Chapter 25

"Well, Mr. Queen?"

Oliver cracked a smile, shaking his head at her reference. "Don't call me that, please. Reminds me too much of my father." He requested and looked out at the long stretch of land, resting his elbows on the veranda ledge. "You already know, so why do you need to hear me say it?"

"Because I deserve to hear it from the man who protects this city every night. The man who risks his life for people he doesn't even know, including me." Kadienne slowly walked toward him and stopped at his side, not taking her eyes off of him. "The Emerald Archer. The Arrow…"

He finally turned his head to meet her eyes and let out a heavy sigh full of so many emotions. Defeat. Reluctance. Acceptance. The redhead beauty wasn't scared of him at all, only staring at him with such admiration and love, it took Oliver's breath away for a second time that night. There was only one other woman he trusted with his identity, the other half of his life and he was about to take the same step with Kadienne.

"Knowing what I'm about to tell you will put you in danger, Kadienne. You need to realize that. You need to recognize the risks if we're going to be together." Oliver had to be blunt with her, refusing to let what happened to Felicity happen to Kadienne. Never again would he feel that kind of pain and heartache, not if he could prevent it. "Do you understand?" He whispered, reaching out to take her hand.

Stay strong, Kadienne mentally coached herself, taking each word he said to heart. "Yes." She didn't pull away from him and wouldn't as long as he was completely honest with her. "I'm not going anywhere, Oliver. You won't lose me because of what you do. Now say it. Tell me what I need to hear."

Besides the fact he was in love with her, Oliver wasn't ready to drop the L bomb on her yet and inhaled another shaky breath. "I am The Arrow." He finally confessed and was rewarded with a passionate kiss, immediately enfolding Kadienne in his warm embrace.

"Yes you are." Kadienne mumbled against his mouth after breaking the kiss and pressed her forehead to his, her arms wrapped around his neck. "I'm glad you came tonight."

"Me too." Oliver relished the feeling of having Kadienne in his arms despite her ultimatum to hear the truth from him or not being together. "I'm sorry I put you through so much hell. I had to make sure I could trust you though before telling you my secret. And…honestly, I purposely stayed away from you, or tried, for your protection…and my own inner turmoil about Felicity…"

She stroked the stubble on his face, content with staying out here on the veranda for the remainder of the party. "I know you loved her and her death really hurt you. But you need to stop blaming yourself for it. She was murdered and I've said this countless times to you as both Oliver Queen and The Arrow – you can't control everything. I know you want to, but you can't beat fate." Kadienne softly brushed her lips against his, feeling him press her back against the ledge to deepen it a little. "And for the record, being with you is worth the risk."

"I hope so…" He smiled sadly, not knowing what he'd do if something happened to her because of him being The Arrow.

Recalling Oliver telling her about some kind of dream he had that opened his eyes, Kadienne realized it took having vivid dreams of each other to bring them together. "Is this what you meant when you asked me to go with you that night at Verdant? To talk? Is this the talk you wanted to have with me?" She asked softly, trying to assure him with action instead of words she wanted every piece of him, The Arrow included.

No more lies, Oliver reminded himself mentally. "Yeah, but I wasn't planning on telling you about being The Arrow." He admitted, being completely honest with her for a change and could see the disappointment in her emerald orbs. "It's better for you not to know, or was. You were protected by not knowing the truth about me, Kadienne. I'm curious, how did you figure out it was me?"

"A dream. A very real and vivid dream." Kadienne replied, not angry at him for what he said because at least Oliver was being truthful with her.

"Tell me about it." Oliver stroked her sides with his thumbs as the continued standing against the veranda ledge. "Take me for a walk on your property and explain." The suggestion to get away from the party would be too inviting for her to pass up.

It worked. "Okay…" Kadienne guided him down the stairs attached to the veranda that lead to the backyard and huge garden, flowers of all colors resting on the bushes. "The kisses I shared with you and The Arrow were too familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. I thought I was losing my mind…until I had a dream that picked up where you asked me to leave Verdant with you to talk. I did; you took me to some kind of cabin on the outskirts of the city and had dinner set up for us. It was really romantic actually." She cleared her throat and continued, feeling Oliver lace their fingers together while walking through the garden. "I started having flashbacks and then thought of you and The Arrow…your face sort of melted together in my mind, as weird as that sounds, and you were the same person. You said the connection I have to you is the same as I have with The Arrow and when I asked why, that's when my mind and thoughts sort of took control. I accused you of being The Arrow and you didn't deny it, simply saying you would never hurt me and not to be afraid. And I wasn't. I could never be afraid of the man who rescued me several times." Stopping, she turned to face him and looked up in his ocean blues, smiling happily. "Now it's your turn, tell me about the dream you had that made you change your mind."

"Fair is fair." Oliver dropped a quick kiss on her lips before they started walking again, this time her arm looping through his. "It was a dream about Felicity. And the more I think about it, I wonder if it was a dream to begin with." Was it possible Felicity had reached out to him beyond the grave? Hell, anything was possible in the world they lived in; Oliver had seen things he himself never thought was possible until he got stranded on Lian Yu. "She told me I had to move on with my life and what happened to her isn't my fault. That I had to stop blaming myself for it, much like you've been saying. I gave her life purpose and she didn't want me giving up on finding someone who completed me. To not let myself die along with her because of my grief. I'm still alive and I need to live life to the fullest, including being happy. To…let her go…" That last part was hard for him to say because he didn't know if he'd ever be able to do that completely. "She opened my eyes and made me realize what I have in front of me." Squatting down in front of her, Oliver took Kadienne's hands in his and made her eyes meet his. "You accused me of being in love with a dead woman…and although I will always love Felicity, I'm no longer in love with her. Because I'm in love with you."

Tears swelled in her eyes at his heartfelt admission and Kadienne cupped his face in her hands, searing his mouth with another kiss. "I'm in love with you too, Oliver. I just didn't want to be with someone who couldn't reciprocate my feelings, but I was wrong in my assumption." For some reason, a dead woman's spirit opening Oliver's eyes to the truth didn't bother Kadienne nearly as much as she thought it would. "And just so you know, I fell in love with you as Oliver Queen before The Arrow. Whoever you are, whatever you do, I love all the pieces of you."

That had been one of his biggest fears; she would only love one part of him instead of both. The Arrow instead of the man. "Good to know." He pulled her up by the hands to press against him and kissed her, both of them on the verge of exploding if they couldn't be together intimately soon. "Stay with me tonight."

Only because Kadienne wasn't sure how her father would react to having a man in her bed, she agreed. "Don't you have Arrow stuff to do tonight?" She raised a brow when he shook his head. "Why not?"

"Tonight is all about you. And us."

"Detective Lance?"

Quentin Lance turned in his chair to face one of the police officers in the precinct, raising a brow. "Yeah?" He was a rookie, in his 20's and green as the grass outside.

"We just received an anonymous call about a potential drug bust, sir." The rookie swallowed hard as Detective Lance shot up from his chair, demanding to know who it was. "Um – they didn't say and gave a name on who to check…or raid, in this case."

He was two seconds away from losing his temper with the rookie. "Well? Are you gonna stand there looking stupid or tell me the name?" He demanded, swiping his badge from his desk to clip it on his belt.

"Kadienne Young, sir."

"Young?"

Quentin remembered that name, but couldn't pinpoint where he'd heard it from before. Until he looked at a newspaper article splashed on the front with a picture of the Young family. They were having a welcome home party for Kadienne Young, Patrick Young's only child. Didn't she also work at Queen's club, Verdant? Yes, he believed she did and that made Quentin hightail it out of the precinct with at least 10 officers behind him. The Young's were about to get a very rude awakening if Kadienne did indeed possess the drug Vertigo.

He secretly hoped Oliver Queen was the dealer so he could book and lock him behind bars, still bitter about the boy killing his youngest daughter.

Everyone was having a splendid time, dancing and chattering with glasses of alcohol all around, mostly wine and champagne. Patrick didn't want any hard liquor at the party, much to Brandy's chagrin. She enjoyed a rum and coke from time to time, but abided by her husband's request. Kadienne and Oliver were nowhere to be found for the better part of the party, returning with attached hands and eyes only for each other. Oliver Queen dating his daughter was something Patrick had no problem with considering they grew up together along with his little sister, Thea. Moira adored Kadienne, thinking of her as a second daughter and had been extremely close with Emma prior to her death.

"Enjoying yourself, sweet pea?" Patrick asked, shaking Oliver's hand to let him know all was well as far as them being together went.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief, keeping a smile on his face. "Great party, sir."

"No sir, just Patrick, son."

"Then I insist you call me Oliver."

Patrick smirked, nodding and took a sip of his wine. "Fair enough. You two should really get some food before it's all gone. Excuse me." He spotted security at the door having a heated discussion with someone and frowned as soon as he saw who it was. "Detective, what can I do for you?"

"Got an anonymous tip stating your daughter is in possession of a drug called Vertigo." Quentin stated, pushing past security and Patrick with a warrant in hand to search the premises. "Police! Everyone stay where you are! This is a raid!"

"WHAT?" Brandy exclaimed, eyes wide as saucers and rushed over to her husband, who could only look at Kadienne. "Patrick, what is the meaning of this?!"

Patrick couldn't speak at first, too shocked to move let alone speak and walked past his wife to stand in front of his daughter. "Please tell me you didn't, Kadienne…"

"Dad, what are you talking about? What's going on?" She'd been talking to Oliver about something, completely oblivious to the police showing up until Detective Lance announced they were being raided.

Oliver wrapped a secure arm around Kadienne's waist as Detective Lance approached them, the smile no longer on his face. "What's going on, Detective?" He asked in a somewhat demanding voice and felt his own eyes widen at the accusation tossed Kadienne's way.

"I'm sorry – WHAT?" It was Kadienne's turn to be shocked and she could only stare at the Detective with a dropped jaw. "I never touched the stuff! Who the hell called and told you this?"

"We're not at liberty to say." It was against the law and he didn't know who the anonymous tipper was, thanks to the rookie. "So we can either tear the mansion apart, Miss Young, or you can let us search your room. Your choice."

Kadienne had nothing to hide and didn't want the mansion being torn to shreds because of a lying anonymous tip. "Of course, right this way." They were about to feel really stupid after doing their search and not finding anything.

This was the second time, to Oliver's knowledge, Kadienne had been involved in a conspiracy with Vertigo. The first time it'd been planted on her at Verdant and now…someone had called the police saying she had it at the Young mansion. Her home. What the hell was going on? Oliver could only stay by her side while she ascended the stairs with Detective Lance and the police force behind them. Opening her bedroom door, Kadienne allowed them inside and stayed outside to let the search commence, trembling against Oliver. Police always scared and reminded her of what happened when she found her mother dead in the kitchen – more importantly how they rushed in to attend to her and pronounced her deceased.

It didn't take long for Detective Lance to walk back out…and he wasn't empty-handed. "Care to explain these, Miss Young?" He jingled the bag of purple and green pills in front of her.

"T-Those aren't mine! I swear, I don't do drugs!" Kadienne exclaimed, looking up at Oliver praying he believed her and felt his arm tighten around her waist. This had to be some sick joke! "Please, you have to believe me…"

"Detective…" Oliver had to do something, but felt powerless at the moment because he couldn't tell the police about their first run-in with the drug. "I don't think-"

"Queen, if you don't let go of her and step aside, I will arrest you for accessory to this crime." Detective Lance threatened, already pulling the cuffs out from his back pocket and opened them up, beginning to read her Miranda rights. "Miss Young, you are hereby under arrest for possession of the drug, Vertigo. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say will be held against you in a court of law. You have a right to speak to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you?" He waited for her shaky nod and finished clasping the cuffs around her wrists before guiding her toward the stairs.

Kadienne looked back over her shoulder at Oliver, tears spilling down her cheeks and couldn't believe their perfect night had turned into a nightmare. "Oliver…" She lowered her head as they walked past her stunned father and stepmother, unable to meet their eyes.

Oliver gritted his teeth, already making phone calls to do what he could to help Kadienne and left the mansion without anyone noticing, vowing to find whoever was behind framing his girlfriend.