Guest: I don't write smut. Sorry.

Oliver Queen opened the door of his apartment, not surprised in the least to find Laurel Lance standing on the other side of it, her gaze compassionate. "Guess your Dad told you what we found," he said quietly, stepping aside to let her in. Laurel entered the apartment, Oliver closing the door behind her, and immediately drew Oliver into a hug, pulling him close to her. Oliver wrapped his arms around her slender torso, burying his face in her hair for a moment. Laurel reached up with one hand and stroked the back of his head. Oliver pulled away a moment later. "It was one thing to know the Gambit was sunk on purpose, another thing to see the proof of it laid out before me," he said as he guided Laurel to the couch.

"Dad looked about ready to go looking for the nearest bottle of whiskey, but he decided he's going to guard the warehouse until the F.B.I. takes custody of the case," Laurel said quietly as they sat down. "He doesn't want anything happening to the evidence."

"Good," Oliver said softly. He looked at his hands, which were folded in his lap.

Laurel reached out and cupped his bristly chin with one hand, turning his head up and to the right to face her. "Hey," she said softly, "something's bothering you. What is it?"

"My mother's had the proof that the Gambit was sabotaged for almost as long as she's been a part of Tempest," Oliver said after a moment of wrestling with whether or not to confide in Laurel about his thoughts and feelings on the matter. "The Gambit along with her word about who had it sabotaged would be enough to send Merlyn on the run from the F.B.I. and even Interpol since the Gambit went down in international waters. She could have stopped the Undertaking years ago, could even stop it now, but I know she won't, and I don't know how to deal with that, Laurel." *1*

"You don't have to work through it alone, Ollie," Laurel said softly, wrapping an arm around his broad shoulders and leaning her head against his right shoulder. "I'm here. Thea's here. You're not alone anymore."

Oliver said nothing but curled one arm around his girlfriend's slender frame and pulled her closer. The two of them sat in silence, thinking about what impact this new twist would have on Malcolm Merlyn's plans and worrying over what his reaction might be. Oliver knew better than Laurel just how vindictive and sadistic Merlyn was when it came to punishment of those who betrayed him, and worried for his mother's safety once Merlyn learned she had salvaged the remains of the Queen's Gambit and held it somewhere that could be discovered.

*DC*

Moira Queen sat miserably in the holding cell that she had been escorted to once she had been booked. A few of the other prisoners in other cells on the block, all men, had given wolf-whistles and derogatory comments about her being there as she was escorted in and informed that she would be held until the F.B.I. arrived to take over the investigation. Moira had spent most of her time here staring at her hands; her one phone call had been to Jean Loring, her attorney, but Jean wouldn't be able to come until the morning, and she doubted that even when she could that Jean would be able to get her out of here. She could already see the potential charges. Obstruction and conspiracy were at the top of the list. Murder if they decided she had had something to do with the deaths of Robert, Dave Hackett, and the eight crewmen.

Moira had been at home, planning a social function, when the police had barged in with a warrant for her arrest. When she had demanded to know the charges, Quentin Lance had told her that Walter and Oliver had had a lead from the recently-murdered Felicity Smoak that had led them to the Queen's Gambit and the warehouse she had purchased with the Tempest LLC. Moira had felt numb ever since, numb with the fear of what Malcolm would do when he learned of what she had done, and there was no doubt in her mind that he would find out. Malcolm had eyes and ears everywhere; it surprised her that he didn't know about the Gambit and where it was stored; or perhaps he did know and had been allowing her this illusion of power over him all this time. That sounded like something Malcolm would do, let her think she had a modicum of control and then rip it away from her.

It didn't matter now. There was no way of hiding the Queen's Gambit from the authorities, no way for Malcolm to dispose of it without drawing attention, and that would anger him as much as if she herself had used the remains of the Gambit against him. He would find some way to exact vengeance on her unless she did something to lead the authorities away from Tempest and the Undertaking. But the only thing she could think of would see her children's love for her turn to despair. But if they were dead, it wouldn't matter how they felt about her. Yes. It was the only way. She had to protect her family, no matter the cost to her personally. Oliver and Thea had to be protected.

*DC*

Malcolm Merlyn seethed silently in his lair at Merlyn Global, glaring down at the phone he had just hung up. That had been Silas Cole, his contact with the S.C.P.D. since before his wife's murder all those years ago; it had been Cole who had informed him of their suspect, Cole who had secreted him a gun from the evidence locker to use to bring down his wife's killer. Cole had long been a supporter of Merlyn's designs for the Glades, having served in the Glades precinct and knowing just how corrupt that part of the city had been even before Tempest first tried to clean it up. He was onboard with the Undertaking, would be the one to ensure that no evidence of the Markov devices were found. But now, everything was in jeopardy.

Moira Queen had salvaged the Queen's Gambit in secret years ago and stored the remains in a warehouse on the edge of the city. Malcolm had known this for almost as long as the Gambit had been in the city. He had chosen to allow Moira this illusion of control, ready to crush her under heel should she get any bright ideas. She had been a dutiful soldier in his war against the corruption and criminality in the Glades, even reporting to him that Walter had tasked Felicity Smoak to find out anything she could about Queen Consolidated projects from five years ago that might explain why Oliver and Tommy had been kidnapped and interrogated a few weeks ago. Malcolm had tasked The Huntsman with getting rid of Smoak, but apparently the serial killer had taken his time and Smoak had managed to find something that she shared with Oliver prior to her otherwise timely demise. This had led Oliver, Walter Steele, and the police to the Queen's Gambit.

Malcolm had been completely blindsided by the phone call from Silas Cole, and unfortunately Cole could do nothing. The discovery of the Gambit had shot like wildfire through the S.C.P.D. and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were already sending a team to take over the investigation. Quentin Lance and a cadre of trusted officers were guarding the warehouse in the meantime, so there was no chance of moving the wreck before the F.B.I. seized control of the investigation.

Everything was spinning out of control. The Green Arrow was systematically targeting those on The List, the very people who were unknowingly aiding Merlyn by ensuring that none but criminals lived in the Glades, intent on seeing those same people brought to justice. The only reason those on The List didn't expand was because Merlyn protected them, but he hadn't been able to protect any of those the Green Arrow had set his sights on, because the vigilante managed to provide insurmountable evidence, giving the police and the district attorney's office slam dunk cases. The one time that this hadn't happened, when the purchasable District Attorney, Kate Spencer, had not used the Green Arrow's evidence, Green Arrow had taken action himself and killed James Holder. Since then, Spencer had found herself under suspicion of corruption and bribery, and there was rumors that the mayor was planning to fire her if public sentiment swayed too heavily against her. The reason for all of this had been a report by Susan Williams at Channel 52, citing an anonymous source who had led them to the interesting accounts surrounding certain cases that the D.A. had 'lost'. Merlyn suspected that the Green Arrow was involved in this, as well, using the court of public opinion to crucify the D.A. who had refused to play ball like her underlings.

Now the Queen's Gambit had been discovered, in a warehouse belonging to an LLC cleverly named Tempest. No doubt Moira's plan to bring down the organization if she and her daughter were ever killed. But now it had been revealed, and with the Green Arrow having announced the name of his organization during his debut speech, it wouldn't take long for the sharp minds assigned to the team from the F.B.I. to begin questioning Moira about what Tempest was and how it was connected. He would need to find a way to remind her of what was at stake. The Undertaking was too important to fail now, mere months from completion. He could not, would not allow it. *2*

*DC*

Alex Danvers leaned back the seat of the Gulfstream that they were being flown to Starling City in. It would take less than an hour to reach Starling City by air, whereas it would've taken three hours to reach it by the ground. A federal crime scene unit would be en route to Starling City as soon as they could the next morning to begin processing the Queen's Gambit. Alex considered what they already knew.

Walter Steele had tasked a lowly I.T. agent, Felicity Smoak, with digging into the company's projects five years ago to find anything that would indicate why Oliver Queen had been abducted and interrogated by persons unknown. Mr. Queen had at some point discovered the assignment from Mr. Steele and redirected all reports from Miss Smoak to him instead. Was there a power struggle between the current C.E.O. of Queen Consolidated and the heir apparent to the business empire? Something to discover, especially if it had a bearing on the investigation. Miss Smoak had, prior to Mr. Queen's recent trip to Central City, informed him of the existence of the warehouse and the LLC known as Tempest.

Now, there was a big red question mark. Tempest was a name previously uttered by the Green Arrow in his debut message that had hijacked Starling City's emergency broadcast system. Investigators were still trying to determine how he had done it and found nothing. But the existence of an LLC that just happened to have the name of what the Green Arrow inferred was an organization answering to someone who had masterminded the current state of affairs in Starling City was both troubling and exciting in Alex's mind. It suggested that the Green Arrow had information that even law enforcement didn't, information that pointed to a conspiracy on American soil surrounding the events going on in an American city. If this Tempest LLC was in any way connected to the group of the same name that the Green Arrow had mentioned in his debut speech, they would need to find out everything they could.

According to the reports forwarded to them by the S.C.P.D., Moira Queen was in custody awaiting their questioning; she had had her phone call and requested her lawyer, who would meet them in the morning at the precinct where Mrs. Queen was being held. Detective Quentin Lance, who had a personal connection to this due to his daughter Sara's death in relation to the Queen's Gambit, was guarding the site with a handful of trusted officers to ensure no one tampered with the evidence. Alex grimaced as she realized Lance would probably insist on being involved in the investigation in some capacity due to his daughter having been on the Gambit when it went down, and she was glad that the team's Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Darius Trimble, would be the one dealing with the local LEO's.

*DC*

Walter Steele sighed before taking a sip of the scotch on the rocks he had poured himself. By the time he had reached the Queen Mansion, the police had already come and taken his wife away. Walter supposed it was for the best that it had happened before Thea returned home. The girl was currently waiting for her brother to come pick her up, electing to stay with him while this crisis ran it's course. Walter supposed that he couldn't blame his stepdaughter for wanting to get away from the Mansion. It was full of memories of her broken family, memories that would be rightly stirred up by the discovery of the Queen's Gambit.

Walter himself wasn't sure how to handle the revelations of the day. The obvious evidence that the Queen's Gambit had been deliberately sunk was burned into his mind, as was the knowledge that his wife had hidden this from him for their entire marriage. What else had she hidden from him? How deep did this conspiracy go? How many at Queen Consolidated were answering to his wife and not to him? Was Oliver even truly surprised at the discovery of the Gambit, or had he known and simply been acting the part of the distraught survivor? Walter hated himself for these thoughts, but there was no avoiding them.

Walter looked up as he heard footsteps approaching. A moment later, Oliver had entered the room. "Walter, how are you holding up?" Oliver asked.

"I don't really know the answer to that question," Walter admitted. "And you? I can't imagine what we saw today was easy."

"No, it wasn't," Oliver said. "I don't know how things are going to be between Mom and I, even if she finds a way to talk herself out of this. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I imagine things are going to be a bit tense with the company because of this. I was wondering how we're meant to proceed."

"We proceed as though everything is normal, to ensure our investors don't panic," Walter said. "That means that tomorrow night, the two of us need to be at the Unidac auction."

"Alright," Oliver said with a nod. "What do you think are our odds of purchasing Unidac?"

"I would say we have a strong position, the only real threat is Kord Industries, but I believe we'll persevere in the end," Walter said. "You should probably get Thea to your apartment. Don't worry about me. I'll be alright."

"Okay," Oliver said dubiously. "Goodnight, Walter."

"Goodnight, Oliver." Walter watched the younger man go and then went outside, walking down the steps and leaning against the stone railing to look across the back of the grounds. They were so peaceful, as if nothing had changed, and yet, everything had. The world had shifted on it's axis as far as Walter was concerned. The Gambit had been sabotaged. His wife had salvaged the yacht before she was ever his wife and hidden the truth of what happened from everyone for almost five years. The Gambit had been held in a warehouse belonging to an LLC that shared it's name with the group that the Green Arrow mentioned. While Walter had no great love for vigilantes, he doubted that this was a coincidence and wondered what else his wife was involved in.

More importantly, what should he do about it? Should he be the stalwart husband and stand at her side, or should he seek justice for Robert's demise, and cut ties with both Moira and the company in this crisis?

*DC*

Oliver woke up early the next morning, blinking up at the ceiling. Feeling something on his chest, he looked down to see that Laurel had draped her arm across his chest while they slept, Laurel having stayed over last night to help comfort Thea, who's world had just been rocked by the discovery of the Queen's Gambit, the same as theirs had been. Oliver turned his head to the side and studied the features of the woman he loved, marveling at the difference between her and the doppelganger from Earth-2. His Laurel's features had always had a softness to them, a kindness that seemed to rest in her very skin. By contrast, Earth-2 Laurel's harsh, angular features had been an easy way to tell that she wasn't the Laurel he knew and loved. Her features fit her attitude towards life, harsh and unforgiving. But most of all, Oliver was struck by how young Laurel seemed in her sleep, face unmarred by the frown that occasionally furrowed her brow.

Oliver slowly moved Laurel's arm off of his chest and swung his legs out of bed, standing and stretching before he got ready for the day. Thea was in the guest room, and both Thea and Laurel would be hungry soon. Oliver quickly showered and got dressed before heading downstairs to find what he could make for breakfast. He had just begun looking when there was an oddly timid knock on the front door of his apartment. Oliver, unsure who it could be, approached the door warily and opened it, relaxing as he found Tommy Merlyn on the other side of the door. "Hey, buddy," Oliver said, stepping to the side. "Come on in."

"Are we still buddies?" Tommy asked softly, hurt shining in his eyes as he stepped inside. Oliver frowned, giving him a curious look. Tommy shook his head. "First, I find out you and Laurel are back together when you walk into that dinner party together, and now I have to find out about the Queen's Gambit and your mother from the morning news?"

"Oh," Oliver said quietly. "I'm sorry, Tommy. I guess I've been so caught up in things that I keep forgetting to loop you in. Why don't you join us for breakfast?" In truth, Oliver realized he had let his friendship with Tommy fall by the wayside because not only had Tommy died almost eight years ago by his reckoning, but he had seen two other versions of his best friend, both villains, die in that time. It was hard to remember that Tommy was alive.

"Us? And who's cooking? Not Laurel, I hope," Tommy said, giving a theatrical shudder as he remembered Laurel's attempt to make pancakes one morning. The fire department had been called.

"Laurel, Thea, and I," Oliver clarified. "Thea decided she wanted to stay with me while all of this plays out, and Laurel decided to stay and help comfort her. And I'll be the one cooking."

"So, instead of instant death it'll be prolonged?" Tommy joked. Oliver rolled his eyes but smiled in spite of himself.

"I've found cooking comes easy to me," Oliver said with a shrug. Not like he could tell Tommy that he learned to cook when he decided to become a domesticated househusband after infiltrating the League of Assassins and stabbing their leader in his black heart following their duel atop the Starling Dam two and a half years from now, and saying he had learned to cook in the five years he'd been away would raise other questions in his best friend. *3*

"If you say so," Tommy said dubiously. "So, anything else you've been up to that I should know about?"

"Let's see, I went to Central City and recruited some new blood for Applied Sciences, maybe even poached a couple of people from S.T.A.R. Labs depending how they find their new chief scientist, and shut down over half of the projects Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences division is running," Oliver said, deciding on making blueberry pancakes since he had the ingredients for it. He slowly began to get things together. "Would you believe half of those projects weren't even about making a profit, much less providing technology to make other people's lives easier? No, they were vanity projects, stroking these arrogant bastards' egos. They weren't too happy when I told them I was cutting funding."

"Look at you, the responsible businessman," Tommy said teasingly. His smile faded as he added sourly, "Dad's been asking me to take after your example and come work with him."

"Maybe you should," Oliver said, thinking that if Tommy was involved with his family's company when Malcolm was brought to justice, he could at least salvage something from the wreckage. "I know it's fun to ride around in fast cars and date lots of women, but Tommy, I lived that life five years ago and you know what I found when I was taken away from it?" Tommy shook his head. "I found that, in the end, it meant nothing. All the girls I dated, all the cars I drove, all the times I got into trouble with you and bought my way out of it with my family's money and name? None of it meant anything. I had left no legacy for Thea, or for anyone else I cared about. I would be forgotten in the annals of history, and you know what? I don't want that. I don't want the name Oliver Queen to be forgotten. I want it to mean something to future generations." As Oliver had said all of this, he had begun mixing the batter for the pancakes from the instant batter mix he had on hand. He checked the consistency and found it to be appropriate. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bag of blueberries, half of which he poured into the batter. He set the bag aside and began mixing the berries into the batter. Once that was done, he returned the bag to the fridge.

"That was… really deep," Tommy admitted. "I-I hadn't really thought of it that way before. I'll give what you've said some thought." He chuckled humorlessly. "Dad'll be pleased if I follow your example."

"Not saying you have to be exactly like me, Tommy," Oliver said. "Just… don't let yourself be forgotten because you decided to party the best years of your life away." Oliver took a moment deciding between bacon and sausages to accompany the pancakes and eggs he would fix and decided on bacon. He flicked on the coffee pot, knowing the smell of fresh coffee would lure Laurel and Thea to the kitchen. "And thank you."

"For what?" Tommy asked.

"You haven't pushed me on what I said at the dinner party, or on how I'm feeling about what's going on with Mom and the Gambit," Oliver said quietly.

"Figured that you'll talk about it if you're comfortable," Tommy said with a shrug. "I'm not gonna push you, buddy." The two men chatted quietly as two sets of soft footsteps came from upstairs and Laurel and Thea arrived at the base of the stairs. Both ladies were in bathrobes and moved to adjust their coverings at the sight of Tommy. "Hello, ladies," Tommy greeted. "Looking chipper as ever this morning."

Thea glowered at the man she would normally bestow a winning smile upon and growled, "Shut up. I haven't had my coffee." She moved to the coffee pot, where a mug sat waiting to be filled with sugar and creamer sitting nearby. Laurel merely glowered at Tommy to express her similar attitude.

Tommy whistled and side-eyed Oliver. "Tough crowd," he stage-whispered.

"I will eviscerate you," Thea growled as she finished mixing her coffee with copious amounts of sugar and creamer. She took a sip and let out a contented sigh. "Perfect."

"Coffee addict," Tommy shot at her.

"It's not nice to make fun of an addiction," Thea sulked at him while Laurel mixed her own cup, closing her eyes, mentally counting to three, and reminding herself that she shouldn't murder one of her best friends because he was overly cheerful in the early hours of the morning.

Oliver cooked up breakfast amid some rather amusing conversations between the four of them and then served up each plate. Tommy took an experimental bite of his pancakes and blinked in surprise. "Wow, Ollie, these are great," Tommy said enthusiastically. "Maybe you can give Laurel some lessons, so she doesn't kill herself in her own kitchen?" Laurel shot Tommy a poisonous look that left the playboy of the group gulping and focusing on his food.

Oliver chuckled and said, "I don't know if I would be a very good teacher, Tommy."

"Besides, if he teaches me how to cook, you'd never taste the poison I slipped you," Laurel said sweetly, which reminded Oliver rather horribly of the recording he had seen of Black Siren tormenting Felicity and Rory after the two had uncovered her secret following her escape from Barry's pipeline prison. He shuddered along with Tommy at how scary Laurel can be when she's barely waking up.

The amusing commentary was cut short as Oliver's cell phone rang. Oliver answered, still smiling, and said, "Oliver Queen." The other three noticed as his smile faded, and a haunted look came to his features. "I-I see. Thank you for calling, Officer. Yes, you too," Oliver said mechanically, hanging up the phone and setting it on the island counter where the four of them had been eating.

"Ollie?" Thea asked nervously. "What is it?"

"That was the duty officer at the precinct where Mom is being held," Oliver said softly. "They went to bring Mom to interrogation for the F.B.I. and found her hanging by her own stockings. They tried to revive her, but…"

"No," Thea whimpered, Laurel moving to pull the teenager into a hug. "Please, Ollie… Please tell me they're mistaken, that it's not her. Please…"

"I'm sorry, Speedy," Oliver said, his own eyes wet with tears. "Mom's dead." *4*

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.

Originally, I was going to have Merlyn kill Walter and seriously injure Thea in an attack at the Queen Mansion, but I decided that that would be enough to push Oliver overboard and have him outright confront Merlyn. So, instead, I left off with Walter wondering what he should do about Moira and Queen Consolidated.

Hard to believe we haven't quite reached the end of Episode 3 yet, but the next chapter should include the Unidac auction, albeit a brief interlude in the chapter since it'll go smoothly without Deadshot taking aim at the guests.

Chapter Notes:

*1* When it boils right down to it, Moira Queen was not a good person. I would hesitate to say she was even a good mother, but everything she did, she did because she thought she was protecting her children. But she sure as hell didn't care about anyone else's families. She was quite willing to sit by and let the Undertaking happen. It was only when Oliver made it clear to her that he would act against Merlyn that she chose to act instead, hoping to keep her son from facing the man who had become her jailor for nearly six years.

*2* This particular Malcolm scene was easier to write mainly because he was primarily getting pissy about how many things are going wrong with his plans. Does anyone feel sad for him? *snickers at the thought* Ah, but the pain is just beginning for our dear Dark Archer. Yes. It is only the beginning.

*3* *projectile vomits into the sink* Seriously, who's brilliant fucking idea was it to take Oliver Queen, the man who had just defeated Ra's al Ghul, grandmaster of the League of Assassins, and turn him into a domesticated househusband who cooked and cleaned and all that? Oh, right. Guggenheim and Mericle. Never mind. On another note, someone remind me at some point to write that Arrow/Legends crossover idea I had where The Hood shows up in Season 4 and owns Season 4 Ollie's pathetic ass…

*4* So, how many people were expecting *that* to be Moira's plan to save her family? Originally, it was going to be a plan that would have them hate her where she confessed to killing Robert, but I decided to go this route instead because it would further the plot along more and give Oliver more fuel in his fight against Merlyn.