The Final Chapter.
"I'll always be proud of you, my beautiful boy…"
After what he assumed to be a couple of hours after the final battle, Oliver came to, and immediately noted the softness of a bed beneath him in stark contrast to the firm gravel roof of the Zion Building. The memory of his unusual dream remained fresh in his mind. He couldn't exactly make out where he was, but his parents were there. Robert and Moira, who both told him that they were proud of him. Oliver wasn't the type of person to appropriate extranormal meaning to dreams, but a part of him felt as if he really did speak to his parents. He knew it was crazy to feel that way, but he couldn't deny the feeling of content that it gave him.
He rose off the bed and was able to register his surroundings. He was back in his room in the Queen Mansion, and, of course, all of the others were here too. Their demeanour was far more jovial than the last time he'd woken from a slumber, as they all calmly walked towards him with smiles. William was the exception, as he rushed towards his father and wrapped him a tight hug, squeezing a little harder than needed.
"The ribs," groaned Oliver. "Watch the ribs, buddy."
"Sorry," replied William sheepishly, sharing a smile with his father as they let go of each other. Oliver turned his attention to the others, particularly, Kara, Barry and Cisco.
"You guys did it. You saved the city," replied Oliver appreciatively.
"Well, we couldn't have done it without you," replied Barry, confusing Oliver.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You've been a mentor and a friend to all of us. Our steady rock that we could always lean on. None of us would be the people that we are today without you, and we wouldn't have been able to pull it off if you had never showed us how to be true heroes."
Barry's words meant the world to Oliver. "Thank you Barry. Thank you all." He walked over to Diggle behind them, his arm in a sling once again and nursing some injuries. "You alright?" he asked.
"Eh, did worse to myself back in the day," he joked, drawing a chuckle from Oliver. He turned to face the others once again before speaking.
"So, what happened after?" he asked.
"We disarmed the Mutajek 9-9 and I took it to Star Labs," replied Cisco. "I'll see if we can find a non-'city destroying' purpose for it. If not, then we'll dispose of it."
"The city is mostly back to normal," added Kara. "I rounded up as many Cobalt operatives and corrupt city officials as I could, and handed them over to Mack Morgan and his Captain."
"Good," replied Oliver, already thinking about what the near future for Star City was going to look like. He was for sure going to have to hold a press conference explaining himself, but that was a worry for another day.
"So what now?" asked Roy, gesturing to Oliver's bow. "You said you'd be done once you stopped Azrael."
Oliver hadn't forgotten about that promise he made to Thea. He saw his bow perched next to the bed, and collected it before returning to his sister. He held out the bow, giving it to her as a symbol of his retirement. "I promised you I'd stop."
He anticipated her to take the bow from him as she stretched her hand out, but was surprised to see her push it back towards him. "I think Star City is going to need the Green Arrow for a little longer," she added as she slyly smiled. "And he's going to need an Overwatch too," she said, as she looked at Mia, who was dumbfounded by the suggestion.
"What? Me? No, no ways. I mean I'd love to, but what about ARGUS?" she asked, as she looked at Lyla.
"Well, as long as you do your due diligence during the day, you are free to spend your nights however you wish," replied Lyla, giving the blessing. Mia almost squealed like a schoolgirl in excitement, drawing laughter from everybody.
"I hate to break up the party, but it's been a long night," said Oliver.
"Yeah, I ought to head back to Earth-38," said Kara, as she greeted everyone before Cisco opened a breach for her. "Peace out from your favourite Kryptonian," she said, throwing up the peace signs as she stepped through. As soon as she was gone, it was then Barry and Cisco's turn to leave.
"You feeling a hug?" asked Barry, as he greeted Oliver.
"No," replied Oliver bluntly, before changing his mind. "Okay, maybe a little bit," he conceded, as he and Barry embraced. Soon they were gone too, and the others all returned to their rooms to call it a night.
Following a soothing shower, Oliver's phone began ringing as he changed back into clothes. It was his "business" cell, and he answered immediately, seeing that it was Mack Morgan.
"Detective."
"Hey. I just wanted to say thank you. For saving the city."
"How's the family?"
"They're alright. I got them out to my sister's place in San Jose. They'll be back soon. I'm here at the precinct with Smith. He knows I've been working with you, and wants to talk."
Oliver was reluctant to accept at first, but decided there'd be no harm in hearing what Smith had to say. "Put him on."
A couple of seconds later, Morgan's voice was replaced by the deeper, southern one. "I know that I've been very harsh on you and your friends in the past, but we'd all be dead right now if it weren't for you lot. I never thought I'd ever say this to a vigilante, but thank you. Maybe the city needs you more than I can admit."
"Thank you," replied Oliver, appreciative of the sincerity behind Smith's words. The voice switched back to Morgan immediately. Oliver heard him move away from Smith and lower his voice.
"Hey, just between you and me… You and Queen? You two obviously 'work' together, right?"
Oliver knew exactly what the young detective was asking. "You could say that," replied Oliver nonchalantly, giving the answer that Morgan was looking for.
"Yeah, sure. Well, once again, thank you. Are you going to be sticking around for a while?"
"Yeah," replied Oliver.
"Alright. I'll still be here to help if you need me."
"I appreciate it, Detective. Goodnight," said Oliver, as he hung up the phone.
Once he finished dressing, he immediately exited his room to go to Mia's, hoping that she was awake. He knocked on her door, and heard her say that he could come in. She was in bed, but awake and on her phone.
"What's wrong?" she asked as she sat up.
"Nothing," replied Oliver, as he sat down on the edge of her bed. She noticed that he was well dressed, looking quite dapper.
"Where are you going dressed like that?" she asked.
"I'll tell you after I speak about what I came here for," he said. "So, you're going to be my Overwatch from now on, and I couldn't be more excited about that. However, you need to know that we're not always going to have days like this. You'll make a mistake, you'll slip up, but that's okay. Also, the last woman who was my Overwatch, she was… truly special. I don't mean to put pressure on you, but you have her mantle now. I don't expect you to live up to it, but you do need to honour it. However, I have complete and utter faith that you will, because there's no other person I'd rather have follow in her footsteps than you."
"That means a lot. Thank you."
"Goodnight," said Oliver, as he rose from the bed and headed for the door. She quickly called him back, not forgetting what he'd said before.
"Wait. You still haven't told me where you're going," she said.
"Oh, right… I took what you said about learning how to live again seriously, and that's what I'm going to go do."
"How?" she asked, curious.
"Well, to quote one of my favourite movies… I gotta go see about a girl."
As soon as Oliver found himself in front of apartment 4A, his anxiety became palpable as his heart pounded against his chest. He consciously tried to bring down his heart rate with a breathing technique he'd learned from Tatsu in Hong Kong, but right now, it was working only to a small degree. He couldn't understand how he was more nervous right now than he was before he fought Azrael. It was honestly comical, but certainly no laughing matter to him. He eventually found himself calm enough to knock on the door. A few seconds later, the door opened.
"Hey," said Kara, as she opened the door.
"Hi," replied Oliver. "Sorry to bother you so late, I just really need to talk to you. Can I come in?" he asked. It was just past midnight on Earth-38 like on Earth-1, but Kara had no problem with letting Oliver in.
"Yeah, sure," she replied as she stepped aside for him to enter. He took several steps in and scanned the apartment. He hadn't been here in over two years, but it was still relatively the same, with only a few decorations having changed. "So, what do you need to talk about?" she asked, as she walked around to in front of him.
Oliver took a deep breath before speaking. "First of all, I just want to say thank you again. Not just for saving my life and helping me save the city, but also for being there for me when you weren't obligated to."
"You know you don't have to me thank me for that, Oliver."
"I know, because I didn't just come here to say that. What I really came here to say is that… I… Gosh I thought this would be easier."
"It's okay, Oliver, don't be nervous," she said, giggling. "You know you can talk to me about anything. Just say it."
In that moment when he saw her smile, the one that he'd seen a million times before yet never failed to mesmerise him, Oliver 'turned off' his head and began speaking purely from his heart.
"Over the past few months, I have had to endure a lot. I lost purpose, and I ended up not knowing how to live anymore. It was due to a lot of things, but one of the main reasons was because I didn't have you in my life anymore. I'm sorry that I pushed you away. I thought I was doing it to protect you, but now I know that I just ended up hurting you. I've realised that I have wasted so much time in my life, and I don't want to waste any more. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that… I still love you, Kara, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I just want to know if you still feel the same way."
He gazed deeply into her ocean blue eyes, unable to anticipate what her answer would be. Her immediate answer was not with her words, as she closed the distance between them, planting her lips firmly on his. The kiss was gentle at first, but it gradually became more intense and passionate.
"Of course I do," she said in between breaths, as their lips continued to delicately play with each other's, causing fervent flutters in their stomachs to rise up to their chest.
Even as they moved to her bedroom, their lips barely parted except for the occasional breath of air. They revitalised their love, and it was in those moments that for the first time in a long time, both Oliver Queen and Kara Danvers felt not just truly happy, but at blissful peace.
A/N: The End.
I've been working on this story since April of last year, pouring my heart and soul into it, and I hope that you've all enjoyed it. Thank you to my beta (Kara Smoak on FFN and AO3) for helping me, and a massive thank you to all of you for reading and leaving kudos and comments.
I really love what I've built with this universe, and I'm pleased to tell you all that I've written a prequel and am currently working on a sequel to this story. The prequel, called "Do I Wanna Know?", takes place in mid-2019 and will follow Oliver and Kara as they begin dating, transitioning from friends to romantic partners. It'll carry a much lighter tone than this story, with minimal action and more humourous character interactions. It's complete and all the chapters are posted.
The sequel is called "Destiny's Incertitude", and follows Oliver and the others directly after this story as they deal with the aftermath of Azrael's attack on the city. The first few chapters are up :)