Notes

I wasn't happy with it and made some changes...

You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, you are what I can't have

Sara

Sara wasn't sure what, but something was different tonight, Ollie was different tonight... had been from the moment he had picked her up a block from her house at 10pm. And she was pretty sure it wasn't just because they were sober for once. The way he was touching her, the way he was kissing her... both were lacking their usual urgency, the raw passion and desperate need to fuck. He had been very sweet. There had also been numerous small touches on their drive to his home. His parents were at a Christmas Eve Fundraiser and the Queens traditionally gave the entire staff the night before Christmas off, which was why they took Thea with them to the event. She had no clue how Ollie had managed to get out of going to the Fundraiser and watching Thea, but he had somehow. Obviously.

They just drove around for a while, listening to music and enjoying each other's company. She had missed him. College had been crazy and Ollie had been busy too, his parents and Laurel filling his schedule with things he should do and yet more Colleges they wanted him to apply to, since he had dropped out of yet another one. Sara mused, how many more it would take for them to get that he was not interested in a College education?

It was after they finally decided to head to the Mansion and they, well; she had made them both some hot cocoa that they went up to his room and ended up sitting on his bed, both of their mugs discarded on his nightstand. It was here that she once again noticed Ollie's unusual behavior towards her.

The way his hand was softly touching her cheek, his other one brushing some of her hair behind her ear, the way he was just staring at her and that look in his eyes, ... she couldn't place the look in his eyes but it gave her a warm feeling and... she wasn't sure... Ollie slowly moved his head towards hers, until his lips, finally, and softly, oh so softly touched hers, her eyes closed on their own accord the same way her lips returned his kiss, forgetting her train of thoughts. Before she could spend anymore time trying to analyze those new, unknown feelings Ollie's unusual behavior provoked.

"Happiest of Birthdays, my Pretty Bird." The words were whispered, once they separated to catch their breaths, just for Ollie to kiss her again, the same way as before, and she could feel her stomach do a somersault when the possessive pronoun he had used registered in her brain.

"I got you something." He got up from his bed and walked into his closet, disappearing inside. It was just passed midnight, she realized when she caught sight of the clock on Ollie's bedside table. Only to reappear seconds later with a small, beautifully wrapped little present in his hand.

Sara opened the present, wondering what he got her. Inside was a very pretty leather box. She slowly lifted off the lid, her eyes opening wide when she saw the beautiful bracelet inside. Two thin, light brown leather bands decorated with a silver bow, on which were five, what she was sure were genuine diamonds. She carefully touched and traced the delicate looking jewellery.

It was breath-taking... it was too much! Way too much.

"Ollie.." she looked up from the bracelet just to see his grinning face, his eyes were sparkling in excitement.

"So, I take it you like it, given the amazed look on your face." His grin got even bigger if possible.

"It's too much... this must have cost you a fortune." Of course she liked it, that wasn't the point. She knew how stupid that argument was, she was talking to a guy who had bought an apartment in London on a whim a couple of months ago, and had yet to travel there.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Do you like it? That's all that matters. It's more than worth it if you do and we can go and you can have it changed or pick something else if you don't. You're worth it and you deserve to have something that's almost as pretty as you are, Tweety Bird." He put his hand on her knee, softly rubbing it with his thumb.

"I love it. Thank you! But people will ask questions..." she tried again to reason with him and to explain why she couldn't possibly accept it. People would wonder how a detective's daughter with a college professor as mother could afford a piece of jewellery like this. Her family would ask questions too. And while both Ollie and Tommy were known to give her and Laurel expensive presents, they had never gotten her jewellery before. Ollie frequently bought Laurel jewellery. As her dad pointed out, jewellery was for girlfriends, wives and daughters.

They would wonder about this.

"Since when do you care what people think, Lance? Just tell them whatever. C'mon lets put it on and see how it looks." He took the bracelet out of the box and carefully wrapped it around her left wrist, closing the delicate clasp with surprising ease.

"Perfect fit." He smiled at her before bending forward and once again softly kissing her lips.

She looked at her wrist. And he was right. It was a perfect fit, and it looked gorgeous.

"Thank you, Ollie." Sara smiled at him softly. Still unsure about it, but it looked so pretty and felt so nice against her skin. And Ollie seemed genuinely happy and excited about her liking his present. So she copied his earlier actions and kissed him tenderly, before deepening it, sliding her hands from his cheeks down to his shoulders in order to pull herself onto the bed without breaking contact and moving on to straddle his tights as a first step to show him just how much she appreciated his gift.

It wasn't long until the bracelet was the only thing she was and would be wearing until they snuck out of the Queen Mansion in the early hours of Christmas morning, so Ollie could drive her back home and she could sneak into her room before her parents woke up and noticed her absence.

Ollie parked a block from her house, and they shared another deep kiss in his car.

"Thank you again for the present and the very pleasant start into my birthday." She smiled at him, her hand adorned with his bracelet on her wrist, stroking his cheek.

"You are very welcome, my Pretty Bird. I'll see you tonight." He gave her another tender kiss before she got out of the car and walked towards her house.

His.

He had called her his. Again.

A part of her strongly rebelled against the implication that she could ever belong to anyone, as if she were property that could be owned... except it was Ollie who said it and she knew that wasn't how he meant it. She knew he would never consider her a piece of property, someone he could own. He would never try to cage her, his, HIS!, Pretty Bird.

Besides... he wasn't wrong, she was his, had been for far longer than she liked to admit and long before he ever even realized it.

So, if he called her his, did this mean he was hers too?

But how could he be when he was Laurel's, and everyone knew it? The whole damn world knew that he belonged to Laurel. Her sister also always made sure to stake her claim whenever she was around Ollie, ensuring that there was no doubt in anyone's mind who the handsome Queen heir belonged to.

It made her sick and pissed her off in equal parts. She rather focused on the anger and pretended the stabbing pain she felt whenever she saw them together didn't exist. It was easier to focus on the anger she felt towards her sister, anger that she didn't realize what she was doing to Ollie, that she was doing the same thing his parents did. Pressure him into being someone he wasn't, into a life he didn't want. Never realizing how lucky she was, and how amazing a person the real Oliver actually was.

Laurel was suffocating him with her plans and expectations.

And she was too blind to see it.

Too focused on the fantasy she had created to see the man in front of her. Laurel didn't know Ollie, not like she did. But that didn't matter because Laurel was everything Robert and especially Moira wanted for their son. Something she was never going to be able to be. Someone she couldn't measure up to. Someone she was never going to measure up to. She would never fit into the Queen family the way Laurel did.

Sara climbed into her window and changed into her pajamas. Forcing the dark and depressing thoughts from her mind while getting into bed. This had been a good night. No need to ruin it with dark thoughts. She'll have plenty of time for those tonight, at the Queen's annual Christmas party, where she'll have to spend the evening watching Laurel attached to Ollie… hopefully Tommy would be in the mood to sneak away with her and some booze…

She touched the bracelet on her arm and still couldn't believe that Ollie had gotten it for her. She tried to get comfortable in bed when the screen on her cell suddenly lit up. She grabbed it and checked to see who had texted her. Only to end up with a gigantic smile on her face.

'Sweetest of dreams, my Pretty Bird… miss you already, can't wait to see you tonight.'

This had been a good night, a good start to the new year of her life. Nineteen was going to be a good year.

Ollie was missing her already!

He had only left maybe an hour ago. Sara closed her eyes, still smiling, holding on to her bracelet and falling asleep, happy.

Notes:

So, Sara is wearing a bracelet during the flashbacks in Heir to the Demon, I unfortunately didn't find a screencap that showed it clearly so I was sort of going by what I could make out. In my version of their past, it has real diamonds on it and Ollie gave it to her for her 19th birthday.

And before anyone says anything, it's Sara's point of view... which means this is how she sees things and they may or may not be true... we'll get to that eventually, I think... I promised some Laurel and Tommy and I plan on delivering on that... but I'm currently stuck on these two idiots while I'm trying to figure out their affair...