Laurel put her workout gear in her bag and went to get a water bottle from the kitchen when she heard a knock. The water bottle would have to wait. She opened the door to find, Felicity Smoak, Her friend and Oliver's assistant, or former assistant now, she guessed at her door. "Hey, Felicity, what's up," She asked as she let Felicity in.
The door closed and Felicity fidgeted with her hands. "I just came over to check up on you. You know since you were held at the hands of a crazy person."
"Did Oliver send you over here?" She asked as she got her water bottle and started filling it up.
Felicity shook her head. "No, I'm just worried about you. You know, you've been through a lot. Your father's in the hospital now. Your sister ran off with an assassin. Tommy died. And that's not to mention the ordeal with the pills…and drinking," As she trailed off, it became a whisper. Laurel knew it wasn't easy to talk about. "I was worried about you. It might be a tough time."
"Really, I'm fine. Dad's gonna get better. The doctor's said he will. I was on my way out though," She said as she picked up her bag.
Felicity's eyebrows knit together. She looked at the bag and then back to Laurel. "Where are you going?" She asked.
"To gymnastics and then to kickboxing." Laurel said as made sure nothing was out of place when she walked out, so that when she walked in, she'd know.
Felicity shrugged. "I didn't know you were into that kind of thing." She said.
Laurel nodded. There was a lot Felicity didn't know about her. They only started being friends because of Oliver and they mostly talked about her and Oliver and even then they didn't even begin to break the surface of what was all there. "Cop's kid. Dad was really into self defense. And I loved gymnastics. With everything that's gone on, I thought it was probably a good time to get back into it," She said as she spun her keyring around on her finger.
"Is that a Canary keychain?" Felicity asked as she noted tweety bird keychain dangling from Laurel's keys.
Laurel smiled. "Yeah, a parting gift from Sara."
"She has an amazing sense of humor sometimes," Felicity smiled at the keys.
They walked out of the apartment and Laurel just nodded. "Yeah, that's Sara for ya. But I should get going."
"Okay," Felicity said as Laurel locked up. "Why weren't you mad at him?" She asked, out of the blue.
Laurel laughed a little. This was what she was waiting for. "Why wasn't I mad at him for what?" She asked, knowing that there was more to that bag than could be undone with just why was she not mad.
"For not telling you he was the arrow. For putting your life in danger. For literally kidnapping you." She asked, more concretely.
Laurel looked Felicity straight in the eye. "When you first saw him in your car, bleeding because his mother shot him, what was your first reaction?"
"Fear."
"Mine too." Laurel said as she realized that it was important to say those words out loud. "Slade could have been using me to get to Oliver. He did use me. He used all of us. And I could have been angry at him for kidnapping me but what would that have done to me. I mean look at all of the things that I have been through. At least when he kidnapped me, I wasn't in danger. Oliver has saved me more times than I can count in that costume of his. He became the person I wanted him to be. The person I knew he was deep down."
"But he cheated on you…" Felicity said as they walked.
Laurel shrugged it off. "You think I don't know that? You think that I didn't know whenever he was going out like that? I didn't say anything because I knew that he would find himself. And he would always come back to me. At the end of the day what he got with everyone else was not what he got with me. I let him have his affairs, but I never let him treat me badly. I never took his shit. And I knew he was good. He wore a mask before too. But he'd have these moments when we were volunteering at this organization or that one, where it would come off. You could see that he loved helping."
Felicity wondered whether Oliver knew how utterly strong Laurel was. She stood by him, even the man before the island. She stood up for that man too. "A lot of people would call you crazy," Felicity told her.
"I know," Laurel answered. "A lot of them did. A lot of them still do. A lot of people said I had no self respect back then. But I knew what I wanted. I was in love with him. I wasn't just in love with the good parts."
Felicity nodded. They were in the lobby now and she looked to Laurel. "Do you think maybe I could come with you to gymnastics?" She asked.
"My coach doesn't really like it when other people are there, but we'll catch up tomorrow?" She asked.
Felicity nodded. "Yeah, that sounds great. I'll text you the coffee shop I like to go to. Not that I'm a coffee snob or anything. I'm not. It's literally just a starbucks. But you should know where it is, so you don't have to drive around the city looking for me." She rambled.
Laurel stood there and blushed in Felicity's honor. She laughed a little. "Will do. See you tomorrow for coffee."
When Laurel walked into the gym, Ted put his staff down. "You're late," He said, unamused by tardiness. She knew this, but traffic slowed to a halt because that conversation with Felicity dragged on.
"I know, his fault." She said as she dropped the bag and nodded her head to Oliver who was in the gym too. "A friend decided she needed to check up on me. Took longer than I thought I wanted it too."
He looked at her, searching for something in her eyes. "Are you sure she wasn't checking up on you for that superhero boy you're in love with over there? Who should know you can handle yourself" He said loudly as he looked to Oliver who looked back at the punching bag and very pointedly not at the Ted and Laurel.
"Felicity and I have had some time to figure out each other when it comes to not Oliver. But I think he might have said something and she just wanted to feel it out." She said as looked to her feet and then looked back up to him. "Can you give us a minute?" She asked Ted.
"One minute," He warned and he looked to Oliver, "Come on, loverboy, get over here and talk to her." He shouted as he went into the office to get what he needed.
Oliver sat down next to her. "So Felicity came over? What'd you talk about?" He asked.
"How I couldn't hate you. She's clueless you know." She said with a grin as she took another sip of water. She looked him in the eyes. "I don't want anyone questioning my decisions anymore when it comes to you."
He sighed. This. Wouldn't have been the first time. "I can't stop them." He told her.
"Look, one of the things that I need from you is to defend my honor when questions are posed to you. They listen to you." Laurel said as she touched his face.
He smiled. "So you're getting better about communicating your expectations?" He asked as he kissed her on the forehead.
She laughed. "I'm trying," She told him as she blushed.
"I can do that," He told her. "I want them all to know I have the privilege of dating you. Not the other way around."
"It's a pretty cool to date you too, Ollie," She said as she gave him a peck.
Ted looked down at them. "Are you two ready to train now? Or is this your new makeout spot?" He asked. Oliver and Laurel looked between them and grinned devilishly and the color drained from Ted's face. "Don't answer just get up and let's start training you two."
