replay in her head, and could she feel every kick, every punch, and the smell of blood still was under her nose.

"There's a man dead from a laceration to the neck and a woman whose in the hospital unconscious from blows to the head." Diggle said walking over to stand beside Oliver. "Excuse me for being slow on the uptake, but did we already find out that you held those abilities?"

"Did you know I could fight, I believe so" Katie said staring at the man with hard eyes. "Did you know that if put into certain circumstances, I choose to be the one to survive, well I just assumed." she turned back to Oliver. "And now I need to leave." she moved to walk around them, but Oliver grabbed her arms and pushed her back. "Oliver, just-" she punched his chest with barely enough strength for it to even hurt. "Just let me go." she went to hit him again, but he caught her fist and pulled her to his chest and she could do nothing but stay there. She dropped her head to his chest and sighed.

"Guys, can you give us a minute?"

"Oliver-"

"One minute Diggle" He grit through his teen angrily. "Just give me one minute." Diggle wanted to argue, but knew that at this point it was useless. He and Felicity turned and just headed up the stairs to the club where they would wait.

"You need to take it easy on him." Felicity said as she followed behind Diggle who shook his head. "He cares about her and-"

"And it's that affection that's clouding his judgment when it comes to her." Diggle replied turning back to her. He wanted to jump on this Twinkie train, but time after time she created questions no one else seemed too interested in getting answered. "Felicity, those crime scene photos, they don't teach that in some taekwondo class. That was professional."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, it's time for Oliver to start asking her the tough questions. Starting with what the hell happened in those three years she was missing."

"He won't do that. He won't push her, because he can relate." Felicity walked over to Diggle and shrugged. "I know right now you're worried about her being here when we don't know much about her, but Oliver trusts her and she so do I. I think she's gotten herself into a bad situation and she just needs a little help to get out. Plus how much do you really know about Oliver's time on the island?" Diggle turned away at the question. "We know what he chooses to tell us when he's ready. We have to give her the same courtesy."

"His time on the island hasn't bitten us in ass."

"Not yet it hasn't."

Oliver's arms wrapped around and he could feel as her arms came around to his back. He felt her release a long, tired breath.

"Twinkie-"

"Oliver I don't want to hurt you. I don't want my life to hurt you and your friends." she pulled from the hug and met his eyes. "I don't know when, where, and hell I don't know why, but I know that's going to happen." she shook her head before turning her back to him. "I brought Tommy into this." she turned back to him. "It was pizza. Pizza with me leads to a gun being put in your face. I need to leave-"

"You're not leaving."

"Why, because you need me here!"

"Yes!"

"Well I need you alive!" she walked over to him and placed her hand on his chest. "I need your heart to beat and I need for you to protect your city." she looked up to him and once again met his intense gaze. "I need-" Katie stopped and closed her eyes and it almost happened. Oliver almost grabbed her and kissed her. He wanted to. He really, really wanted to, but didn't. He couldn't. He had a million and one reasons to justify why kissing her was a bad idea. None of them ever measured up to that one reason he had for why he should just do it. But he didn't. He couldn't. He just couldn't. "I don't know what I need." she sighed when her hand felt something heavy in her pockets. She suddenly remembered why and so she reached into the pockets of her jacket, finding the cell phones and wallet from her attackers.

"Katie, you can't leave, you-"

"You're right." she said turning back to a look of surprise on his face. "I can't leave. Not yet." he looked down to her hand. "I need Felicity to look this stuff over and see what she can find."

"What are you going to do?"

"I going to go to the hospital and I'm going to have a little conversation with my new friend." she moved to walk around him, but he once again caught her arm. "If you try to stop-"

"I'm not. I'm going to go with you." that surprised her. What she didn't know was that Oliver was simply hoping to gain more insight into her past and also keep her from getting caught.

"Fine, but no hood on this one." Katie said and he couldn't help but smile. "You freak me out when you wear that thing."

It didn't make sense. Those four words were repeating over and over in Tommy's mind as he entered he and Laurel's apartment. When Laurel finally arrived, she found Tommy pacing back and forth in their living room.

"Tommy?" she said dropping her bag on the chair before walking over to bring her arms around him in a hug. "What's wrong?" Tommy sighed, as he tightened his arms around his girlfriend. He literally didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't know if she would even believe the truth. "Tommy?" Laurel pulled back to see his face after receiving no answer.

"Did you hear what happened down at Marlo's?" Laurel's face scrunched in confusion at the question, but nodded.

"Yeah, I heard something about shots being fired. Why?"

"I was there" Tommy replied and he felt Laurel's grasp on his arms tighten. "I'm fine."

"What were you doing there? I thought you said you were going to order in and watch movies tonight?"

"I was, but then I saw the news about the merger and realized I hadn't seen Twinkie-"

"Twinkie?" Laurel asked interrupting him. She had never said it out loud, but Katie had become a very annoying entity in her life. Even though they never came face to face before her father's funeral, Laurel could barely go anywhere with Oliver or Tommy without her name popping up. It was strange because she'd known both Tommy and Oliver a long time and she only remembers the pair always making fun of Twinkie. Well more like Tommy making fun of her, whereas Oliver usually defended her.

"I just stopped by her place and offered her to go to Marlo's. She went to the bathroom, and I was at our table when I heard the shots fired."

"Are you alright? Is Katie alright?" that's the question Tommy wasn't sure how to answer that question. He knew he definitely wasn't alright, and well he had no idea where or how Katie was. "Tommy, what happened?" Tommy met her eyes and shook his head.

"I honestly don't know." Tommy muttered dropping on the couch beside them and burying his face in his hands. Laurel sat beside him, running a hand on his back.

It was a strange turn of events that led Oliver to being the one to follow and not lead. When they arrived at the hospital Oliver stayed close behind Katie as they entered. He watched her closely, how calculated she moved and he couldn't help but be a bit impressed.

"Do you know where you're going?" Oliver asked and Katie glanced over to him and shook her head. "Well that's just great."

"Shut up." she said as they walked up to the front desk, the nurse behind the desk was too engrossed with what she was typing that she didn't even look up to them.

"Please fill this out and wait for your name to be called." the nurse muttered placing a clip board in front of them.

"Actually, I wanted-"

"Emergency alert!" a voice blared over the PA system. "Room 6325. Emergency alert!" and without a word the nurses behind the desk went running toward the elevators. Katie and Oliver stood there for a moment, before Katie turned to Oliver with a shrug.

"Saved by the bell" she muttered before turning and walking around the desk.

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked his eyes suddenly scanning the area to make sure the coast was clear. There were only a couple of people in the waiting room who weren't even looking in their direction.

"How else do you think we're going to find this woman?" Katie asked as she began typing on the computer. "Now we just have to hope there weren't a crap load of Jane Does brought in tonight." Oliver turned to Katie when her fingers stopped moving. "Got her." she looked over to Oliver and nudged her head toward the elevator. "Let's go."

The rode the elevator in silence, when Katie suddenly placed a hand on her side. How unbelievable it may seem, it was only now that she remembered being stabbed. She began lifting her shirt, to which Oliver looked on curiously.

"Why doesn't this hurt as much as it should?" she asked looking down to the bandage. She lifted her eyes to Oliver who glanced down to the bandage before meeting her eyes. "What did you do?"

"There were these herbs that I brought with me from the island" Oliver said turning back toward the doors. He heard Katie snort, and despite his best judgment he turned back to her. "What's that noise?"

"Nothing, I'm just imagining your rescuers showing up, like 'hey we're here to save you' and you're all like, 'oh thank the heavens, I'm ready, but let me grab my herbs'." she turned toward him, her face twitching trying to hold in her laughter.

"That's exactly how it went" Oliver replied sarcastically, unable to stop the smile from tugging it at his lips. "I hope you know I hate you" because only Twinkie could crack an awful joke about his time on the island and actually make him want to laugh about it.

"Aww, I wuv you too Liver." Katie said just as the elevator's opened. Katie moved to walk off, but Oliver grabbed her arm to stop her. "What are you-" the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her head shot up as she began looking around the floor.

"Get back on the elevator" Oliver ordered, trying to push her back, but Katie reached up and grabbed his hands to stop him.

"I'm not going anywhere." Katie said tilting her head slightly. "Whoever you are, just so you're know, you're horrible at skulking in the shadows!" she called and Oliver glanced at her in annoyance, but his attention stayed focused on the surrounding. The hall was empty, void of any people at all which was strange in itself, but they knew someone was there. She took a step, but Oliver quickly grabbed her arm, before he felt someone behind them and he quickly turned around to see a man dressed in all black and a ski mask covering his face.

"Stay behind me." Oliver ordered, his eyes focused on the man in front of him.

"I would, if didn't have my own ninja to deal with" Katie replied and Oliver glanced over his shoulder to see indeed there was another masked man. He tossed his arm behind him, wrapping around her middle and turning them so he could look down both halls.

"When I give the word, I want you to get out of here and-"

"That's not how this plays out Liver" Katie spoke, her eyes too turning from masked man to mask man. "You take that one, and I'll take the short one."

"Katie-" before Oliver could even begin to protest the man on his right began moving toward him. "shit!" he cursed as he straightened his stance and Katie did the same. "Can you do this?"

"Three years Liver" Katie said stretching her neck from side to side. "I can do a lot" and without another word spoken Katie began walking toward the masked man on her left. Oliver only glanced her way for a second, before a fist was head in his direction. Katie walked over to the man, and as she did, she could feel that familiar rumble under her chest. She could feel that tingling under her finger tips. She thought that monster inside of her would only come out once tonight, but she was about to be proven wrong. When her feet planted in front of him, he didn't move an inch. "Who are you?" she couldn't see his mouth, but the corners of his eyes wrinkled and she just he was smiling underneath that mask. The man said something in a language that most definitely was not English, but she recognized it, had nightmares about it. She turned away from him for a moment, before he took the slight distraction to reach forward and wrap his hand around her neck and lift her from the ground as if it were nothing.

"Katie!" Oliver said catching a glimpse of the scene. He was about to go over to her, but the man he was fighting was proving to be a very good fighter. The man wrapped his arm around Oliver's neck from behind attempting to stop the air from getting to his lungs. Oliver stood there pulling at the man's, arm while watching Katie being held in the air, her feet dangling beneath her.

Katie glared at the man, her face turning red as he cuts off her air supply. She could see the glee in his eyes, that look you have when you just know you've won.

Never be caught off guard. It was something Lian made sure to pound in Katie's head. She was to always expect the unexpected at all times. She assumed she understood that, but it was clear she didn't one night as she slept when a hand clamped over her mouth, and someone laid on top of her straddling her room was completely dark, not allowing her to see the assailant, but when hot breath tickled her lips she knew whoever it was, was only mere inches from her face. She tried to scream for help, but the hand over her mouth forced her cries to come out muffled.

"Pretty girl plays in hell" a deep male voice said, but it wasn't Lian's. It was someone else. "Bound to meet a couple demons." His wet tongue slid across her cheek as a throaty moan escape his lips. "You taste good pretty girl." and the laughed that followed sent a chill through her body.

The man's hand reached under her shirt and in that second Katie snapped. She jerked up her knee and the yelp that escaped the man's lips let her know that she hit her intended target. He grabbed his sore privates and practically rolled off of her. The moment he did, Katie's eyes went to the open door and ran as her feet could take her. The halls were dark, illuminated by lanterns along the wall. She didn't know where she was going, but she wasn't going to stop, at least that's what she thought. There was a hall up ahead, and the moment she turned she ran straight into someone's hard body knocking her on her butt. She lifted her eyes to yet another man she didn't recognize, this one ridiculously huge.

"Get up" he practically growled, reaching down and wrapping his hand around her throat and lifting her off of the ground. Katie struggled as his hand tightened, cutting off her oxygen, but in that moment, the word's of Lian crept into her mind and so she fluttered her eyes closed and fell limp in the man's grasp. She heard him chuckle, but she also felt him lowering her back to the ground. His hand loosened around her neck, and he expected her to just fall limp to the ground, but she didn't. Instead she opened her eyes, and quickly kicked up a leg into his groin causing him to fall on his knees. She took a step toward him and smiled.

"You get up bitch." she turned and spotted a door at the end of the hall that just had to be her salvation. Without a second thought she was running.

It's strange when you live a moment more than once. The hand around Katie's neck hadn't loosened and she knew it wouldn't. Not until she made it loosen. And just like she'd done once before, she fluttered her eyes until they closed and dropped her hands to her side falling limp. Oliver was calling her name, but she didn't move. She wouldn't destroy the illusion she was creating. The sound of his chuckle made it to her ears, and it made her want to roll her eyes. There just had to be some dumb bad guy play book, because they all did the same thing. As she expected he began loosening his grip, and lowering her to the ground. Once Katie felt her feet finally touch the floor, she knew what he expected to happen, so when her eyes opened she knew that wasn't it. He drew his hand back to her, but this time she turned her body, keeping him from grabbing her, before she grabbed his arm and tossed a kick right into his stomach. He stumbled back, hitting the wall, but he pushed himself off and ran at her. She dodged him quickly, kicking a foot right into the back of his calf knocking him down on one knee. He tried to get up, but Katie grabbed the back of his head and slammed it against the linoleum wall. When she heard something crack, she grabbed the back of his mask and slipped it off his face.

Oliver pushed the man so his back would hit the wall hard. Once he felt the man's arm loosen around his neck, he quickly pulled from his grasp before turning grabbing the man's arm and twisting him around so it's behind his back. Oliver slammed the man's face into the wall repeatedly until he felt the man's body go limp. At that point he just released him and let him fall to the floor. He heard a yelp of pain, and he quickly turned. It didn't come from Katie, but the man whose bloodied face she gripped in her hand. She was saying something to him, something he couldn't hear from his place and so he began moving toward them. Before he knew what was happening, she grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face against the wall once causing him to drop to the ground unconscious. She stood there, her chest heaving out rough breaths and her eyes locked on the man's body in front of her. Oliver took a couple of more steps, now able to see the man's face that was totally covered in strange tattoos. He looked back up to Katie who hadn't taken her eyes off of him before reaching out a hand to snap her out of it, but before he could her hand quickly shot out grabbing him. Her eyes cut to him and a look of remorse washed over her face as she quickly released his hand.

"Sorry." she said glancing down to the man before turning and walking down the hall.

"Katie-"

"Now is not the time Oliver."

"Fine, as long as we agree that at some point in the near future will be the right time." Oliver stated looking over to her as they walked. She simply glanced over to him and nodded before stopping.

"Why is this floor empty?" Katie asked scanning the barren halls. "I don't-" she looked over to Oliver whose eyes were locked onto something. When she followed his gaze, she saw an opened door, but it was the feet of someone lying on the ground from inside the room that caught her attention. "Please don't be a dead cop." she muttered as they slowly made their way toward the room. Oliver shot out an arm to stop Katie as he peeked inside the room. He looked down to the body to see that it was in fact an officer. Katie pushed his arm away and walked around to look inside the room. The moment she saw the officer on the floor she quickly knelt down beside him and placed her fingers on his neck. "He's still breathing."

"Not sure about her." Oliver said and Katie followed his eyes to the bed where the woman laid with a pillow over her face.

"No, no, no" Katie muttered standing to her feet and quickly running over and tossing the pillow aside. She brought her ear to the woman's chest and didn't hear anything. "Fuck!" she placed her hands on the woman's chest and began CPR.

"Katie, we have to-" Oliver was cut off by the woman on the bed, who suddenly gasped loudly and lifting off the bed slightly. The woman's eyes widened as she looked over to Katie who was standing above her. Without warning she grabs Katie's arm and pulls her closer.

"They won't stop." she weezed through her bandaged lips. "You broke the rules and you know what that means."

"I do, but you were supposed to kill me and you failed, so I think that means you broke the rules too." Katie replied before leaning in close to the woman. Oliver watched as her lips moved closer to the woman's ear before she whispered something he couldn't heat before she stood up straight and reached over pressing a button on a nearby machine. A couple of beeps sounded, followed by a whooshing sound before she released it and walked around the bed grabbing Oliver's arm and pulling him toward the door. "We have to get out of here now."

"Wait!" Oliver said not budging, his eyes going to the woman in the bed whose eyes were slowing drifting closed before the finally did. The loud beeping sound of the heart monitor rang out through the room, and Oliver turned his eyes to Katie and she had to turn away from anger they held. "What did you do?" she didn't say anything and so he took a step closer grabbing her arm tight enough for her to turn her eyes back to me. "Answer me!"

"I did her a favor, because if the people who are after me find her I doubt they would've let her go out so peacefully." she turned for the door, but his grasp on her never let up. "Oliver we have to get out of here, before more cops come and-"

"You know whose after you. This whole time you-"

"No, not this whole time. Just now. Now it makes sense."

"To you, but to me, I'm still lost. What the hell is going on?" she stared at him hard and her expression was unreadable, which only annoyed him more. She turned away to think for just a few moments before she turned back to him and nodded.

"Fine, but not now. Now we need to get out of here." Oliver wanted to argue, but knew she was right. The last thing they would be able to explain is the situation they found themselves standing in. He nodded before reaching out to taking her hand, which startled her as he pulled her with him out the door.

"This place is going to be crawling with cops and we-" Oliver stopped talking and walking as they walked back to the hall where they'd left two bodies. Now there was nothing but a few blood stained walls.

"Shit." Katie muttered and Oliver looked back to her. "Those guys, when you get them down, you kind of want them to stay down." Oliver simply shook his head, his hand slightly squeezing hers as he pulled them toward the elevator. They were only a few steps away when the elevator dinged, and the doors began to slide open. They heard the multiple voices, and just knew the cops were making an appearance sooner than anticipated. Oliver felt Katie tug his arm slightly and he turned back to see her nudging her head toward a door just a couple of feet away marked stairs. They quietly and quickly made their way out, but the moment they disappeared through that door, they run as fast as their feet can take them down those stairs. They had made it down a couple of flights before hearing the sound of the door bursting open above them. They stop and look up to see the many officers headed down the stairs.

"Oliver-"

"C'mon" Oliver said pulling Katie with him through the nearest door. They ended up in a more populated part of the hospital. They both took a deep breath before walking down the hall calmly hoping not to draw too much attention. Their eyes stayed straight ahead as they moved. They thought they could make it toward the elevator without any hitches, but soon they spotted two officers run off, their eyes scanning down both ends of the hall. One of the officers point in their direction and Oliver slowly begins to push Katie behind him as the officers ran in their direction. Relief only came when the officer continued pass them down the hall. When the pair finally made it onto the elevator and doors finally closed they both released a deep breath of exhaustion and relief. Oliver took out his cell phone and Katie glanced in his direction.

"Who are you calling?"

"Felicity, I'm going to have her see if she can identify those guys from the security footage."

"That won't be possible" Katie said turning toward the elevator doors. "The moment those guys walked in here, all security systems went down, or glitched or something else technological that would prevent them from being seen on those cameras. Those men were ghosts Oliver." Oliver lowered the phone from his ear and turned his body to her, but she didn't turn to him. She didn't want to see that expectant look in his eyes. When the doors slid open, Katie only took one step before Oliver quickly grabbed her hand. He stepped off the elevator as well, keeping his eyes peeled before pulling her toward the door. They were almost there, almost free until another obstacle got in the way.

"Dr. Robins?" a voice spoke and Katie stopped at turned, met with the confused look from one Dr. Christian James. "What are you doing here?"

"Well..." Katie started forcing a carefree smile to her face. "I, uh-" she chuckled with a shake of her head. "This may sound weird, but whenever I apply somewhere, I like to come and see it you know. Get a lay of the land I guess without any fluffers in my ear." she began looking around the halls.

"So, how did we do?" he asked folding his arms over his chest. Katie turned back to him and smile.

"Great, this place is totally great."

"Well, great" he said laughing. "I'm glad you liked it, and I can assure you that's even more rewarding to be employed here, but we can discuss that more at our interview next week." Katie nodded and watched as the man trailed to the intense glare of the guy holding on tight to Katie's hand. Katie followed his eyes and the smile on her face dropped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this is my friend-"

"Oliver Queen" Oliver interrupted releasing Katie's hand and holding it out to the man. "And you're-"

"Dr. Christian James and I know you well. Your family along with Dr. Robins-"

"Katie's fine." Katie interrupted getting two very different looks from the two men.

"Both of your families have help raise so much money for the hospital." Christian said turning back to Oliver. "So you tagged along for Katie's covert operation"

"Yeah." Oliver said forcing a smile to his face as he turned to Katie. "What are friends for?"

"We were actually just leaving." Katie said seeing this situation was not going to lead anywhere positive. She turned back to Christian with a smile. "It was nice seeing you again and I look forward to our interview."

"Me too, and oh I meant to give this to you before but here" the doctor reached into the pocket of his lab coat pulling out a small business card and handing it out to her. "This has all my numbers, so if you want a real official tour of the place, call me. I can get you into the restricted areas." he joked and Katie faked laughed, glancing over to Oliver who didn't seem to amused at all. "Alright it was nice meeting you Mr. Queen, and Katie remember call me if you want to take me up on that offer."

"I definitely will" Katie said with a bright smile which the doctor returned before turning and heading off down the hall. The moment the man was a good distance, Oliver grabbed Katie's arm and began pulling her arm. "Hey, chill with the man handling."

"Sorry to interrupt your flirting, but we have more pressing matters to tend to." Oliver countered as they rushed out the door and headed straight for his bike.

Katie thought for sure that they were going to head straight for the foundry, but to her surprised they ended up home. It was late, like next day late and she figured he'd probably want to grill her without any witnesses. The moment he parked the bike, Katie hopped off and rushed toward the house, practically running.

"Twinkie!" he yelled, but she didn't stop. She opened the door and rushed inside. She underestimated the speed of the man behind her, because she hadn't even walked fully into the house before an arm wrapped around her waist from behind pulling her back. She heard the front door slam closed and in an instant her back was being pushed up against it, while Oliver stood in front of her blocking any chance for her to escape. He stared at her with that look she'd been trying to avoid. That look that demanded answers that she knew she couldn't give. "Katie-"

"It's not that simple" she interrupted him before he could even start. "You think that I can just say what you want me to say and then that will be that, but it won't. It will change things and I don't want to change things. This-" she dropped her eyes slightly with a shake of her head. "This us, this new us, I like it, and I-" she brought her eyes back to his. "I need it and for me to have it I can't bring you into something I'm not sure you'd make it out of." she tried to move around him, but he shot out and arm to stop her. "Oliver, just-" she didn't get the rest of her words out because she was suddenly plopped into a dream, or some alternate reality. That was the only explanation she could come up with for why Oliver Queen's lips slammed against hers in a way that overwhelmed her senses. In that moment she wasn't tired, or scared or worried...she was just a part of him. Like two hearts beating at once. Oliver's body moved in as close as possible to hers, trapping her between him and the wall, He kept his hands to himself, because he knew that if he didn't, if he let his hands venture where he wanted, then all hope for answers would be lost. It wasn't until her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers sliding up the back of his head did he realize he was slowly losing control of this situation and in a move his body opposed, he pulled from the kiss. He didn't move though. That's one thing he couldn't seem to do, move away from her. They both stood with dark glint in their eyes as they tried to catch their breaths while trying to come back to reality.

"Why..." Katie said through heavy breaths her eyes moving ever so often back to his lips. "Why did you do that?" she brought her eyes back to his awaiting his answer to the question. "Oliver, why-"

"I need us as much as you do. You have no idea how much I need-" he took a deep breath before finally taking a couple of steps back hoping the distance would help him regain his composure. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the doorbell ringing. They both narrowed their eyes before turning to the door as they backed away slowly. The bell rang for a second time, but neither moved. After just a couple of seconds a yellow slip of paper was pushed through the mail slot. Oliver and Katie shared a look, before Oliver took a step forward to reach down to pick it up. Katie watched the confused look pass over Oliver's face as he read it.

"What does it say?" he glanced back up to her but didn't say anything before turning and pulling open the door. Katie followed after him, both stopping right in the doorway looking out onto the porch at the item left behind. "You have to be fucking kidding me." she took a step, but Oliver grabbed her arm to stop her.

"What is it?" Oliver asked as they both turned to the item.

"I think it's my suitcase"

Detective Quentin Lance had seen just about all that he could from the crime scene and was now heading back to his car when he heard someone call his name.

"Detective Lance!" he turned in time to see an officer practically running toward him with some kind of satchel.

"What's up?"

"We've returned all the belongings to the customers, but this was left unaccounted for." the officer handed Lance the bag to which he began looking inside. He found a wallet and pulled it out, handing the bag back to the officer. "Who does it belong to?" Lance opened the wallet and saw the ID of someone who he doesn't remember being at the scene.

"Where did you say you found this?" Lance asked glancing up to the officer.

"Near one of the tables." Lance looked back down to the wallet and sighed. "Who is it sir?"

"Someone who makes this even more interesting." Lance said before grabbing the bag and nodding to the officer before turning and sliding into his car. The moment he did, he threw the items on the passenger seat before taking his cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a familiar number before bringing it to his ear. "Yeah, this is Lance. I need you to dig up any and everything you can on one Doctor Katherine Robins." he listened for a moment before asked the question that had been playing in his head. "Why? Well I think she maybe a murder suspect."

Author's note:

See I told you it would happen! Now the question is, what happens now that lines have been crossed between Twinkie and Liver? Oh, Lance is finally paying attention and seeing a common thread among the latest crimes in Starling City.

Review Replies:

ArrowTheaQueen: I can't wait either! Have you seen the promo, it looks like it's going to awesome. My Olicity feels are going to go into overdrive, I just know it. I'm bummed we have to wait another week. Thanks for the review!

Ashilz: You my friend have made me smile. Thanks for each and every one of your reviews. I'm glad you're liking this OC pairing, and I hope you continue to enjoy it. Hold on, it's going to get even more crazier.

kindleflame5: I know right. Oliver is holding on tight, but he's fighting some very unexpected feelings so I'll give him a pass. I think Katie has to over come one mask before she can think to put on another, but maybe..just maybe a new mask could help her finally get rid of a new one. I don't know..I haven't gotten that far yet, but a seed has been planted and we'll see what it creates.

hayden: Don't worry, she hasn't found anything that can know her down for long...yet.

highlander348: I think I agree. Oliver is as emotionally damaged as Katie is. There are feelings there, and he's choosing to ignore them for the same reasons Katie is. They both seem to think the other won't be able to handle their darkness, but neither seems to see that maybe their the only ones who can. Ahh...this sparing scene I keep hearing about, I think it can be arranged.

Thanks once again for all the support you all are showing and to thank you, I think I will give you a little sneak peak into the next chapter that I think is going to cause a few of you to lose your shit.

SNEAK PEEK

"He seems taller in person." Diggle muttered gaining a glare from Oliver. They both turned to the pair as they continued posing for pictures. "What kind of trouble could he cause?"

WHO IS HE?! LET'S HEAR SOME IDEAS