A thick breeze blew through the clock tower. Sara shivered and cuddled closer to Oliver. He brushed his hand along her naked arm and whispered in her ear, "I have to go."

She held on to his arm for a moment, but then let go. He sat up and started putting his pants back on while she covered herself with a thin tarp. Oliver stood and Sara made her way over to him while he put his shirt on.

"Ollie," she said, her face inches from him, "I love you."

He brushed his thumb down the side of her face. "I love you too. We need to talk more about this. You're not leaving soon, are you?"

She sighed. "Ollie, I have to. If they find out where I am, if they find out about you and Mei, they will stop at nothing to bring me back."

Oliver held up his hand. "Just wait a few more days. Let me try to figure something out."

She nodded. "Okay, a few more days." She leaned over and pressed her lips to Oliver's. They held on for as long as they could until Oliver pulled away.

"Go. Give Mei extra kisses for me," she said. He placed one more kiss on her forehead and left.

While he laid on his bed, he looked over and saw it was four-thirty. He knew he would only get a few hours of sleep if any. He wanted to stay up and go over all the ways he could save Sara, but he owed it to Mei to be somewhat rested for the day ahead.

In the end, he got almost two hours, before a bouncy four-year-old jumped on his chest.

"Daddy," Mei said, excitedly, "Thea said Santa came. We gotta go." She threw his blanket to the edge of the bed and pulled at his hand.

He groaned as the slight pain in his forehead was magnified by the sudden movement but got up and threw on a pair of long pants and a sweatshirt. They walked into the living room and Mei's eyes glistened as though she was watching fairies perform tricks with magic wands.

"Look, daddy," she said as she pointed at the bike, "Is that for me?"

"No, it's for me, Maisie," Thea said. Maisie was Mei's new nickname granted to her by her aunt after they read the book 'Maisie Tells Time' together.

Mei laughed. "It's too small for you."

Thea slumped her shoulders and gave her a fake pout. "Well, then I guess it's yours."

Mei ran over to the bike and sat on it. Her toes couldn't touch on both sides, so she wobbled back and forth.

"We can adjust it later," Oliver told her. He walked over to where his mom was sitting on the couch, holding two cups of coffee. He took one. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You look like you could use one." Oliver looked back at Mei, who was fiddling with the light on the front of her bike. At that moment Oliver could see at the ways she looked like her mother. Everything from hair color to similar freckles and of course her gorgeous smile.

"Daaaaddddddy," Mei asked, "Can you hear me?"

"Oh, what?" Oliver asked as he was pulled from his thoughts.

"I asked if this makes you happy?"

"Oh, yeah," he said halfheartedly. He was still trying to wake up.

"Oh," she said with a frown. She walked over to her next present and started to unwrap it. Every time she would open something she'd turn to Oliver and ask if it made him happy and every time he would give her a smile and say a low energy yes. He was too tired and had too much on his mind to give her an enthusiastic response.

Minutes later when the last Santa present was opened, a cartoon Avengers DVD, she brought it over to him, and asked one more time, "Does this make you happy?"

After receiving the same response as she had for all the other gifts, tears started to fill her eyes. "He didn't get what I asked for." She covered her face with her hands and ran to their room.

Oliver darted after her and found her sitting cross-legged on the bed, crying almost hysterically.

"Honey," he said, concerned as he sat next to her and pulled her in his arms. "What's wrong? What did you ask for?"

"I-I I as-as I," she couldn't calm herself down enough to speak, so Oliver held her closer and let her calm down. Once her breathing slowed, he asked again.

"I wanted something that would make you happy," she said as she continued to brush the tears from her cheeks.

"Oh, honey." He turned her so she was facing him and held her tiny hands in his. "Anytime I see you happy, makes me happy."

"Really? Because you're sad a lot."

Oliver tried to think of a way of explaining his worry to a four-year-old. "Because the world can be mean sometimes and I let it get to me, so I become sad. But do you know what would make me the happiest guy in the world?"

She perked up. "What?"

"Watching you play with your presents." She jumped to her feet.

"Okay," she said as she slipped off the bed and ran back to the living room. Oliver followed and watched as Thea showed Mei how to use the junior Legos and the three of them spent the morning eating snowflake-shaped pancakes and building houses.

They had a competition to see who could build the tallest Lego tower in a minute. When the timer went off, they compared. Thea's was the tallest, while Mei's and Oliver's were about two thirds as tall. Mei thought for a moment, before taking Oliver's tower and putting it on top of hers.

"We're a team, so now we win," she joked.

Thea laughed then tackled Mei to the ground for a tickle fight, while Oliver stared at the tower, an idea forming in his head.

Lance stopped by mid-day to see all of Mei's new toys, and even Moria loosened up a bit and played her ballet video game with her. The day went as well as Oliver could've pictured, and when he tucked Mei in that night, he wished all her days could be filled with that much excitement and laughter.

The next morning he left Mei with Thea who'd agreed to bake cupcakes and watch Disney movies with her. The bond between his sister and daughter was already tight and Oliver was certain that Thea being around Mei was keeping her from the rich teen party life Oliver used to be accustomed to.

He grabbed his bag and headed to the watchtower. Sara was doing push-ups, but immediately jumped and held her hands up defensively when she heard him enter.

"Oh, Oliver," she said as she dropped her hands and ran to him. She pressed her lips to his and he placed his arms around her and rested them on her back.

When they pulled away, Sara grabbed his hand and lead him to the corner to sit.

"So, I've been thinking," Oliver started, "You said I can't take this guy alone, but what if we created a team? I've met many people over the years, high power, deadly people. What if we got enough people together and went after him? Do you think we'd have a chance then?"

Sara bit her lip. "I don't know Ollie. It's not just him. He has an entire league of people trained to kill at his order. People who don't have anything to live for. Their entire life is the league."

Oliver stood and started pacing. "There has to be something, Sara. We have to try something. I can't have you out there not knowing if you're safe or alive."

"Well then, choose to believe I am. Every time I come into your mind, choose to believe I'm alive."

He stopped pacing. "It's not that simple."

She walked over and grabbed his arm. "I know. Thinking you and Mei have been dead for the last few years have been worse than being dead myself, but if we go after Ras al Gaul and lose? We are all dead. Including Mei."

"Then let's make sure we don't lose."