Chapter 9
AN1: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO Mocking_point who has helped me more than I can put into words.
I AM SO SORRY that there has been another break. I really hope you like the next few chapters. I've found out that I will be losing my current job at the end of January as the organization I'm apart of re-structures, I don't know what that means,i i'm desperately searching for a new job, but I hope I will be able to update this story more regularly.
ALSO, I promise the big changes are coming, it's just a couple of chapters away.
Hope you had a good holiday series.
A week has passed since Oliver's welcome home party and even though Thea has spent some time with her brother Laurel has been avoiding the older Queen as much as she can, something which Bruce annoyingly pointed out is exactly what he wanted.
It's about four thirty am and Laurel is still in the Glades dressed as the Women in Black, where she has been for hours, fighting three drug dealers she has been tracking for days.
As she ducks, sing one of her batons, to hit one of the drug dealers in the stomach, Laurel quickly pulls her second to hit another around the knees and as she turns back to the third Laurel feels something painful graze her upper arm.
"Looks like you're not as invisible as you think," The Drug Dealer who is holding a gun, says. Hearing the words Laurel just smirks back before she throws her baton, using it to knock the gun out of the person hands before using the person she hit in the stomach, almost like a vault, to kick off of so that she can land a punch to the face of the person who had the gun. Once he is down Laurel picks her baton back up and as she does the other two start to run so Laurel just throws her batons at them, knocking them both out when the batons hit their heads. Once they are all knocked out Laurel pulls a file out of her jacket and puts it next to the guy who held the gun, putting the gun on top to stop it from flying away, before she heads out of the alley.
Half an hour later, having wanted to be careful that she wasn't followed, Laurel has arrived back at home and is sitting on her bed, only wearing her pyjama pants and a tank top. Knowing what she has to do Laurel moves the cloth she is holding arm and picks up a needle from the military grade medical kit Bruce sent her, and starts to stich up her arm, something that is rather difficult to do with one hand, but Laurel makes it work.
Once she has fixed her arm Laurel moves anything sharp off her bed, but leaves the rest, and the second she puts her head against the pillow Laurel falls fast asleep.
A couple of hours later, across town from where Laurel stitched up her own arm, Oliver is in his bedroom at the mansion trying to find everything and everything he can about the women in black. As he searches Oliver finds a report that says she might have been seen in Gotham, but it doesn't feel right to him, so he dismisses it.
"Who are you?" Oliver asks as he reads another report, this one about three drug dealers getting taken down by the women who left enough evidence to put them away for a while. "Why are you doing this?" Oliver asks curious, as for a week he has been trying to figure out who the women is, or at least a way for him to be at the same place as her, and so far he has come up with no answer.
"Wow, you really are in your own little world," A voice says and Oliver looks up and sees Tommy.
"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Oliver asks confused.
"The better question is why aren't you dressed? Courts don't take kindly to people showing up in their pyjamas, or have you forgotten?" Tommy asks as he walks over.
"Court?" Oliver asks confused.
"Yeah, you're being brought back from the dead today, remember?" Tommy asks, not understanding how his friend could have forgotten.
"Right, that's today," Oliver realises.
"What's got you so interested?" Tommy asks, as he walks over and has a look at Oliver's computer screen. "Ah, I see. You gonna give a reward for finding her too?" Tommy asks, talking about the reward Oliver offered to find the 'hood,'.
"No, I don't think so," Oliver responds. "I'll be downstairs in a few,"
"Good, because you really don't want to be late," Tommy says before leaving.
Once Tommy has left Oliver saves all the information about the Woman in Black that he has been collecting before he heads off to get changed.
At Laurel and Thea's place Thea is just finishing getting breakfast ready when Laurel walks into the kitchen.
"Did you get any sleep?" Thea asks Laurel. "Because no offense, but you look a panda with those bags," Thea comments.
"Thanks Speedy," Laurel says sarcastically.
"I said no offence," Thea defends. "So, how much sleep did you get?" Thea asks curious.
"Not as much as I should have, and I have to be in court in an hour," Laurel explains.
"Wow, I wish you luck for that," Thea tells Laure, really not envying her position.
"Thanks, I need coffee and concealer," Laurel comments.
"Well, there is coffee in the pot, and food should be warm for a while. I've got to get to school," Thea comments. "Good luck with court while sleep deprived," Thea says, before giving Laurel a quick hug before she goes.
"Thanks, I'm going to need it," Laurel comments, as she heads over to the coffee pot so that she can drink as much coffee as possible before she leaves.
A couple of hours later Oliver has been declared alive and after informing Walter that he doesn't want to go to Queen Consolidated today Oliver and Tommy are leaving the courthouse when Oliver almost walks straight into Laurel, and the second he sees her, even though Laurel is doing her best to hide it, he can tell that she is exhausted for some reason.
"Hi," Oliver says when he sees Laurel.
"What are you doing here?" Laurel asks, completely confused, and as she does Oliver notice the bandage, that she is still trying to hide, on Laurel's upper arm.
"Oh, they were bringing me back form the dead. Legally speaking," Oliver explains. "What are you doing here?"
"My job," Laurel says, like it is the most obvious thing.
"Right," Oliver says, as he didn't think about that.
"More like the DA's," Jo corrects.
"Hi," Oliver says to the woman who is with Laurel and Jo.
"Oliver Queen, Emily Nocnti. Oliver just got back from five years on an uncharted island. Before that he was cheating on me with my sister. He was with her when she died, and last week, because there's something he doesn't want me to know, he told me to stay away from him. It was really good advice… excuse me," Laurel says before walking away, it being clear to Oliver that he both hurt Laurel more than he thought and also made her suspicious of him, as despite her words Laurel does not intend to stay away, she intends to find out exactly what is going on.
"It was nice to meet you," Oliver says to Emily as she walks away with Jo and Laurel.
"Come on, Buddy, shake it off," Tommy says as he places his hands on Oliver's shoulders.
"She's hurt again," Oliver comments.
"What?" Tommy asks confused.
"Laurel," Oliver says. "Last week she was limping and now she has a bandage on her arm, and did you see how tired she looks?" Oliver asks, worry in his voice.
"Laurel always looks tired, she stays up late working," Tommy explains to Oliver.
"Okay, but how do you explain the injuries?" Oliver asks. "Two injuries in that many weeks can't be normal," Oliver says, worrying that Laurel is getting hurt somehow or by someone.
"Laurel's a boxer, she probably got hurt training," Tommy comments as that's the answer he's received when he has asked.
"Maybe," Oliver mutters, not being able to help but think that it is more than that.
The next morning, having spent several hours looking up information on the Woman in Black, Oliver is heading out of the house so that he can go to the family company for the first time, and as he leaves he sees someone who he is very surprised to see.
"Speedy," Oliver says surprised.
"Hey, Ollie," Thea says as she walks over to him.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have school?" Oliver asks, surprised to see her.
"I have a free period, and usually I intern at CNRI during my frees, but considering her recent case has gotten Laurel stuck with a police protection detail she didn't want, Laurel doesn't want me anywhere near CNRI," Thea explains, leaving out the fact that Laurel was able to ditch the protection detail, without anyone realising, the night before to go out as the Woman in Black.
"Is Laurel okay?" Oliver asks worried.
"Yeah, she's fine, more worried about me than herself even though she's the one in danger," Thea admits, telling the complete truth, as ever since Lance assigned the protection detail Laurel has been doing everything she can to make sure Thea's safe.
"Do you want to come inside?" Oliver asks curious.
"No, I still can't walk inside that place," Thea admits. "But, um, do you have a minute?" Thea asks curious. "There's something I want to show you around back," Thea explains, as she wants Oliver to understand things better.
"Sure," Oliver responds, and he and Thea walk around the house, heading to the back.
After a couple of minutes of walking Thea and Oliver arrive at the back of the estate where there are two graves, one belonging to Oliver, one belonging to Robert.
"Sometimes, when I felt... whatever, I'd come here," Thea explains to Oliver. "About a month after the funerals… mom stopped going out. Pretty soon, she stopped talking altogether, she only talking again a few months before she… you know," Thea says, remembering what it took to get Moira to talk again. "The house got so quiet, so I'd come here. To talk to you," Thea says as she points to the grave. "It was stupid stuff. Like what I was doing that day, the person I had a crush on, and then sometimes, I'd ask you, beg you, to find your way home to me. That happened a lot after mom,' Thea reveals, as even though she loves Laurel she missed her brother too. "You finally have, and I am so happy, but Ollie, I know you're making an effort with me, and that means everything to me," Thea admits, as she isn't sure how she would handle it if Oliver pushed her away like he is pushing away Laurel. "But I can't be the only one you let in, I'm not enough," Thea explains. "Laurel, Tommy, they care about you too, you've got to let them in too,"
"You're more than enough," Oliver says putting his arm around Thea's shoulder.
"Doesn't make what I'm saying any less true," Thea informs Oliver. "Me, Tommy, Laurel, we all love you, you shouldn't push us all away," Thea explains. "I've got to get to school," Thea says before leaving, leaving Oliver to stare at the graves as he ponders his sisters words.
Hours later, Laurel is sitting alone in the apartment, having talked to Thea, and encouraged her to spend some time at Ted's. As she sits alone Laurel is working on her latest case, that to her annoyance, has gotten her a protective detail, one that in all honestly Laurel knows she doesn't need, while she also texts with Bruce who she has talked to about how unnecessary she thinks the detail is.
As she works and finishes her dinner, Laurel hears a knock on the door and because she knows that the people who will come after her, either because of the fact that she is the Woman in Black, or for just being Laurel Lance, won't knock Laurel heads straight to the door and opens it without looking through the peep whole.
"I swear Bruce, if you've come all the way from Gotham just to…" Laurel starts to say, but she trails of when she sees Oliver standing on the other side, and Laurel very much wishes that she checked first.
"Bruce? Bruce Wayne? You're still friends?" Oliver asks curious, as he knows that while he, Tommy and Laurel all became friends with Bruce he and Laurel were always closer; and he never completely understood their relationship.
"Yeah," Laurel confirms, not wanting to get into her friendship with Bruce with Oliver. "If you're looking for Thea she's not here," Laurel informs Oliver.
"I'm not. I'm here to see you," Oliver reveals.
"Really?" Laurel asks annoyed. "How exactly am I supposed to stay away from you when you won't stay away from me?" Laurel asks, anger in her voice. "What are you doing here, Ollie?" Laurel asks.
"Earlier today Thea pointed out that I've been pushing people who knew me before away, and that I shouldn't do that anymore," Oliver explains to Laurel.
"So, you thought you'd start with the first person you pushed away?" Laurel asks, though she still suspects that there is something Oliver isn't telling her.
"I did that to protect you," Oliver says, and while Laurel understands the desire to protect the people you care about, she wouldn't do that by intentionally hurting them. "And then I saw you yesterday and I realized that I hurt you," Oliver explains and as he does Laurel steps aside and lets Oliver into the apartment. "You know, I noticed last week, apart from the bed in your office, this place hasn't changed in five years," Oliver comments.
"I haven't really had time to redecorate," Laurel says, knowing that that is an understatement.
"I'm a jerk," Oliver informs Laurel. "Before the island, I was a jerk, and now I'm just a damaged jerk,' Oliver explains.
"What's in the bag?" Laurel asks as honestly, she cannot deny any of what Oliver is saying, but she also suspects that there are things he is not saying.
"I thought about many things on the Island, but there was one thing that I thought about every day. I actually dreamed about it, and I promised myself that if I ever got a chance to do it again, I'd do it with you," Oliver comments and honestly Laurel really hopes this isn't going where she thinks it is. "Eat ice cream," Oliver says as he pulls a tub out of the bag he is holding.
"I'll get spoons," Laurel says before heading to the kitchen.
As Laurel goes to the kitchen Oliver allows himself to actually look around as when he was at Laurel's the week before he didn't really have any right to look around, so he didn't, but now he does. As he looks around Oliver sees a picture that he cannot help but smile at, it's a photo of Laurel and Thea, clearly one of them is holding the camera, each of them having an arm around the other, both of them looking so happy while Laurel is wearing a cap and gown.
"That was my Law School graduation," Laurel's voice says and as she does Oliver realises that she walks very quietly something which he doesn't think she used to do. "Afterwards Thea planned like a weeklong celebration for us,"
"That sounds nice," Oliver comments. "How is Thea doing? Really? After everything? Oliver asks, wondering if he can get Laurel to explain what was really going on when he paid his visit to Star City a couple of years ago.
"She's okay, or as okay as she can be," Laurel admits. "Becoming friends with Roy and Sin have helped a lot, so has maintaining her friendship with Mary," Laurel explains.
"Mary?" Oliver asks, as he isn't sure he knows who that is, then the answer comes to him. "He friend from summer camp? Bruce's step-cousin, right?" Oliver asks.
"Yeah," Laurel confirms. "Thea, Roy, Sin, Mary the four of them are close, even if the other three don't see Mary much, they keep each other out of trouble," Laurel admits. "Except of course when they purposely get into trouble because they think it's the right thing to do," Laurel explains.
"What do you mean?" Oliver asks.
"A couple of years ago a friend of theirs overdosed, after their first time trying something so when Mary, who came with Bruce who was attending Tommy's birthday, came for a visit, the four of them snuck into said party to buy of the dealer so they could hand the details over to my Dad to get them arrested," Laurel explains, unknowingly giving Oliver the exact answer he's been wondering about. "I was furious with them, so was Bruce," Laurel admits, knowing that what happened never made it back to Jacob Kane and Catherine Hamilton-Kane, but that didn't stop her and Bruce from expressing their disappointment.
"I don't blame either of you there," Oliver comments, being glad to finally have the full explanation.
"How about we get started on that Ice Cream," Laurel suggests.
"I'd like that," Oliver answers, and both he and Laurel head over to the couch and sit down, Laurel on the couch while Oliver sits on the ground.
For the next few minutes Oliver and Laurel sit in silence as they share the ice cream, honestly, neither are sure what to say to the other.
"This is as good as I remember," Oliver informs Laurel after about ten minutes of eating in silence. "The Queen Consolidated board wants me to join the company," Oliver reveals, and honestly Laurel isn't surprised by that as they have wanted Thea to take more of a role for years, but Thea keeps saying no and Laurel respects Thea's choice and has fought on her behalf to make sure her wishes are respected. "Yeah, take my rightful place,"
"I can't exactly picture you as master of the universe," Laurel says with an amused look on her face.
"You know, after five years, I have plans. I have things that I have to do. I can't do that if I'm attending board meetings and stockholder briefings," Oliver comments, trying to explain what is going on with him to Laurel without explaining what he is going to be doing.
"Oliver?"
"Hmm?"
"You're an adult. You can say no," Laurel tells him.
"Oh, I tried. Didn't take," Oliver explains.
"Well, then don't tell them, show them," Laurel suggests. "Be the person you want the board to see you as," Laurel tells Oliver. "Trust me, I have plenty experience with disapproving figures of authority, but in my case it's usually my dad," Laurel explains, knowing that is because she hasn't talked to her mother in a while.
"I have been on receiving end of your father's disapproval," Oliver comments.
"He blames himself more than he blames you," Laurel reveals. "He thinks that, you know, maybe if he and Sara were closer, she would have told him about the boat trip, and he could have stopped her from going with you," Laurel explains.
"I am sorry," Oliver says once more, knowing that he will never be able to apologise enough.
"You apologized already," Laurel says as she avoids looking at him.
"And it'll never be enough," Oliver comments and as he does both Laurel and Oliver turn towards the fire escape as they both hear a sound coming from that direction.
"Did you hear that?" Oliver and Laurel ask each other at the same time.
"There's someone on the fire escape; and that's not how Roy, Sin and Thea sound," Laurel reveals, and Oliver makes a note to ask Laurel how she knows that later.
"We've got to move," Oliver says as he takes Laurel's hand and pulls her towards the front of the apartment, as they get closer to the door it is broken in and so Oliver pulls Laurel towards the bedroom, getting their just as someone breaks in. As another person breaks in Laurel let's go off Oliver's hand so she can punch the man and then kicks him as hard as she can in the stomach. After doing that Laurel runs out of the room just in time to see Oliver throw a knife at a person Laurel knows to be the head of the Triad who is attacking Oliver's bodyguard Diggle.
Once Oliver does that the woman runs and Laurel runs over to Oliver and hugs him, not out of fear, but out of a need to assure herself that he is okay as, unknown to her, Oliver does the same thing for the exact same reason.
"Are you hurt?" Diggle asks.
"No,"
"Are you hurt, Mr Queen?" Diggle asks, wanting to make sure.
"No,"
"This is why it's a good idea to have a bodyguard," Diggle says.
"How'd you know it wasn't Thea and her friends?" Oliver asks Laurel curious.
"I always leave the window open. I've learnt what to be worried about and what not to be," Laurel explains.
"Good skill to have," Oliver responds, and the two of them drift into silence as Oliver just holds Laurel, planning on going after Somers as soon as he can.
Thanks to the call Diggle put in less than ten minutes after Oliver threw the knife at the triad member Lance runs into the apartment, Laurel having placed a call to Thea to tell her to stay where she is for the time.
"Daddy," Laurel says as she hurries over to her father and hugs him.
"Oh, thank god. Thank god, are you alright?" Lance asks his daughter.
"I'm okay," Laurel assures her father as they break apart. "The cops you put on me…" Laurel starts to ask.
"I went outside to ask for a light and they were both dead in the squad car," Diggle says and as he does Laurel walks over to him.
"Mr Diggle, thank you. Feel free to run as many red lights in the city as you want," Lance says as he shakes Diggle's hand.
"I was just doing my job, Sir," Diggle says.
"No, your job is protecting him," Lance says, looking at Oliver. "It seems like whenever you're with one of my daughters, people die. You stay away from Laurel, or I swear the next time you disappear, it will be permanent," Lance says angrily.
"Dad!" Laurel exclaims.
"No, Laurel, it's okay. I understand,' Oliver says. "We should go," Oliver says to Diggle and the two of them leave the apartment.
"That was uncalled for," Laurel says to father, while heading to her room, as soon as Oliver leaves.
"No, this was," Lance says angrily as he follows his daughter. "You're gonna go back to that courtroom tomorrow and you're gonna recuse yourself from this case, all right? Or drop it. Either way, you're done," Lance says angrily as Laurel walks across the room to pick up her bag which has her Woman in Black gear inside, though it looks like a gym bag.
"If you think I'm gonna abandon Emily Nocenti then you don't know me all that well," Laurel says as she pushes past her father.
"You don't know me well, young lady, I will lock you in a call if that's what it takes," Lance says, completely meaning that.
"Well, I guess that's what it's gonna take then," Laurel says as she walks to the front door.
"Damn it Laurel! I thought after what happened to Sara you'd stop being so reckless," Lance says, saying one of the main reasons why Laurel didn't tell her father that she's the Woman in Black.
"It's not about being reckless! It's just the opposite. I'm trying to make this city safer, just like you," Laurel says, turning around to face her father, speaking about both her day and night nob.
"Sweetie, you're my only daughter. Laurel, you're all I have left to live for," Lance tells Laurel as he puts his hands on her shoulders.
"But what you want for me isn't living. Having cops around, not being able to do my job," Laurel informs her father.
"Your job is not going after people Somers or the triad!" Lance says, his voice full of anger.
"My job is use the law to fight for what is right. Just like you taught me," Laurel tells her father, figuring that if she uses his words against him then maybe, just maybe, she'll get through to him.
"Well, that's dirty. Using me against me. You can't do that," Lance says.
"Well, maybe I picked that up along the way too," Laurel says. "I've got to go,"
"Go? Where are you going?" Lance asks confused.
"Thea's at Ted's," Laurel explains. "He's offered his back room for the night, we'll be safe there," Laurel explains, leaving out the fact that Thea will be safe there while she has other plans, she is also pretty sure that Ted is going to insist that they stay at his apartment.
"And you're going to get some boxing in?" Lance asks, honestly, he is glad that Laurel is going to Ted's and he knows Ted, knows that he is probably his daughter's best friend and won't let anyone hurt her.
"Seems as good of a time as any," Laurel informs her father. "I better go, Thea's terrified," Laurel explains.
"I'll drive you," Lance says.
"It'll be okay; no one can catch me on my bike," Laurel comments.
"No…" Lance starts to say but before he can say more he and Laurel both hear;
"Detective, there is something you need to look at,"
"See, you're needed here. I'll be okay," Laurel assures her father, before leaving, not letting him object further. Even though Bruce wanted to know if something like this happened Laurel doesn't call him as this is something she wants to handle herself.
Thanks to her driving, and the fact that she has learnt some pretty great shortcuts, Laurel gets to Ted's relatively quickly. Once she Is there Laurel uses her key to let herself in, locking the door behind her, and she heads out to the back where she finds Ted standing in front of Thea, as if to protect her.
"Laurel," Thea says, pushing her way out from behind Ted and running over to Laurel, who pulls Thea into her arms once she is close enough.
"I'm okay," Laurel assures her. "And so's Ollie," Laurel says.
"Good," Thea says, sounding glad.
"I need another favour," Laurel says, looking at Ted over Thea's head.
"Anything, D," Ted tells her.
"Can Thea stay with her for a while longer?" Laurel asks.
"Of course," Ted answers. "You're going after Somers aren't you?" Ted asks, knowing that he can see the look on Laurel's face and after knowing her so well he knows what it means.
"I have to," Laurel tells Thea. "If it was just me there tonight, I would have let it go, but Ollie could have been killed tonight, and what if it wasn't Ollie with me? What if it was Thea, or Roy, or Sin or Mary?" I have to stop him before he can hurt anyone else," Laurel tells Ted.
"I know," Ted says, knowing that he has no chance of talking Laurel out of this. "Just be careful, Laurel," Ted says, it being clear how concerned he is as ninety percent of the time he calls her D, not Laurel. "Focus on the job, don't let anger, or your need for revenge take over, stay in control," Ted says, stressing the last three words and Laurel knows that if she were to call Bruce, he would tell her the same thing.
"I will," Laurel says.
"Don't die out there," Thea says, before finally ending the hug with Laurel.
"I'll take Thea to my apartment, come by when you're done," Ted tells Laurel. "Minus the mask," he adds.
"I will," Laurel assures him before she heads to the changing rooms while Ted leads Tea out the back, it being clear to him that the teenager is terrified for her guardian.
Not long after she spoke to Ted and Thea Laurel arrives at the docks where she knows Somers conducts his business. As she starts to make her way to the specific place he operates out of Laurel sees that she isn't the only one who decided to pay Somers a visit as the Hood is there and realising her opening Laurel jumps down onto the platform and uses her baton to knock one of Somers men out seconds before he can fire at the hood.
"What are you doing here?" Oliver, as the Hood, asks Laurel after turning on his voice changer.
"Same as you," Laurel says, also using a voice changer, as Oliver fires an arrow at someone above them both and seconds later Laurel once more jumps down a platform to take on another one Somers men.
As Laurel, or the Women in Black, as Oliver knows her to be, jumps down a platform Oliver sees Somers running and as he does Oliver realises that Somers is who he is here for, not his men, so he might as well leave the woman to deal with the men while he takes the big guy.
With her annoyance with the Hood growing with every second Laurel finishes taking down the last of the Somers men by double tapping the men with her batons, one in the stomach and one in the head. As she doesn't even want to think about what the Hood is doing to Somers right now Laurel starts to run the second, she takes down the last man, jumping from platform to storage container to the ground as she runs into the building, just in time to see the Hood starting to fight with a woman who Laurel knows to be China White.
Not even thinking about the consequences Laurel runs forward and joins the fight, causing it to become Laurel and Oliver, as the Women in Black and The Hood, verses China White.
As the three of them hear sirens Laurel, China White, and Oliver run in different directions all three of them knowing they can't get caught by the police, but as Laurel runs she knows, that's to what she's been doing in the recent months, the perfect place to get to so that she can see the way Hood goes so that she can block his way allowing the two of them to have an actual conversation.
