Oliver, after enduring the uncomfortably formal dinner with his mother, Walter, Thea, and Tommy, woke up with the intention of handing his sister a gift.

He walked into her room to see an empty bed that looked as if it hadn't been used in months. He then walked out to the dining room to see his mother. "Where's Thea?"

Moira sipped her tea, as she observed her beloved son. "A year ago, she started a business venture with Laurel. She often spends the night over at her apartment, to work on their legal practice."

Before he could utter a word, Tommy then ran into the room. "You ready man?"

"Yeah."

As they were speeding down the streets, the streets of the Glades were still being repaired after Black Canary's war with the Bratva and Brickwell. It reminded Oliver of what he had promised Anatoly, that he had to kill Black Canary.

Tommy bragged about his sexual exploits, as they sped down the roads. "And I intend on a similar target-rich environment, only with my wingman back in his saddle."

Tommy then stopped in front of the old Queen Steel mill. "Why did you want to see this place anyway?"

Oliver stared at the old mill. "No reason."

"So, what did you miss the most? Steaks at The Palm? Pasta at that fancy exclusive Italian restaurant? Drinks at The Station? Meaningless sex?"

Oliver shook his head. "Laurel." It was always Laurel.

Tommy shook his head in pity. "Ollie, everyone is happy your alive, and you want to see the one person that isn't?"

Oliver simply shrugged. He had a lot to make up for in regards to the woman, who had unknowingly saved his life countless times during his five years in hell.

"Alright man, but a word of warning. She's changed since you last saw her."

'That makes two of us.' Oliver thought.

Thea and Laurel were walking to their office, as Thea answered her phone and hung up a few minutes later.

"Hunt's Lawyers have filed a change of venue. We are now in front of Grell." Thea, then glanced up at the sky in an attempt to recall where she had heard the Judge's name. "Wasn't him, that your Dad's partner alluded to be in Hunt's pocket, last month?"

Laurel hummed in agreement. She was remembering when she and Thea had lunch with her father, and Hilton, to see if the SCPD had evidence on Hunt. Between her familial connections, and their steady stream of desserts, that were given to CNRI in lieu of payment, helped keep her and Thea in the SCPD's good graces.

"We will adapt, we always do." Laurel then froze as she saw Oliver sitting silently and patiently on one of their couches, as if he was a potential client, awaiting legal consultation.

Oliver smiled slightly, as he stood. It was the first time he had seen Laurel in five years. Five years since he had seen Laurel in the flesh, that wasn't a worn photograph or a hallucination. "Hello Laurel, Thea."

Thea looked between them, noticing the tension between the two people she respected the most in the world. "I'll get us some coffee, Laurel." She then walked out and putting up a sign saying that they will be back in half an hour.

Oliver watched his sister leave, before focussing on Laurel. "You went to Law School. You said you would."

"Yeah, everyone is proud." She replied more forcefully than she intended. Seeing him alive, it brought up some unwanted and complicated concoction of emotions.

He wanted to say that he was, but he doubted she wanted to hear his opinions on the matter. "Tommy also mentioned that you left Starling for just over four years." He watched Laurel stiffen slightly. "Yeah, I needed a change in scenery."

Oliver didn't want to push, considering he was the one that caused her moving away from her father, the last of her blood family. "Adam Hunt is a big hitter." He said instead, changing the topic to calmer waters.

Laurel nodded. "He's not our first and certainly won't be our last."

Oliver looked at her with curiosity, he noticed that she kept implying that she hadn't done it alone, that she was a part of a team. "Who was the first?"

"Big hitter?" She asked in surprise. "Daniel Brickwell. Is that what you want to talk about after five years, my office's case history?"

"Not really." He answered as he idly brushed his fingers together. He had anticipated this being a hard reunion. He didn't realize how much it would hurt, how much Laurel endured, how he missed important milestones in Laurel's and Thea's lives.

"Then why are you here Ollie?" She asked as she watched him, he looked so lost. She supposed that it made sense, he did spend five years alone in the North China Sea.

He recalled both times Sara was pulled beneath the ocean. "To apologize, about Sara. I shouldn't have let…"

Laurel shook her head. "She made her own choice, Ollie. She chose to go on The Gambit with you." She then took a calming breath. "It took me so long to start moving on with my life after you and Sara betrayed me…"

This was certainly not what he wanted. He knew that she wouldn't forgive him just like that, but it still hurt nonetheless. Especially her dismissing his apology. "I'm so sorry, Laurel. I'm also sorry that the actions before—everything happened, lead you to believe that I cheated on you, with your sister. She— We never slept together."

Laurel looked at him, with a curious, yet, wary look. "What are you saying?"

Oliver gulped, as he remembered Sara being dragged under the water. "Sara, she had organized a last-minute backpacking trip across Asia. From what I remember, she had spoken to my dad about giving her a free voyage to China. We thought you and your family knew. I'm so sorry, Laurel."

She felt the wind escape her lungs. "Me too," She said softly. "But we can't keep dwelling on the past, we have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off" She then walked into her office and closed the door behind her and took a calming breath.

Oliver watched her retreat and knew she needed time. He wondered where she had found this philosophy of moving forward. And wished, not for the first time, that he could be with her, and comfort her.

Perhaps, Tommy was right, Laurel had become stronger, and less reliant on others. She definitely seemed more self-assured.

As Oliver walked out of CNRI's office, Tommy walked towards him. "I told you she had changed. She ran headlong against a guy that was corrupting Starling. In the process, she lost her friend and colleague."

Oliver had just set up his operations center after, he and Tommy had been kidnapped, and his mother then promptly forced him to have a bodyguard.

He looked over at monitor discussing Adam Hunt. He opened the book that his father had given to him, with the list inside. The list of Starling's criminals and the corrupt.

He saw two names. Adam Hunt and Daniel Brickwell.

He crossed out Brickwell's name and decided that he had to take out Hunt before Laurel or Thea were hurt and, to remove him from the list. He also made a note to research how Laurel managed to take out Brickwell.

Adam Hunt and his men were in a parking garage when an arrow flew past them taking out the lights.

Another arrow flew and killed a guard. The other guard was dispatched as he had put Hunt in the Town Car.

Hunt then was pulled out of the car and onto the ground, with the glass shards around him. "What?"

The green hooded archer jumped from the car roof and grabbed the man by his collar, lifting him up into the air. He then commanded Hunt to deliver forty million dollars into the designated bank account or he would take it and Hunt wouldn't enjoy the outcome.

After Oliver had just been named; Man of The Hour, at his welcome home party, he saw Laurel standing near the back door. He proceeded to walk over to her, uttering his thanks to people who he passed by.

He eventually opened the door, and Laurel followed him out to the corridor. She had been feeling guilty for what she had said earlier. It was unfair and cruel.

"Ollie, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted the when you came to visit me. I let my anger get the best of me."

Oliver brushed his hand against hers. He had missed the warmth of her skin. "If I could have traded places with her, I would have."

Laurel nodded and played with her overcoat, that she was holding. "About Sara…" She took a deep breath. "I have been struggling with this for a while, and I need to know, did she suffer?"

"No." was his immediate reply.

She exhaled. She was grateful that her little sister hadn't suffered. She had accepted years ago, with the help of Ted, that some questions would never be answered. And, sometimes it was better if she didn't dwell on it. But Ollie had given her closure.

"I think about her every day." She revealed without thinking much, that was part of the reason she had fallen in love with him. That she felt she could be honest with him, that she felt safe with him to not have to filter her thoughts.

Oliver nodded. "Me too."

Laurel then touched her pendant. The pendant that Oliver had bought for her for their anniversary, almost half a year before The Gambit sunk. The small black bird on a golden medallion. The inspiration for her name at night.

"Looks like we still have something in common." She said, in an attempt to mend bridges.

Oliver then smiled softly at her. "We also have Speedy. I heard that you have been looking out for her."

Laurel returned the smile. "She's been a godsend for the last year." She then looked into his blue eyes, searching to see if she could see the sweet boy she once knew. "I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but if you need to talk, I'm willing to listen."

She was willing to let the past stay in the past, and offer him a hand of friendship, in spite of their troubled history.

Oliver then received a message on his phone. He sighed; he didn't want to leave her as they were reconnecting. "I have to go. I asked someone to do something for me, but they didn't." He then looked at the woman he loved and he hated that he had to break her heart to keep her safe from the life he has been living the past five years.

He shut his eyes forcefully and sighed, before looking into her eyes. "Laurel, you always saw the best in me. And now you're doing it again, you're wondering if the island had changed me somehow, it didn't." He watched her clench her fists and blink away tears. He hated how he had to do this. "Stay away from me. Or I'm gonna hurt you again."

Laurel took a few steps towards him. Controlling her tears. He didn't deserve seeing her tears. "You know what Oliver? You're wrong. Before the island, you would have slept with me and behind my back slept anything that moved. At least you now have the honesty to tell me that you're a bastard."

She then stormed off. She felt both relief and guilt at her how she felt. He hadn't deserved such a hostile response from her after returning back to civilization, but he had started his Game of Hot and Cold with her. A dance, she no longer wanted a part of.

She was no longer going to be taken for granted by Oliver.

She had to hit someone. She took a cab to her place before putting on her suit to leave.

After taking out a group of muggers harassing tourists, she heard over her radio about a B&E and multiple homicides at Adam Hunt's building. She took her motorbike and made her way to the location.

She saw her father talking to Hilton just outside the lobby of Hunt's building. She waited in the shadows, until her father eventually saw her, and made his way over to her. He walked over to an alcove and directed her to follow.

"I thought you were near Starling Bay?" Her father said, as his eyes watched for any wandering eyes.

Laurel turned off her modulator but spoke with a low voice. "Yeah, I took out a couple of guys trying to mug a couple of tourists."

Her father's lips upturned slightly. "Where's your partner?"

"She's busy." She quickly said.

"Likely at Queen's Welcome Home Bash." He said with a slight snort.

Her lips moved, but she didn't say anything. Did he already know Thea was working alongside her?

Her father shook his head, with a small smirk, and continued to talk softly to others couldn't overhear. "Suppose it makes sense that she eventually joined your nightly patrols. She always looked up to you, and since you took her under your wing, you've both been joined at the hip." He smirked again. "No pun intended, Ms. Canary."

Laurel smiled back at the jest. "I'm sure." She retorted playfully.

"You two have really gotten close since then waded through Brickwell's corruption, Joanna's death. She's really become a diligent and driven woman, like someone else I know." He gave her a knowing look.

Rather than feeling pride at her father's compliment, Laurel sobered, at the thought of Joanna. "Need any help with what happened? Hunt was ready for trial in a few days."

Lance shook his head. "This guy" He pointed at Hunt's building. "The Man in The Hood, he's likely former special forces or something. He ripped through Hunt's guards and evaded us. He is lethal with a bow and arrow. And he wears green."

She nodded, as she mentally noted down what her father said. "Any suspects on our Robin Hood?"

Her father gave her a sympathetic look. "Only one right now, and it's circumstantial at best. Baby, it's Queen."

She felt her brows furrow. "Ollie was never in the special forces."

"I know, but we have no idea what he had to do on that island. No one, but he truly knows who was on the island with him, and what he had to do to survive." He sighed as he noticed his daughter, give him a disbelieving look. "The timing matches, he returns and this Hood Guy appears. Reminds me of a certain Woman in Black situation. She returns back home after years away and has learned the ancient ways of martial arts."

"Using me as precedent?" She scoffed. "Dad, this is Ollie, a guy who sleeps with models and crashes expensive cars for a living."

He raised his hands. "I'm just going where the evidence and my gut leads me."

She quirked her brow at her father. She knew that this wasn't the time to air her grievances, but she had to get her father to see reason.

"Ollie didn't kill Sara." He had the grace to look at the floor. "He didn't cheat on me with her either. Sara—She told Robert that we all knew about her making a spur of the moment decision on her, backpacking around Asia." She said, recalling Oliver's remorseful emotions leaking from his voice and his face. "Robert took her on The Gambit. Not Oliver."

"Laurel, I—" He stammered.

"At least, give him the benefit of the doubt. If not for him, then for me, or the third daughter you managed to all but adopt." She said, with a small smile, thinking of Thea.

"Alright." He reluctantly said. "For you and Thea. For my girls."

Before she left, she looked over her shoulder to see her father. "Did you think I was in the special forces, initially?"

Lance sniggered. "Initially? No. You were a ghost after you started fighting out of the shadows, it was one of the theories though," He said. "Pike was adamant the for a while, you were a former or a surviving Marine."