I don't own Arrow. All rights go to their respective owners.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, with the intention of speaking to his mother about what Thea has said to her about Sara and Slade. Oliver and Sara make their way in to the living room.
"How did you sleep?" Moria looks down from her paper in a flat tone of voice.
"Just fine, thank you." Oliver replies.
"I was unaware that she was staying." Moria flashes a glare at Sara.
"Where I go, she goes. Mother I would like to talk to you about something Thea said…"
"Don't waste your breath Oliver, I've already decided what is going to be done on the matter and right now it does not concern you." She replies in a cold voice, still glaring at Sara as Oliver looks over at the man who is standing in the room quietly.
"We have a visitor." Oliver states the obvious.
"Yes, Mr. Diggle's replacement." She informs him.
Both Oliver and Sara quickly exchange a worried look.
"Replacement?" Oliver repeats.
"Yes. He tendered his resignation this morning." She says in a matter of fact manner of voice.
"He said he didn't approve of the way you spend you evenings. Particularly given that they always begin with you ditching him and also due to the company you keep." She replies.
Oliver and Sara are silent as Moria looks up at them.
"Which is why I have already decided what to do on the matter." She returns to the earlier conversation.
"Your new bodyguard will also keep you away from the people I specify, or person may that be until that person is dealt with." She folds her arms.
Sara opens her mouth to protest but Moira silences her.
"I wouldn't say anything if I were you Miss Lance, count yourself lucky I'm giving you a second chance due to our long relationship with your family. Slade Wilson doesn't have that luxury." She comments moodily.
"Mother you cannot choose who I have as my friends." Oliver mutters.
"I can if that friend decided to harass your sister!" She retorts.
"Ohh for the love of! Mother I asked Slade and Sara to talk to Thea because her well being was at stake and no matter what I did I couldn't get through to her and I was seriously worried that she was going to get herself hurt so I asked them to see if they could he successful. He knows how to handle things like that and he gave her the scolding, that quite frankly she deserved! and to be honest I think it worked in some way. I'm sure Thea will be happy to tell you her new opinion on the matter!" Oliver snaps angrily.
"Unfortunately now though, it is not just the Thea incident that bothers me. It's the fact that Mr. Diggle resigned and that once again Slade Wilson was one of the causes of it! No Oliver. I have made up my mind. We shall speak no more on the matter." Moira replies as she puts down her paper and exits the room.
"Hi." Oliver breaks the uncomfortable silence by greeting Diggle's replacement.
"Mr. Queen, Miss Lance. Rob Scott. I'll be your new body-man." He introduces himself.
"That's a firm grip you've got there, Rob." Oliver comments upon shaking his hand in a firm handshake.
"That's five years SWAT with Monument Point MCU." He replies with a confident smirks.
All of which will count for nothing if he ever met Slade! Sara thinks to herself as she to shakes his hand.
"I feel safer already." Oliver mutters, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Something he is almost certain he picked up from five years of Slade.
"Oh, thank god we don't have to hear about this awful man anymore." Moria says upon reentering the room, gazing over at the television.
Both Oliver and Sara turn around instantly, Oliver using the remote to un mute the TV.
"Declan's execution is set for midnight two days from now." The news woman reports.
"Camille Declan's former employer, Jason Brodeur, released a statement saying, quote, I hope this gives Camille the peace she deserves."
"Jason Brodeur." Oliver and Sara say simultaneously.
"What?" Moria looks over at them.
"The dead wife worked for Jason Brodeur." Oliver states.
Raising her eyebrow at him in confusion, Moria dismisses it with a flick of the paper.
"Apparently so. What? Why?" She questions briefly."
"No reason." Oliver shrugs it off as Sara curls her arm around his waist lovingly.
"Say, Rob. Me and my girlfriend want to go into town." Oliver requests as he turns to his new bodyguard.
"Could you please get the car for us?" He asks on behalf of himself and Sara.
"No offence, Mr Queen, Miss Lance, but I've been filled in on your tendency to slip the leash. If it's all the same to you, I'd prefer keeping you and your girlfriend in my sights at all times." He replies calmly, yet firmly.
Slade's going to kill this guy. Oliver says as he continues to smile at the man stood in front of him, ready to say something he is sure that would even make Slade smirk in satisfaction!
"We're twenty miles from the city. If you don't drive us, how else are we going to get their?" Oliver says with a triumphant smirk as the man reluctantly nods in slight embarrassment, Oliver and Sara believe as they smile mischievously.
"Right." Both Oliver and Rob Scott say in agreement as he makes his way sheepishly toward the door.
Oliver smiles at his mother as he hands back the remote.
"I like him."
Waiting patiently beside the car for Mr. Queen and Miss Lance, Rob Scott frowns as a few minutes go by and neither Oliver or Sara appear.
The sound of a motorcycle near by arrives to his ears as one zooms past him, rode by a man, a woman on the back, her arms wrapped around his waist as they drive.
The man raises a hand and waves at Rob Scott, who in fact in politeness waves back, until the realisation settles in and he realises that the two passengers are in fact Oliver Queen and Sara Lance.
"Hey!" He calls after them but they are too long gone to hear!
The Foundry
"Slade would have been impressed with that one Ollie." Sara chuckles as they enter The Foundry, expecting to see a grumpy Slade either working out or on the computer.
Oliver smirks at her comment, yet his smile fades as he eyes the room and realises that it is just he and Sara.
Slade is absent.
"I'm sure he's just letting off some steam." Sara rubs his arm affectionately as she to eyes the room on the way to the computer.
Oliver moves around the room. It is still in heavy disarray from the events of last night.
Yet the thing that snags his attention is the fact that Slade's uniform is gone.
"Sara." Oliver calls her name to drag her attention toward what he is staring at.
Sara is silent for a few moments as she sighs.
"Maybe we should go and find him." She suggests.
Oliver stands there thinking it over, but in the end her decides that Sara's earlier comment about Slade letting of some steam might be the best course of action right now.
"I'm sure he'll be back soon." Oliver sighs after a while as he places a kiss on the top of Sara's head as she brings Peter Declan up on the computer screen.
"They say that Peter Declan murdered his wife in cold blood." She states as Oliver nods.
"He had no alibi and all the evidence pointed toward it. So he was tried, convicted, sentenced to death." Oliver reads from the screen.
"It was an open and shut case except that Declan's wife Camille worked for Jason Brodeur and Jason Brodeur is on the list." Sara pats the notebook beside her as Oliver picks it up, and flicks through the pages until he sees it, clear as day. The name, Jason Brodeur.
Meanwhile Somewhere In Starling City…
In a distant part of Starling City, a man name of Anikov looks smugly as he reads the newspaper, reporting the upcoming execution of Peter Declan.
"Jason Brodeur." He looks up as the man himself approaches him.
"Admiring your handiwork, Anikov?"
"You should've just let me kill the both of them." He retorts.
"Peter Declan is worth more alive. Husband kills wife is a much better headline than whistleblower uncovers toxic dumbing, don't you think?" He spits venomously.
"Either way, forty eight hours, all this'll be over…"
Back At The Foundry
"The odds are good that Brodeur is involved in this woman's murder." Oliver comments as he picks up something on fire with pliers.
"But that means that an innocent man is facing execution!" Sara exclaims, burying her head in her hands.
"Then he'll need a good attorney." Oliver says with a slight grimace.
"No, Oliver. No." Sara shakes her head quickly, upon realising what Oliver is referring to and suggesting they do.
"Sara your sister is a brilliant lawyer. It is worth a shot." Oliver tries to reason with her.
"Oliver I do not want my sister to be in danger." Sara warns him.
"She'll be fine, she'll just be doing her job." Oliver says to reassure her.
"But you want to go to her as the vigilante!" Sara screeches.
"And I want you to come with me."
"No. I don't want to face my sister like that." Sara shakes her head in fear of the look on her sisters face if she came face to face with her as The Woman In Black, not knowing that she is in fact her own sister.
"We are just going to talk to her." Oliver holds his hands up to reassures her, putting his equipment down.
"Just talk? About Peter Declan?" She folds her arms.
"We may have to break into her place…"
"Ollie!" Sara groans.
"Sara. An innocent man is going to be executed in forty eight hours." He reminds her, moving to her side so he can pull her into his arms.
"The guilt card? Really Ollie?" Sara frowns.
"Sara." Oliver sighs as he pulls her closer.
"You better make this up to me." She wraps her arms around his neck.
"I fully plan to." Oliver murmurs, placing a delicate kiss on her forehead.
"You can start right now. For once it is just you and me, Slade is out and in a fowl mood, so probably won't be back for a while so you can start by making it up to me right now as who knows if this opportunity will ever arise again!" She smiles at him.
"Too right." He replies as she crushes her lips to his...
Much Later At CNRI
"So I take it there's absolutely no point in asking you if you'd like to grab a drink." Joanna looks over at Laurel as both women scramble around for files.
"I can't. I have to go over transcripts for the Fernands case." Laurel says as she grabs her coat from her chair and puts it on.
"You know, if you go somewhere that's not work or your home, your odds of meeting someone increase by like a gazillion percent." Joanna sighs.
"Ohh that's not true. I could still get mugged on the way home." Laurel smirks.
"In that case. I hope he's cute and single and not Tommy Merlyn." She sighs.
"How can you say that when you just practically begged me to go and meet someone?" Laurel turns to face her friend with an incredulous look upon her face.
"I do want you meet someone, someone who isn't Tommy Merlyn. I keep telling you Laurel, he's no good for you and I know you went out with him the other night." She folds her arms.
"Yes I was getting out there, like you wanted me to."
"Not to repeat the same mistakes again Laurel! I bet it was the usual one night stand am I right?" Joanna questions.
It actually wasn't. Tommy took her to a diner and they ate pure junk food and he talked to her and listened to her problems and encouraged her to talk to him if she ever needed someone.
To be honest, Laurel was a tiny bit disappointed at Tommy being such a gentleman as a part of her wanted to sleep with him and wake up beside him the next morning, but Tommy is trying to 'be better' as he had told her.
Yet that hadn't changed her feelings and want for Tommy.
Not that she'd ever admit that, of course!
"Goodnight Joanna!" She calls as she heads on home.
It feels as of everything hits her as she reaches her apartment.
Oliver and Sara's betrayal. She had shouted at them the other night yet had been no where near close to absolutely wiping the floor with them!
All those emotions are slowly building up and she knows soon it will explode.
She momentarily considers phoning Tommy, talk to him about that and hope that when she had told him he'd comfort her.
She'd just want him to hold her.
Pushing thoughts of Tommy from her mind, Laurel unlocks her front door, entering her pitch black apartment.
She moves instantly to switch the lights on, repeating that action multiple times when the light does not switch on at all.
Nervously, Laurel edges her way into her apartment, her eyes narrowing upon seeing the windows wide open.
Quickly, she moves toward a chest of drawers, where her gun lies.
Grabbing it and cocking it, she spins around to face the window with the gun held firmly in her hands.
The intruders to her utmost shock and horror are the vigilantes.
The Man In The Hood and The Woman In Black.
"Hello Laurel."
"Don't move!" Is the first thing Laurel says, unable to think of anything else to say in her current situation.
The Man In The Hood holds his bow out in front of her before putting it behind him as if to signify that he and his partner comes in peace.
"We're not going to hurt you." He says in a low voice.
A voice manipulator, Laurel believes.
"Stay back." She warns them both as The Woman In Black pockets her batons.
"My father's a cop, you are making a huge mistake!" She says quickly, fearfully.
Unbeknownst to her that her words sting The Woman In Black.
"We are not the people you think we are." The Woman In Black speaks quietly.
"We need your help." The Man In The Hood adds.
"Peter Declan is going to be executed in forty eight hours. We thinks he's innocent." The Woman In Black explains.
"Declan's wife was going to blow the whistle on Jason Brodeur. Brodeur had her murdered." The Man In The Hood adds on.
Laurel shakes her head slowly, not lowering the gun for a moment.
"There are one thousand lawyers in Starling City. Why me?" She questions.
The Woman In Black takes a step forward, placing her hand on Laurel's gun to lower it.
Laurel doesn't stop her.
"We're all trying to help." The Man In The Hood speaks as they walk to stand behind her.
"What makes you so sure I'm going to help you?" She retorts sharply.
"Because I know you'd do anything to save the life of an innocent man." The Woman In Black concludes all for herself.
There is a brief moment of silence then and when Laurel turns her back to face the vigilantes she realises that she is once again alone.
The Foundry
"My sister looked at me as is if I were a monster." Says Sara, the only words she has spoken since leaving Laurel's place.
Oliver cannot find the words to say anything to even comfort his girlfriend as he to really has no idea what he can say about what's just happened because Laurel did think they were monsters and he doubts heavily her opinion will change.
So instead of words, Oliver pulls Sara into his lap, rocking her gently back and forth to calm her and try to provide her with somewhat comfort because he knows how deeply this has affected her. The look of fear and hatred from her own sister Oliver believes Sara will never forget as he himself is finding it hard not to think of the woman he used to love staring at him as if he were a monster and if it's hard for him then it must be even worse for Sara! Oliver doesn't even want to begin to imagine the pain he would feel if it had been Slade who had stared at him like that.
Slade, his brother staring at him the way Laurel did Sara, it's not worth even thinking about!
"Slade's not back yet." She sniffs, pulling Oliver from his thoughts.
"Ok. Now I'm concerned, we better go after him." Oliver sighs as pulls his hood up.
"Where the hell could he have gone!" Oliver growls a few hours later after throughly searching Starling City for Slade.
"He's really pissed off with you." Sara winces as Oliver puts his head in his hands.
"I made a terrible mistake." Oliver groans.
"It wasn't ideal, recruiting Diggle but you know Slade. He's stubborn, incredibly stubborn. We both know that he'd be resistant to any type of change." Sara sighs.
"He'll come round eventually. He's probably just cooling off." She adds as Oliver raises his eyebrow in disbelief.
"Nethertheless we need to find him and I think we also need to find Diggle…"
Starling City Prison Next Day
Laurel looks over the table at Peter Declan nervously.
The Man In The Hood and The Woman In Black had made a convincing case.
Normally she would never listen to vigilantes, she would have stopped them and handed them over and let the law deal with them.
Yet something about what they said to her made her somehow believe their words.
At the very least she would never forgive herself if she hadn't have listened to them and am innocent man was executed.
The Woman In Black was right about that.
"A jury has found you guilty. Mr. Declan." She says as he gazes at a picture of his daughter, held tightly in his hands.
"The evidence was stacked against me! But I didn't kill my wife!" He protests before leaning over the table.
"I didn't take my daughter's mother away from her."
Laurel bites her lip before looking down at the table.
"The murder weapon was a knife from your kitchen." She sighs regrettably.
"With your prints on it." She adds.
Declan shakes his head.
"It was found along with Camille's blood. In the trunk of your car." She says as Declan rises to his feet, turning away from Laurel.
"Your neighbors said they heard an argument that night."
"We had a knock down fight over Jason Broduer. Camille worked for him and his company had been dumping toxic waste into the Glades and Camille told me that she'd gone and told the supervisor about it! I was afraid for my family's safety and we argued. Very loudly yes!" He cries as Laurel folds her arms.
"Izzy started crying, so Camille went and stayed in her room." He sighs as he moves to sit back down to face Laure, shaking his head sadly.
"In the morning I went to apologize and, uh, that's when I found her."
Laurel leans forward, placing her arms on the desk, staring at Declan curiously.
"So I just grabbed Izzy and I ran outside and I called 911. I'm innocent, Ms. Lance." He says quietly and Laurel, in that moment, just knows that she has believed everyone word he just told her.
The man is innocent and in forty eight hours he will be executed.
Yet not if she can do anything about it!
Queen Consolidated
"Well it looks like someone forgot a lunch date with his wife." Moria Queen says with a smirk as she approaches a working Walter at his desk.
"What do you mean?" He looks away from his computer for a moment to looks at her in deep confusion.
"Lunch isn't for another… Forty five minutes ago." He sighs as he takes a look at his watch.
Removing his glasses and looking at his wife in disbelief.
"I'm so sorry." Moria shakes her head whilst smiling.
"It's all right. The restaurant is holding our table." She reassures him as Walter scrambles around to grab his jacket.
"Is there something wrong?" She questions.
"Compliance departments tagged something. 2.6 million withdrawal from one of our Vancouver subsidiaries." He admits.
"Do you mean… Are you saying that someone embezzled 2.6 million dollars from the company?" Moira's eyes widen in shock.
"Well, it's probably a bookkeeping error but compliance is understandably worried about some IRS audit." He explains as he moves passed her.
"But don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing." He smiles at her as he nods toward the door.
"Well come on. We're going to be late." He says as she gives him a beaming smile.
"I mean later!" He laughs as the couple head for lunch.
Meanwhile At Starling City's Police Department.
Laurel stares at the drawings of The Man In The Hood, The Woman In Black and their partner. The Man In The Mask.
He wasn't there the other night, there was only two.
"Well I wasn't the lead on this but from what I recall we had fingerprints, we have blood, we've got motive, everything!" Quentin pulls Laurel from her thoughts as he enters the room, a file in hand.
"Broduer seems like the type of guy with the resources needed to frame someone." Laurel says as she moves to sit beside her dad on the desk.
"Laurel. In twenty four hours, Peter Declan is lying down with a needle in his arm and he's not getting up. If I thought for a second we didn't have the right guy do you think there's anything else I'd be doing right now except trying to get at what really happened?" He sighs.
"Declan said his wife went to her supervisor with allegations that Broduer was dumping toxic waste." Laurel protests.
"Yeah, but that supervisor, he said that never happened." He states as he reaches for a price of paper.
"Let me see, what was his name. There you go." He says, pointing to a name on the paper.
"Istook, Matt Istook. He said he didn't even see Camille that day. Happy now?" He turns to Laurel, who smiles at her father.
"Yes." She replies, moving to stand.
"You know, I thought It'd be a cold day in hell before you started defending criminals." He turns to face her.
"I'm not so sure Declan's a criminal. Like you said he's on a clock. Can't leave any stone unturned." She smiles before departing.
Quentin rolls his eyes at her before turning back.
"Ohh yeah." He mutters sarcastically.
Big Belly Burger
"So when are you going to tell me?" Carly asks as she puts a basket of fries on Diggle's table where he sits alone.
Diggle hums in confusion as he tucks into his meal.
"About what happened to your arm." She clarifies.
"Oh, it's my shoulder and it's. It's fine." Diggle shakes his head dismissively as to not show anything that Carly could possible pick up on.
"I knew that Queen guy was trouble and his friends." She leans against the table.
"Hey, I never said this happened protecting Queen. However, you are right on one count his friend is a psycho!" He mutters.
"Did he do that to your arm?" She questions.
"Actually he didn't. He's just a psycho." Diggle murmurs.
"Are you sure this wasn't protecting them?" She looks at Diggle in disbelief.
"No it had nothing to do with Queen or his friends." Diggle sighs, wanting her to drop it.
"Oh yeah?" She eyes the door, which Oliver, Sara and what Carly supposes is his new bodyguard, calmly walk through.
"Then what's he doing here?" Carly's words make Diggle instantly turn around so he can see what she sees and it is exactly what she had said. Oliver and Sara are both her and from what Diggle can tell, with a new bodyguard.
Yet what he notices most and doesn't know whether to celebrate or worry about is the fact that Slade Wilson is not amongst them.
He chooses to smirk.
"Area's secure sir." Rob Scott says as he surveys the area with his eyes.
"Thank you very much Rob." Oliver says, much sarcasm in his voice as he links arms with Sara and walks into the restaurant.
"Can't believe I'm even saying this but there's one thing good about Slade not being here. He didn't have to meet him." Sara murmurs in Oliver's ear, kissing his cheek at the same time.
"I think Slade would have actually killed this guy." Oliver smirks as they head over towards Diggle's table.
"Hello Diggle's sister in law Carly." Oliver says to a glaring Carly who stands with her hands on her hips as he approaches her. They shake hands.
"I'm Oliver Queen and this is my girlfriend Sara Lance." He introduces them as Sara also shakes her hand.
"I know who you are" She replies coolly, folding her arms
"No you really don't." Diggle mutters as she grabs her tray.
"I thought there was supposed to be three of you?" She mutters before leaving.
"Hello." Oliver says as he and Sara take a seat opposite Diggle, Sara slipping her hand into Oliver's and leaning into him lovingly.
"Where's your shadow?" Diggle mutters. Sara feels Oliver freeze at his choice of words and she tightens her grip on his hand.
"He not joining us tonight? Off beheading the locals?" He murmurs almost inaudible.
"Have you seen him?" Sara whispers quietly.
"You would know if I had." Diggle mutters menacingly.
"He missing or something?" He questions stiffly as Oliver completely ignore the question and changes the subject.
"We couldn't help but notice a distinct lack of police cars when we got home. We knew you wouldn't drop a dime on us. So have you considered our offer?" Oliver questions.
"Offer?" Diggle scoffs.
"That's one hell of a way to put it!" He shakes his head in disbelief.
"It is an offer." Sara reaffirms.
"Offered by all of you? Isn't the reason Mr. Wilson is missing due to your offer?"
"We don't offer it lightly." Sara cuts in.
"It's a chance to do the kind of good that compelled you to join the military." Oliver adds.
"Please." Diggle all but laughs.
"You were born with a platinum spoon in your mouth, Queen. What you spent five years on an island with no room service and suddenly you found religion?" He shakes his head.
Oliver in response looks at Sara before revealing to Diggle the book.
"This was my father's." He says as in explanation as Diggle picks it up and flicks through the pages to see its contents.
"We found it when we buried him." Oliver reveals.
"I thought you said your father died when the boat went down." He look up in surprise.
"The three of us made it to a life raft but there wasn't enough food and water for the three of us, so he shot himself in the head." Oliver states plainly.
"And as much as he was doing it to give me and Sara a chance to survive, I believe that he was also atoning for his sins." He adds as Diggle continues to listen.
"I need to write the wrongs down by my family and that's what Sara, Slade and I have been doing and we're offering you the chance to right the wrongs done to yours."
"Oliver what are you talking about?" Diggle looks upon them in confusion.
"The police never caught your brother's shooter." Sara starts.
"Hey, you leave Andy out of this!" He growls in response.
"But the bullets were laced with curare. That's Floyd Lawton's MO. He is the sniper that me, Sara and Slade stopped." Oliver sighs.
"Are you trying to tell me you three took down Andy's killer?"
"We're, we're giving you the chance. A chance to help other peoples families. Do you remember when the people in this city helped each other? They can't do that anymore because a group of people, people like my father, they see nothing wrong with raising themselves up by stepping on other people's throats." Oliver all but growls.
"It needs to stop and if it's not going to be the courts and it's not going to be the cops, then it's going to be, me, Sara, Slade and I hope you." Oliver says calmly.
"It won't be if your friend kills me." Diggle murmurs.
"Slade's stubborn. He's a very closed off person and takes a lot of getting used to. Sara and I had five years and after quite a chunk of it, he let us in. He is a member of my family, he's my brother and he doesn't like change. None of us particularly do. Yet I see a potential in you and I think somehow, Slade could learn to accept you. That however, would probably take more than five years." Oliver mutters the last part under his breath as Diggle rolls his eyes at them both.
"However, despite all that. I honestly think you could do some good." Oliver, having said his piece, moves to stand with Sara as Rob approaches them.
"We've got to go to the washroom, Rob." Sara says before taking Oliver's had and dragging him to where the toilets are, leaving Rob standing beside Diggle, hands clasped together as he waits patiently for Oliver and Sara.
Diggle smirks as he turns to the new, obviously inexperienced in the ways of Oliver Queen and Sara Lance!
"You should be grateful you didn't meet the other one!" He comments as Rob looks over at him quizzically.
"Oh those two are long gone, man!"
Authors Note: Thank you so much for reading, sorry for not updating in a while. There was a party, I think I missed a whole day because of it! The next update should be soon as it is already in the works. Thank you all again for your kind reviews and for following and favoriting this story. See you all next update xxx