Green Hal37: Everything is pretty much going to be the same except for something in the final chapter.

GIJose: Thank you, no one is pressuring e into anything, don't worry. No kidding, felicity was the writers' pet and tended to get away with almost everything. Glad it was an ice touch. I'm doing my best to stay inside for now. Aside from that, not much more I can do.

Trigon: I'm not going to repost Changing Tides. Aside from the act that I'm burnt out on watch it fics at the moment, there are a lot of things I did in that fic that I don't necessary like looking back. And I'm just not particularly motivated to do so.

Guest 1: Well it's back now.

Guest 2: You're welcome.

Gust 3: Oh no kidding. But it wasn't just Laurel that got done dirty. If you notice, Oliver brought back everyone but Laurel and Samantha. He brought back his psycho sister who tried to kill him, but he didn't bring back the first great love of his life or his son's mother. Sure.

City Hall

Mid-afternoon

Oliver was in his office, lost in thought as he stared out the window, looking over his city. He heard the door open and knew who it was before she said anything. He had been hearing the sound of her footsteps for most of his life, after all.

"Hey," Thea said as she walked up to her brother. "How are you doing?"

"Fine," Oliver said, knowing Thea wouldn't believe him.

He would be proud of her for that if he wasn't so annoyed.

"How about you?" Oliver changed the subject.

"About as fine as you are," Thea said pointedly and Oliver nodded. "Is she anything like our Laurel?"

"I don't know," Oliver admitted. "She reminds me so much of me when I first came back. But there have been these…moments where she reminds me of our Laurel, just for a moment or two. But then I blink and it's gone."

"Are you sure about this Ollie? I mean, according to what we know, she was a murderous psychopath," Thea pointed out.

"Quentin said the same thing about me once," Oliver pointed out and Thea nodded, conceding his point. "I don't know if there is any part of our Laurel in there, but I have to try."

"And if there isn't? If Felicity was right and she's just a murderous psycho who looks like Laurel?" Thea asked hesitantly and Oliver's expression darkened.

"Then I'll deal with her myself, powers or no powers," Oliver promised and she nodded. "But I don't have much faith in Felicity's judgement anymore."

"I know. God, how could she keep this from us? Even if she thought this Laurel was a psychopath, we deserved to know," Thea said with barely restrained anger.

"Because it's who Felicity is," Oliver said stiffly and she looked over at her brother confused. "When Felicity left me, I blamed myself. But I see now that Felicity would have left me sooner or later, it's just who she is. She doesn't trust me; she doesn't trust anyone but herself, not really. Which is why she keeps things from us, makes decisions for us that affect our lives with far reaching consequences. I've blinded myself to this because I couldn't see it, because I didn't want to see it. It made me weak; clouded my judgement. I won't ever make that mistake again."

"So you'll never trust her again?" Thea asked and Oliver didn't have an answer.

Arrow lair

Same time

Laurel, in some new clothes that Thea had gotten her, was using the Salmon Ladder when Diggle walked over. She dropped down, eying him as he stopped in front of her.

"Can I help you…John was it?" Laurel drawled and Diggle stiffened.

"What do you want?" Diggle demanded.

"Well right now I want to know why you're in my business before I get annoyed," Laurel snarked.

"Why are you here? Want do you want from us? Do you get some sort of psychotic kick out of seeing us fight amongst ourselves?" Diggle demanded.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not this psychotic master mind out to destroy you," Laurel said, almost amused at that thought. "I hate the blond because she left to rot but I didn't even know she was part of this until Reverb's doppelganger- what's his name, Cisco?- mentioned her. I'm not out to destroy you. To be honest, you aren't even on my radar."

"Then what do you want?" Diggle demanded, beginning to get frustrated.

"I want freedom. I want to be able to figure out my next step now that I realize I spent years being manipulated by a psychopath. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead," Laurel told him bluntly, turning back to the ladder. "If I was out to destroy you, you'd know it."

Thea's apartment

Night

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Laurel said as Thea led her into the apartment. "I know this place must bring back a lot of memories with me in it. I knew Ollie is asking a lot for you to do this."

"Well, Ollie doesn't want the rest of the team to know about you until he can figure out how to tell them," Thea said and an awkward silence descended on them. "Were we…close on your earth?"

"When you were younger. But I hadn't seen my Thea Queen in years, way before the Accelerator," Laurel said as her mind flashed back.

Starling City, several years ago

Morning

"Bye Ollie," twelve year old Thea said as she hugged her brother's leg.

"I'll see you soon Speedy," Oliver laughed as he gently pulled his sister off his leg.

"But that won't be for another three weeks!" Thea whined and Oliver laughed.

"And I'll bring something back for you," Oliver said, knowing this would cheer her up.

And sure enough, Thea's eyes lit up. She happily skipped over to where her parents were saying goodbye, no doubt to tell her mother she was going to get a present. Oliver smiled slightly before turning to Laurel, who was equally amused.

"You sure you don't want to stay?" Laurel asked jokingly and Oliver chuckled.

"Sorry, can't, my job at the company means I have to go on this trip. Besides, there's something else I need to do on this trip," Oliver said vaguely and Laurel was confused.

"What?"

"I'll tell you when I get back," Oliver promised as he kissed her on the cheek. "Everything's gonna be different when I get back. You'll see."

Felicity apartment

Night

"Oliver," Felicity said, surprised to see him on the other side of her door as she opened it up.

"May I come in?" Oliver's tone was polite but the look on his face suggested this was not up for debate.

"Yeah, sure," Felicity said as she stepped aside so he could walk in. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"I need time to think," Oliver said vaguely and Felicity nodded.

"Oliver, I really am sorry," Felicity said, appearing remorseful.

"Sorry you did it, or sorry we found out?" Oliver asked bluntly and Felicity didn't answer. "In the end, I guess it doesn't matter. The fact is that you kept something from us, something we had every right know. Didn't you learn anything from Laurel lying to her father about Sara? Secrets have consequences, as you are always so quick to point out. Or are you the only one who gets to keep secrets?"

Felicity didn't answer but winced, knowing he was right. Oliver took a calming breath, trying to clear his thought. He didn't come here to fight, he tried to remind himself.

"I didn't come here to yell at you," Oliver said, his voice softening. "You're welcome back at the lair, but things are gonna be different now. I've let you have too much leeway. In the past, you've repeatedly undermined my position as leader, that stops. When I give you an order, you follow it without any snippy comments. If you have a problem with my order, take it up with me privately instead of doing it publicly. And I will be watching you. Do we understand each other?"

"Crystal," Felicity said, realizing Oliver was extending an olive branch and taking it.

"Good. This is your second chance Felicity. There will not be a third," Oliver said before he walked out, leaving Felicity alone.

In truth, Oliver had wanted to kick her out. But Oliver now saw, with eyes unclouded by sentiment, that Felicity, with her capabilities, was too dangerous to leave unchecked. And while Oliver probably could convince Lyla to lock Felicity up, that wouldn't go over well with Diggle and Oliver wouldn't compromise Lyla's marriage like that. At least this way, he decided as he walked to his car, he could keep an eye on her for if and when she stepped out of line.

The show tries to paint it like Oliver doesn't trust Felicity, but I think the truth is Felicity doesn't trust Oliver. I don't think Felicity completely trusts anyone. I think Felicity has major trust issues because of Donna letting her believe Noah abandoned her. We have seen multiple times in the show how Felicity doesn't trust Team Arrow to do anything without her seal of approval, which causes more problems than it solves.

We'll get one or two flashbacks every chapter or every other chapter. I'm going to slowly reveal the backstory of Black Siren until it's no longer necessary for flashbacks.

One more chapter and then we'll be fast forwarding to the events of 5x09. If those of you are reading this as a standalone story are wondering about Invasion, you'll have to read the parent story but Invasion won't have any real impact on this story, so not necessary.

Until then, stay safe from the Coronavirus.