One of the plot bunnies that wouldn't stop nagging me. Frankly, even pre-island, Oliver/Laurel was mishandled, considering the flashbacks from 1x21 and 2x20, that show that Laurel was more in love with who the idea of Oliver in her mind, rather than accepting who Oliver really was, considering that in 1x21, she was pushing him into moving in with her, despite that he wasn't ready or that she was oblivious of Oliver cheating on her with Sara and Samantha, these two women at the very least.
Frankly, asides from being childhood friends, Oliver and Laurel never really had anything in common, since Laurel was more mature and responsible, while Oliver was a playboy and a party-goer. Plus, in the flashbacks, it seemed that Laurel was more interested in her long-term plan about having a happy life with Oliver, rather than bothering to know who Oliver really was back then, considering that she didn't see he was not ready to move in with her and she showed no conflicting feelings, considering that Oliver had cheated on her with her own sister and no matter how much he had changed into a better person, when he returned, no woman with at least some self-respect would take her boyfriend back after that.
And if any Laurel or Olicity fanatic comes after me, I will inflict upon these cowardly miscreants the greatest insult an enemy can suffer: To be ignored.
As for Samantha, well, the only thing we know about her pre-Gambit was that she, in her own words, was "stupid and selfish", considering that she had slept with Oliver despite knowing he was with Laurel at the time, even though she later felt guilty about it and was shown to love William a lot as a parent loving her child and was reasonable and had some self-respect, considering that she had refused the money Moira had offered to pay, but the ultimatum she gave to Oliver regarding keeping William a secret and having her stick up her ass about it, just made her unlikeable in order to show Felicity in the better light.
Also, I tried to portray Oliver here as more of a guy looking for direction, rather than a classic spoiled playboy, hope I did a good job here.
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.
Oliver and Laurel were attending one of the fancy parties at college, with Tommy being his usual party self as he drank hard and goofed around with other people, mainly the upper class types, while Oliver and Laurel were mingling with other guests, but Oliver, as much as he was enjoying himself, didn't really have the heart to get into it, unlike Laurel. After a little while, they both went aside to some quieter place, away from the crowd and the music as Oliver stared at the balcony.
"You OK, Oliver? You're quite broody today." Laurel said as Oliver took a breath.
"Honestly, Laurel, do you think this is going somewhere?" Oliver asked.
"What do you mean?" Laurel asked.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun here. But…" Oliver took a breath as he looked around before facing Laurel. "I don't know, feels like it's more about you, rather than me or us. I mean…" He sighed. "We do have some good times but there are times when you don't really think about whether I really want what you want and assume I'll go along with it, like when you started to pick an apartment for us both, despite that I wasn't sure about it yet."
Laurel considered for a moment, knowing he had a point there. She had assumed that he was going to move in with her, when she had asked him that and had already chosen some lofts and apartments, but when she brought it up, Oliver was anything but happy about the idea, feeling like it was rushed.
"I'm just saying, there are many times that I'm not sure whether you and I really want the same thing." Oliver said.
"So… it's over?" Laurel asked, hurt as Oliver took a breath.
"I'm saying it might be best for us both to take some time away from each other. Reevaluate some things regarding where we stand. Laurel, don't get me wrong, I like you, but I'm not sure we're really going anywhere, since it feels like you and I are on very different wavelengths." Oliver said.
Laurel looked hurt and disappointed and was halfway to exploding, when she stopped and took a very hard look back, realizing there were times, when it felt like Oliver was going along with her, rather than actually agreeing with Laurel. And she had painted in her mind this idea of Oliver being the perfect boyfriend and them both having a great life together, but more often it didn't go down exactly as she had imagined. And if this was not working out as she had expected, what did she really want?
"Ollie…" Laurel trailed off.
"Look, Laurel, if you're mad—"
"No, no, I'm not." Laurel said before she took a breath. "I… I guess we both need some time from each other."
"Laurel, that doesn't mean I care about you or that I don't want you in my life. I just…"
"…could we still be friends?" Laurel asked hesitantly after the realization of how naïve she had been regarding Oliver, started to come down on her. "I don't know. But I'm willing to try."
Oliver was at the bar, brooding, when he noticed a brunette woman approach as she sat at the bar and turned to him.
"Why are you all alone here, Oliver?" The woman asked as Oliver turned his head and smiled at his classmate.
"Hey, Samantha." He greeted.
"I thought you'd be with Laurel." Samantha noted.
"No, we're…" Oliver sighed. "We're…" He trailed off as it hit Samantha.
"Oh." Samantha said.
"Honestly, I think this was a long time coming. I mean, we both have come to a realization that it might not work between us and decided that… maybe we need to try something different, apart from each other, since we both apparently wanted different things." Oliver said.
"I see." Samantha nodded in understanding before a bartender poured them drinks. "Thanks." She turned her attention to Oliver again. "And what is it you want, Oliver?"
Oliver took a breath. "Frankly, my parents have paved for me this path that I'm not ready to follow. They think that I will follow their footsteps and take over Queen Consolidated one day, but I don't really see myself like that but it's not like they understand it. In their eyes, I'm their son and they don't see me as my own person. As for what do I want…" He turned to Samantha. "Have you ever been to parties in a nightclub? Bouncers, DJs, bartenders, cocktails, that kind of stuff?"
Samantha shrugged. "I went out a few times with my friends. It was fun. But not really my kind of scenery."
Oliver nodded in understanding. "Yeah, just as much as CEO and these fancier galas aren't really mine."
"But that is?" Samantha gestured to the dance room, where were Tommy and Laurel and other people dancing to some disco music.
"Not tonight." Oliver said.
"But running a nightclub is something you'd like to do." Samantha pointed out as Oliver considered.
"Maybe one day." Oliver said before turning to her. "What about you?"
"This, actually." Samantha said. "Talking. Counseling. Helping. I'm getting a psychology major. I can tell you seem lost, Oliver. And you need some guidance."
"And you think you can point me to the right direction?" Oliver asked.
"You tell me. Does it feel like one?" Samantha asked as they smiled at each other.
"I think only time will tell." Oliver said as they clinked their glasses. "Thanks. I needed that."
And like that, they continued talking and got a few more drinks until the night faded into blur in their minds.
When Samantha came to, she felt a splitting headache as she stirred before she felt the warmth of Oliver's body on hers, both of them snuggled to each other and their clothes scattered on the floor. Samantha slowly moved away before she heard Oliver groan softly as he came to and both of them smiled at each other as they noticed that they were in Samantha's apartment close to the college.
"Hey." Samantha said.
"Hi." Oliver said as they both got up, trying to suppress the hangover as Samantha put on her top and shorts, while Oliver put on his jeans and shirt.
"Last night was quite interesting, wasn't it?" Oliver said as he pulled the curtain but Samantha groaned as the sunlight shone on her face.
"Can you pull them back?" Samantha groaned as Oliver realized she must have gotten hungover. "I swear, you party boys have much more endurance to alcohol than me."
"You might get used to it." Oliver said as Samantha chuckled before he turned to the clock. "Don't you have a class—"
"It's Saturday." Samantha reminded as Oliver blushed, mildly embarrassed. "Maybe I don't wanna get used to alcohol."
Oliver chuckled. "So… about what we did last night—"
Samantha realized where he was going with it. "I don't know. Look, Oliver, I don't really wanna be one of those one-night stand girls you will later ditch and move on to another but on the other hand, dating someone like you…"
Oliver nodded in understanding. "So, we'll see where we go from here?"
"We'll see." Samantha said.
Later, Samantha moved to Central City due to a college program she was interested in until she realized she was pregnant but by the time she had seen the news that the Queen's Gambit had sunk. She felt saddened and devastated that her child would never get to know its father and so, she was left to raise her son William on her own.
Five years later, when Oliver returned back from the island, it came as quite a shock to Samantha and she needed time to process until around the New Year in 2013, Oliver got a call from her and decided to visit her in Central City to get to know William. Considering the baggage Oliver had been through, Samantha was unsure whether there could still be more between them, but she decided to at least allow Oliver to get to know his son and by small steps letting him know about who he was until they would both decide to reveal William's parentage.
One night, a deranged man named Simon Morrison, who had been going by alias 'Adrian Chase' and had learnt Oliver's secret and wanted a revenge on him for murdering Chase's father, attempted to abduct them both, but Oliver managed to show up just in time and subdue Chase and send him to A.R.G.U.S. black site supermax prison. While the event had traumatized Samantha and William a bit, in William's eyes, Oliver was the hero who had saved his mother.
Now, would Oliver/Samantha actually work? Who knows. We didn't get to see much of Samantha as a person, asides from her being a caring mother and somewhat reasonable, but her forcing Oliver to keep quiet about William was just to make Felicity likeable and justify her breakup with Oliver, which was beyond stupid and infuriating and to Olicity fans I say this, Felicity had NO RIGHT at all to interfere in William's life and there was nothing for her and Oliver to discuss regarding Oliver sending William away and anyone trying to justify Felicity's actions will only prove to me how retarded they are and I will not give a damn about your justifications of Felicity's actions, plus she proved herself to be a huge hypocrite, when she apologized to Oliver for William in 5x20 (which I never bought, BTW) and then again threw a fit at Samantha that she should have been consulted regarding sending William away in 5x23.
And as for Adrian Chase/Prometheus, to be blunt, as much as Josh Segarra was great in the role, Chase was an overrated villain, IMO, there are a lot of issues I have with him as the main villain, among them being that he was a son of an insignificant character they decided to come up with in Season 5 and almost every main villain had some personal connection to Oliver, like Malcolm, Slade and Ra's and Darhk because of the League, Chase's link to Oliver because of the List was a very weak link at best. I also heard theories that it was a last-minute decision on the side of the showrunners to make Chase Prometheus, which wouldn't surprise me, given how incompetent Guggenheim and Mericle are and besides, it only made the whole Team Arrow, especially Oliver, Quentin and Thea, who had day-to-day interactions with Chase, completely braindead and even more in 5x15-16.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.
With regards
Bl4ckHunter