Okay, so a couple notes! First, I want to thank all of you for the continued support, and thank those of you who are just finding this story. Whether the support is new or continuing, it is greatly appreciated all the same! Second, I know a few of you are a little unsure of the Donna/Lance relationship. The funny part is, you are all unsure for the same reason. No one has an issue with the two being together, it's the merging of the families. I just really want Lance to be able to get some love and I really want Donna to be a part of this story. I think they would be really good together and I hope I can convince all of you to jump on board with it! Third, I got the most amazing hit of inspiration from DoubleDee068! The direction that this story turns in this chapter is all you! Thank you soooo much for the inspiration and your continuing and unwavering support! I cannot express enough thanks!
Chapter 21
Return
Laurel was sitting on the couch in her apartment, thinking over the events of the past few weeks. Sara had come down to the foundry and raged at Laurel for putting herself and Felicity in harm's way. Laurel had agreed and promised that she was done drinking and the next time she felt the urge, she was going to call someone instead. She truly wanted to keep her promise to her team. Oliver had been surprisingly supportive and told her that the city of Starling and the team were depending on her to be at her best when they went on missions. The feeling of being needed definitely grounded her and gave her something to strive for. The guilt of getting Felicity hurt was the only thing that was really eating away at her, even though Felicity had promised that it was okay and that she wouldn't go back and change things, even if she could because she felt it had showed Laurel something important.
Laurel sighed and was contemplating just going to bed when she heard the sound of her front door opening and tensed up on reflex. She quickly moved from the couch to behind the entryway, grabbing her fire poker as she went. She heard whoever it was close the door quietly and waited for them to come around the corner. The second she saw the toe of a shoe, Laurel swung out, only to have the intruder yelp and lunge out of the way milliseconds before the poker would have struck them dead center in the chest. Laurel didn't let this stop her though, as she prepared to swing again. Then the intruder turned towards her with both hands up in a sign of surrender. Laurel barely felt the poker as it slipped from her now numb grip and hit the carpeted floor with a quiet thud.
"T-Tommy? What? Oh god, I've finally gone crazy." Laurel muttered as tears instantly sprung to her eyes and she began to fall to her knees. Tommy reached out and caught her, holding her in his arms as they both sank to the floor.
"Laurel. Oh god, Laurel." Tommy began placing kisses all over her face as he spoke, clutching her tightly to him and crying as hard as she was.
"Am I dreaming? Please wake me up. I can't take this. I just can't" Laurel said as she began sobbing. Tommy moved back just enough to frame her face in his hands and forced her eyes to his own.
"Laurel. Laurel look at me. I'm alive. I'm here and I'm okay. I promise you this isn't a dream. A long story, yes, but definitely real. You've had dreams about me? How often? Are they sexy dreams? I bet they are." Tommy's lips quirked slightly as he spoke.
Laurel stared at him blankly for a moment before her hand shot out and she slapped Tommy. Hard.
"Where were you?! Do you have any idea of the hell I've been through?! Dealing with losing you and trying to live without you?! I thought you were dead!" Laurel felt as though she was losing complete control of the world around her. That she didn't even know which way was up anymore.
"Damn, you hit even harder than I remember." Tommy paused to rub his cheek gingerly where she had struck him before grasping her shoulders in his hands and becoming serious.
"I'm sorry. There was no body in the casket. Dad got me out of CNRI after Oliver left. He thought I was gone. Hell, I thought I was on my way out, too. I have no idea how my dad even got me out of there, and I don't even care anymore. He took me to one of his many remote islands. Hired the best private doctors and nurses that his money could buy. I was in a coma for a pretty long while, and really out of it when I first woke up. When I did, all I could think about was you and how to get back to you. I begged my father to at least let me call you or have him get word back to you that I was alive. Dad insisted that I needed to focus on myself and getting better. No matter how much I begged him to let me come home, he just kept telling me that I wasn't strong enough, wasn't ready to come back here. Then, I was medically cleared and Dad didn't have any more excuses to try and keep me away from civilization. And you. You were all I needed, Laurel. You are all I need." Tommy spoke with a tone of desperation as Laurel continued trying to wrap her head around everything that he had said. She felt like she was just floundering, and still wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't completely lost her mind. She had no idea what she was supposed to say or do next.
"I'm the black canary." Laurel blurted out quickly.
"You're the what now?" Tommy questioned, confused.
"I'm a vigilante. Like Oliver. And Roy, John, Thea and Felicity. And Sara." Laurel continued in an unsure tone.
"Like Oliver? That little punk Roy works with Oliver? He allows that? And John? The... driver? Thea! I'm sorry I must still be suffering some side effects because I thought I just heard you say that Thea is a vigilante like Oliver. That he allows this. And Felicity? Well, okay, that one isn't that surprising. I don't know her very well, but it isn't hard to tell that she would follow Oliver into the gates of hell if he asked her too. And did you say...Sara? Your sister Sara? Dead Sara? Laurel, are you okay? Are you having a mental breakdown or something? Oh, god, did I cause you to have a mental breakdown? Tommy was beginning to panic, legitimately concerned and terrified at the same time.
"Is Sara being alive really that hard to believe after what you just told me? And I probably am having a mental breakdown. If I am that would mean you aren't really here. So, yeah, the chances are good that I am probably in the middle of a breakdown." Laurel said it seriously, starting to seriously question her sanity.
"Laurel, I swear to God I am really here. What do you need me to do to prove it to you? I'll do anything." Tommy was desperately pleading.
Laurel hesitated a moment, beginning to think that if she was having a mental breakdown, she couldn't think of a better way to go insane than having the man you love sitting right in front of you, offering you everything you ever wanted. A smile crept to Laurel's face as she launched herself at Tommy, fusing their lips together. It didn't take long for their clothes to be scattered all over the floor of Laurel's apartment. The two of them didn't make it to the bed, or even the bedroom. The first time.
Laurel was laying in her bed, fully awake but refusing to open her eyes. She was afraid that once she opened her eyes, none of what happened would be real. She really would be going insane and Tommy really would be gone forever. But she knew that she had to get up sometime. So fi none of it was real, she promised herself that she would keep the images she conjured up anyway. Laurel opened her eyes slowly, taking in her room as she slowly began to roll over in her bed. The sight of Tommy laying there next to her caused her to burst into tears, silent sobs wracking her body so hard, the bed shook. This seemed to wake a started Tommy, who's eyes immediately shot open as he took in the sight of a sobbing Laurel. He looked at her for only a moment before reaching out to her with both arms and pulling her into the comfort of his chest. As Tommy held Laurel to him tightly, he began to cry with her. Tommy cried for all the lost time. He cried because he was so thankful to be able to hold Laurel in his arms again. He cried for the pure happiness he felt from being able to love Laurel and the feeling of complete content, complete happiness, that she loved him back. Tommy cried for the pain he knew Laurel must have felt. With those thoughts, came thought of Oliver and Thea and the pain that they also must have felt. Tommy and Laurel held each other for hours before finally getting out of bed. That didn't mean they were ever more than two feet away from each other for any length of time. They couldn't stop touching one another in reassurance that they were both there, whole and safe. They talked for most of the day, Laurel filling Tommy in on everything he had missed ,including her drinking problem, getting sober, and the drinking again. Tommy swore to Laurel that he was going to be there with her to help every step of the way.
Tommy and Laurel had been sitting in a comfortable silence for a while before Laurel bit her lip in hesitation.
"What is it?" Tommy asked with a lopsided smirk.
"How the hell are we going to break this to everyone? To Oliver? To Thea?" Laurel knew that she hadn't taken the news of Tommy being alive very well, but she knew that Oliver and Thea would take it about twenty times worse.
"I don't think it's something you can really ease into. I mean it's not like we haven't been through it before. Everyone thought that Oliver was dead, and it surprisingly wasn't that awkward when he finally came home. And you must have had some sort of interaction with Sara when you found out that she wasn't dead either." Tommy pointed out.
"Well, Sara and I being reunited isn't really the best story. We had a lot of unresolved issues. They're good now and Sara and I are closer than ever and I wouldn't give that up for the world, but there were some definite issues that we needed to work on." Laurel told Tommy.
"I think I'm worried the most about Thea. I had barely found out about her being my sister before the undertaking. She hasn't exactly had the best time with things either." Tommy said with a shake of his head.
"No, but she is pretty tough. She took it really well when she found out about Oliver being the Arrow. She was a little iffy about Roy being his sidekick, but when she realized what a good team they were and how it changed Roy, she changed her mind. She has come a really long way. I think most of that is due to Felicity." Laurel finished thoughtfully.
"I always liked that girl. There was just something about her. I can't believe that she is going to be the woman that finally tames Oliver Queen. There must be hordes of jealous women all over Starling City. Hell, all over the world I would imagine." Tommy said it with a light laugh. Laurel froze and just stared at him, taking in the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when a genuine smile reached them. The way one side of his mouth always lifted higher than the other when he had that grin.
Once again, Laurel found herself caught up in the disbelief of Tommy being alive. Of him sitting right across from her, the two of them carrying on a conversation as though he had just been away on vacation instead of on some far away island in a coma. Laurel was pulled out of her thoughts by Tommy gripping both her hands in his own.
"I'm here." Tommy reassured her.
"Part of me knows. The other part of me just really wants to take you to Oliver and the others so they can see you and I can prove to myself that I'm not crazy. That you really are here and you aren't going anywhere." Laurel choked up at the end.
"I will do whatever it takes. I can't believe I'm sitting here with you either. I didn't think I would ever be able to see you again. And there was a small part of me that was afraid that if I did find you, you would have moved on. That you would have forgotten about me and found someone else." Tommy was practically muttering towards the end because he realized how stupid he sounded.
"There was never any one after you. I never even attempted to date. All I could ever think about was you. And if any guy even came close to getting me to go out on a date with them, I would compare them to you in my head. They never added up to you, so the answer was always no." Laurel reassured him with a smile that Tommy returned in kind.
"I love you Laurel." Tommy said it vehemently.
"I love you Tommy. I always have and I always will. I never stopped loving you. I will forever be grateful that you made it home to me." Laurel was tearing up again as Tommy reached across the table and gently wiped the tears from her face with the pad of his thumb.
"I think that everyone will be down at the foundry around this time if you want to see everyone at once and just get the whole thing over with." Laurel said hesitantly.
"I think that's probably the best way to do it. I have no idea what I'm going to do when someone in the press gets a hold of this. I really don't want to be pestered for months the way Oliver was when he first came home." Tommy said with a cringe.
"Well, they are going to find out. There isn't really very much we can do about it. At least it's better to have them just find out what we want them to know and get it over with. The sooner we talk to them and let it circulate itself around all of the social media, the sooner it will be over and we can get back to our lives." Laurel said encouragingly.
"You mean you living as a DA by day and a vigilante at night?" Tommy still wasn't really sure how he was supposed to take that.
"I really hope that you can accept that about me because we are doing some real good in the city. Oliver made a vow not to kill anyone to honor your memory. I won't lie, he has broken it twice but both times was when it came down to the person he was facing or Felicity. I don't think there is anyone in this world Oliver would choose over Felicity. Or anyone he would sacrifice her safety for." Laurel said matter of factly.
"You really like Felicity don't you?" Tommy questioned with narrowed eyes.
" 's wrong with that?" Laurel asked the question defensively.
"Nothing. Nothing. It's just that I don't remember you ever being very friendly with any girl friends you ever had." Tommy pointed out the truth.
"No, you're right. I think I always felt like I was in a competition with all of them. At first we were all fighting over who would get to be with Oliver. We never realized we were asking the wrong question. It should have been 'who is going to be the one able to stay with Oliver. The answer is Felicity." Laurel felt something loosen around her chest at the words, realizing that what she said was the truth.
"I'm still slightly intimidated by the whole idea of a team of vigilantes running around, offering their own brand of justice, but if you say they are good, then I believe they are good. There is a part of me that is kind of excited to see all of you in action working together." Tommy said it with an excited lilt in his voice.
"Well, then what else can we do but head over to the foundry. There probably won't be a whole lot of heading out on missions tonight though. Not with your news. They are going to want to crowd around you and make sure you are really okay, that you have everything you need. Oliver and Thea are honestly just going to freak out." Laurel tried to lighten the tension with a joke.
"I just want to be able to get to know Thea as a sister and go back to having the relationship I had with Oliver before. I've missed my best friend." Tommy said longingly.
"Well, come on then. No time like the present." Laurel spoke as she hopped out of her chair and grabbed Tommy's hand, pulling him out the front door behind her, heading for the foundry and their makeshift family.
You guys! You have no idea how excited I was when I realized that not only could I bring Tommy back, but I could bring him back in a kind of realistic way. As realistic as it can be for an Arrow type of situation anyway. I don't know if you remember, but in the beginning I was kind of upset that I couldn't put Tommy in the story because it didn't fit with some of the other things I wanted to do. This totally offered me a way out, because I was able to do everything I wanted without him, and then bring him in at a critical point! I hope you enjoyed and please leave me a review!