Disclaimer: I don't own Arrow or any of its characters or location. They belong to DC entertainment.
A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been ages since the last update and I am sorry for that, life has been kinda hectic lately with work, and family things going on, plus more than a little writers block. Thanks for sticking with me and being so patient, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Queen mansion morning
"I know Ollie said we don't need to bring anything tonight, but are we really going to show up empty handed?" Thea asks her mother.
"Of course not. I'm bringing a bottle of Chateauneuf du pape and a box of chocolates." Moira replies.
"Is Walter coming with?" Thea asks.
"Yes, he's just finishing up a phone call with the Moscow office, how are things going at CNRI?" she asks.
"Really good actually. I thought I'd get bored, but if I'm being honest it's been a lot of fun. I helped rearrange their filing system so that it's more effective and Laurel even let me babysit some of the kids that came in with their parents, there was one little girl who came in with her parents about a fortnight ago, she was so shy she just hid behind her dad the whole time. It kinda reminded me of when I used to hide behind Ollie when I was shy or scared, like when we had Christmas parties with lots of people I didn't know. He'd always come up with a game for us to play or tell me a story that made me forget I was scared and just have fun with him like we always did so I thought I'd take a chance and try playing one of those games with the little girl…I think it was just I-spy but she loved it. Then later when her parents came to take her home, she asked me if we could play again tomorrow." Thea says smiling at the memory.
"That's great Thea, has the family been back?" Moira asks.
"No, they moved to Coast City a few days later. They'd just come in to sign a few legal documents to finish up their case." Thea replies.
"So, has the whole experience made you think you want to be a lawyer?" Moira asks.
"No, I don't want to be a lawyer. I've loved working at CNRI, and I want to continue volunteering there, it's made me want to help people, but I don't think being a lawyer is for me. I get enough attention from the media just being Thea Queen." she says.
"I'm proud of you Thea. You've really learned a lot from your community service." Moira says. "you've really applied yourself and given it your full attention."
"Well it was this or juvie, and I know I said juvie at the hearing, but I really don't think I'd do well in jail." The youngest Queen says. "Orange just isn't my colour. Plus, I heard the spa facilities are seriously sub-par." She adds jokingly.
"Have you picked out what you're going to wear tonight or do we need to go on an impromptu shopping trip?" Moira asks.
"I can never say no to a shopping trip. Maybe we can invite Sara to come with us? She probably doesn't have much in the way of dresses after five years on a deserted island." Thea says.
"That's a lovely idea, and it will give me a chance to get to know her a little better." Moira says.
"Ok, I'll call her now and see if she wants to come with." Thea says with a smile pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialling Sara's number.
"Thea, hey what's up? Is everything ok? You're not bailing on tonight are you?" Sara asks through the phone.
"No, no not at all. Mum and I are going shopping to get dresses for tonight, and we were just thinking it would be great you could join us." Thea explains.
"Actually your timing could not be more perfect. I was literally just thinking that I have absolutely nothing to wear tonight, turns out five years on a deserted island leaves me somewhat lacking in the wardrobed department.?" she says.
"Perfect! See you there!" Thea replies before hanging up the phone and turning to her mother. "She's going to meet us at the mall in an hour, turns out she was headed there anyway."
"Wonderful. A shopping trip with my daughter and future daughter." Moira says.
"Future daughter?" Thea enquires raising an eyebrow at her mother.
"I might not know Sara very well, and neither of us know very much about what happened to her and Oliver experienced while they were gone. One thing however is blatantly obvious, whatever happened on that island solidified their relationship. It may have started off as a fling, but it's a lot more than that now. Quentin may be in denial about it, but he's going to have to face up to it one day. Sara and Oliver are committed to each other, and that's not changing any time soon." Moira says.
"I know that, how do you know that?" Thea asks "Did Ollie say something?"
"He didn't have to." Moira says. "I've seen the way they look at each other, and it hasn't escaped my attention how protective he is of her. I've only ever seen him that protective over one other person."
"Oh yeah? Who's that?" Thea asks curiously.
"You. He's always been fiercely protective of you. Every time anyone did anything to upset you he'd make it his personal mission to track that person down and make it clear that hurting you in any way was a mistake they shouldn't make twice. I remember one time you came home, and went to ask your dad for help with your homework. Robert told you that he was in the middle of an important phone call and that you should go and ask Raisa to help you instead. You immediately burst into tears and ran to your room. Oliver saw all of this, charged into the office and informed Robert that he should re-schedule the phone call, that he should go and help you with your homework, because family is more important than money." Moira explains.
"How old was he when he said that?" Thea asks.
"I think he was 12 maybe 13." Moira replies.
"He was always helping me with my homework. Ollie I mean, well dad too as often as he could, like when he wasn't at the office or in meetings, but Ollie would help a couple of times a week." Thea says smiling at the memory. "right up until he disappeared on the yacht, he was helping me with homework."
"I didn't know that." Moira says.
"Ollie said it was our secret, because he didn't want to ruin his 'street cred' by having people know he was actually smart enough to ace all his classes if he'd wanted to." Thea says.
"That sounds like Oliver." Moira says with a chuckle "Well it sounds like the Oliver from five years ago, not so sure about this Oliver."
"Whatever happened to them…to him during the last five years, he's Ollie, he's still my big brother. He's changed, we both know that, and things will never be the same as they were, because I've changed a lot in the last five years too. You know he called me Speedy the other day? I told him it was the worst nickname ever, but to be honest, I love that he called me Speedy again." Thea says "It made me appreciate having him back all over again, and I realized how much I missed him. I had a taste of being an only child and I didn't like it. Not one bit, I love having a sibling…and one day in the not to distant future I might have another one."
"Don't get ahead of yourself Thea, they've only been home a couple of months, give them a chance to settle back into some semblance of a normal life before you go about planning their wedding." Moira says.
"I'm not planning their wedding. But I do reserve the right to do so in the future. Because there will be a wedding, there definitely will be a wedding. Unless of course Detective 'I'm so perfect I can do no wrong' Lance succeeds in breaking them up, I don't see that happening though." Thea says.
"Why would Quentin want to break them up?" Moira asks.
"Umm because he hates Oliver with a burning passion, thinks he's a waste of space, spoiled, billionaire scumbag with no redeeming qualities and nothing to offer his daughter or the world in general." Thea says.
"Now I know Quentin has been a little unfair in his treatment of Oliver on certain occasions, but I don't think he hates him." Moira says lightly reprimanding her daughter.
"He does though! He's been trying to get Sara to dump Ollie since they got back." Thea protests.
"I think you're over reacting a little bit Thea." Moira says.
"Sara herself told me that her father said to her on multiple occasions that she can do better than Ollie" Thea says.
"Maybe I'll have a word to Quentin about his attitude about the relationship." Moira says.
"Oh God, mum no. Please don't. Oliver would be mortified if he found out, not to mention Sara would probably never speak to me again." Thea says. "Can we just forget I mentioned it? Let's just go, have fun, buy some cute dresses and enjoy all the food Oliver's bound to be serving at his dinner party."
"That sounds wonderful." Moira says with a smile. "I'll call for the car and we'll get going."
Oliver and Sara's apartment morning.
Sara steps out of the shower, wraps herself in a towel before exiting the bathroom and making her way across the bedroom to where Oliver is still in bed with his back to her reading a book. "What are you reading?" she asks plucking the book from his hands before he can stop her and looking at the front only to discover it's all in Russian.
"You're reading books in Russian now? Really?" she asks teasingly.
"It's Tolstoy, Anatoly gave it to me. Said it's better in Russian 'Tolstoy is better in Russian Oliver, everything is better in Russian'. I haven't had a chance to read it yet not the whole thing all the way through anyway, things keep happening that prevent me from doing so. But now we're home I figured I'd give it another shot." Oliver says.
"Well if you want to continue reading it, you're gonna have to come get it from me." she says dangling the book in front of him before pulling it out of his reach and running to the other side of the room with it.
"Hmm maybe I'll do that. " He says getting out of bed and walking towards her.
"You'll have to catch me first!" she says grabbing her robe before pulling the door open and running down the passage way to the stairs, descending them two at a time she pauses at the bottom to look up at him "I guess I'm too fast for you." she taunts sticking her tongue out at him.
"Are you teasing Oliver again?" Ana asks as the blonde enters the kitchen where she and Nyssa are sitting.
"Of course not. Would I do something like that?" she asks innocently.
Nyssa and Anna exchange amused grins before turning to their friend and answering as one "Yes."
"So you think I should stop?" she asks.
"No. Why would we want you to do that, teasing Oliver is one of the great pleasures in life." Ana says.
"Not sure I'd word it that way, but yes teasing Oliver is a lot of fun." Sara says "as are a lot of other things involving him."
"Ok, you can stop there." Nyssa says "I think we all know what kind of 'fun things' you're referring to without going into any more detail"
"But the details are best part" Sara protests.
"So what are you teasing him about this time?" Ana asks in an attempt to change the subject.
"I came in from the bathroom wearing nothing but towel and he was too busy reading a book to notice. So I took the book from him and now I'm here." she replies.
"What's the book?" Nyssa asks.
"I don't know it's all in Russian. He said it was Tolstoy but I don't know for sure because I don't really know all that much Russian." she says setting the book down and pulling on her robe over the towel.
"It's War and Peace" Ana says picking it up and reading the cover "This is one of the early editions, it's pretty rare. There aren't many of them left. Particularly in good condition like this one. Is this the one Anatoly giving him?" she asks.
"Yeah, it's one of Ollies few prized possessions from our five years away, he kept it in the crate with his bow, the hood and Yao Fei's herbs." Sara replies.
"Is he coming to get the book or do you think he's gone back to sleep?" Nyssa asks.
"I don't know. I thought he was following me but maybe he has gone back to sleep, or he could be in the shower." Sara says. "maybe I should go join him….partake in some of those 'fun activities' we were talking about earlier."
"Hey as long as long as it's behind closed doors, and you don't share any of the details with me you can do whatever you want with him." Nyssa says.
"You have no idea what you're missing. All those years of training with Slade, Yao Fei, ARGUS, The League and The Bratva plus you know the whole vigilante thing, you know how hard he works out, and how good he looks with his shirt off…let's just say the rest of him is just as impressive and he definitely knows how to use it." Sara says with a smirk.
"Ok from now on, unless you're willing to let us run our own tests to ensure your statements are true, there will be no more talking about your boyfriend's assets unless we ask you a direct question about it." Ana says. "oh and just an FYI, we're not gonna be asking."
"Aww, you guys are no fun!" Sara says poking her tongue out at them. "I'm gonna tell Ollie you're ganging up on me" she adds in a whiny voice similar to that of a toddler having a tantrum.
"Try it and we'll gang up on you for real." Ana jokes in a mock threatening tone. "How about it Nyssa, if she moves you take her from the left and I'll go right."
"Sounds like a plan." Nyssa agrees with a smile "I just have one question. Do we use weapons to take her down?"
"Hmm…good question." Ana replies as the two of them look over at their friend with matching smiles. "She is highly trained in hand to hand combat. But then so are we, and it would be two against one…on the other hand we have all been trained to take on multiple assailants at once, so taking all of that into consideration I think we should use our weapons."
"Ok. Weapons it is!' Nyssa agrees.
"You two are weird." Sara informs them "I should really inform Oliver of that. I mean we are housing the two of you, and he should really be informed about the level of weirdness he should expect to come from the two of you." she adds standing up from her chair and grinning at them before suddenly running for the kitchen door.
"We're gonna get you Sara Lance if it's the last thing we do!" Nyssa yells as she and Ana leap up from their chairs and run after the blonde vigilante pulling escrima sticks out as they do so.
"You better run little girl." Ana says in an exaggerated Russian accent as she and Nyssa close in on their friend cornering her just before she gets to the door and pretending to threaten her with their sticks.
"What's wrong? Too scared to engage me in combat?" Sara taunts with a grin.
"Haha, that's cute. Us scared of you? That really is very amusing." Nyssa says returning her grin.
"Cute is it? Hmm ok, well how about you put your money where your mouth is sweetheart." the blonde says.
"Don't mind if I do!" Nyssa replies swinging her arm back and her stick towards Sara in a feigned attack only to have the stick shot out of her hand by an arrow that seemingly appears out of nowhere.
"Get away from her!" Oliver snarls venomously from somewhere outside the room just before another arrow comes flying through the door, disarming Ana as it does so.
"Holy shit. How the hell did he make that shot? I'm not anywhere near being in line with the door!" Ana says as yet another arrow comes sailing into the room. This one embedding itself in the counter.
"I said get away from her. I won't miss again." Oliver says.
"Umm Sara? Sweetie how about speaking up and informing your ever so slightly protective sharp shooter boyfriend that we're not trying to kill you?" Nyssa says.
"Oh, right yeah. Sorry I was just admiring his accuracy. Five years ago, when we first got to the island he wouldn't be able to hit the empire state building if he was standing two feet from it." Sara says.
"That's great…but can we save the skipping down memory lane for a time when we're not in his cross hairs perhaps?" Ana says.
"Hmm… yeah ok." Sara agrees "Ollie! Stand down, I'm not in danger! We're just messing around."
"Do you think it's safe to move?" Nyssa asks a couple of minutes later when no response has been heard from outside the room.
"Try it and find out?" Ana suggests.
"You first." Nyssa responds.
"He's not gonna shoot you." Sara says rolling her eyes at them.
"You sure about that?" Ana asks.
"Yes, because if he was going to shoot you, he would have done it by now." Sara replies. "if you don't believe me you can ask him yourself." she adds just as the man in question appears in the doorway bow still drawn. "Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence."
"I had to answer some emails regarding the club." Oliver replies scanning the room for potential threats before setting the bow down evidently concluding that it is safe to do so.
"Ok next time I come up with the idea of pretending to attack Sara while Oliver is anywhere in the general vicinity can someone please smack me in the face and remind me of this moment?" Ana asks.
"Sorry. I thought she was in danger and just acted on impulse." Oliver says coming into the room and wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. "I didn't hurt either of you did i?"
"No. We're fine." Nyssa says. "we're probably going to need new escrima sticks and the kitchen bench is a bit worse for wear but other than that no harm was done."
"Ana, you good?" Oliver asks.
"Yep. All good. No harm." Ana replies with a smile.
"Once again, I'm really sorry. If I'd known it was you guys I would never have shot at you."
"Hey, no. It's fine. We really didn't think our plan through. If we had we would have realized that pretending to attack her within earshot of you without informing you that it was a joke isn't the best idea we've ever had." Nyssa says.
"Yeah definitely one of the worst ideas we've come up with." Ana says with a chuckle "Nice shot by the way, how the hell did you get the angle to disarm me?" she asks.
"Because he's brilliant, that's how." Sara answers pulling him in for a kiss which he gladly returns.
"So now that we're all here. Could we maybe talk about the dinner party tonight? Who's coming exactly and how much do they know about us?" Nyssa asks.
"Well the four of us will obviously be here. Then there's Sara's sister Laurel and her friend from CNRI Joanna, our friend Tommy, Diggle and his sister in law Carly with her son Andy Jnr. My mom Moira, sister Thea and my well I guess he's technically my step father Walter." Oliver says.
"No Felicity?" Ana asks.
"I don't know actually. We invited her but she hasn't said whether or not she's coming yet. But one more person isn't going to make a difference, we have plenty of space and we should have enough food." Oliver says.
"Excuse me? Should have enough food? What do you mean we should have enough food?" Sara asks raising an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "Are you sure you didn't take a head shot during the sparring session last night?"
"Clearly we're missing something here." Nyssa says after exchanging a confused look with Ana.
"Has he not shown you the menu he's planning on serving tonight?" Sara asks.
"Menu? I haven't seen a menu, hell I didn't even know there was one." Ana says.
"Let me get it for you, one look and you'll get what I mean." she says getting up from where she is sitting on Oliver's lap. She quickly exits the room only to return a moment later with a piece of paper which she hands to Ana "have a look at this and tell me we won't have enough food." she says before returning to her position on her boyfriend's lap.
Ana takes the piece of paper and unfolds it before looking at the list of almost thirty dishes written in Oliver's handwriting. "Damn. Did he invite the whole city for dinner? Because I don't think the apartment is big enough for that." she asks "Oooh you're Borscht! Remind me to stay on your good side if this is the kind of menu we can expect at your dinner parties. Sara, I love you but I may have to steal your boyfriend."
"Well I know how much you love Borscht, so I got in touch with Anatoly and had him email me his family recipe." Oliver informs her with a smile.
"Wait what? Are you seriously telling me that not only are you making Borscht which by the way is probably my most favourite dish in the whole world, but you're making it according to the closely guarded secret recipe of the Knyazev family?" Ana asks.
"That's what I'm telling you yes." he confirms with a smile.
"I could actually kiss you right now." Ana comments.
"Try it and I'll break your face with my escrima stick" Sara informs her friend with a smile.
"That's a little passive aggressive for this time of the morning don't you think?" Ana asks with a raised eyebrow.
Sara merely shrugs her shoulders in response before wrapping her arms around Oliver. "I'm the only one who gets to kiss him. You'll just have to find your own super-hot vigilante with a penchant for cooking and ass kicking."
"So I can't steal yours then?" Ana jokes.
"Nope." Sara responds poking her tongue out at her friend "This one is all mine. But you're more than welcome to eat as much of the veritable buffet of food he cooks as you want. Because and I am sure you will agree with me there's going to be more than enough to go around." she says.
"Yeah, enough to go around the entirety of the Bratva and League of Assassins combined and still have enough left over to feed most of Starling." Nyssa says glancing at the list over Ana's shoulder. "Lasagne, spinach and ricotta tortellini, Caesar salad, roast beef, hamburgers and chips, smoked salmon, grilled fish, Borscht, Thai green curry, ratatouille, chicken pie, lamb shanks, dahl, hummus and crudité, Manakeesh, Fatoush, Stoganof, steak, pumpkin soup, hot dogs, Peking duck, sweet and sour pork, tabbouleh, garden salad, roast vegetable, peas, corn cobs, mushroom risotto, Bouillabaisse and nachos."
"And then there's all the deserts, which he hasn't even let me see yet" Sara informs them.
"Are you flying in a battalion of chefs to help you cook all of this? Because that's a lot of food to make all in one day." Ana says.
"No battalion of chefs, and I'm not preparing it all today. I've been cooking all week, all the vegetables are chopped, aside from the crudité, hummus is made and in the fridge ready to go, meats are marinated, pies are assembled, lamb shanks are in the slow cooker so they'll be nice and succulent by tonight, tortellini and lasagne are made, as are the dahl and risotto, both of which are also vegan. Ninety percent of the prep is done, it's really just a question of cooking it all now." Oliver says.
A/N: Thanks for reading, once again sorry for taking so long to update. Please review and let me know what you think, reviews inspire me to write more! Also feel free to send me a message any time, I would love to talk to you!