Chapter 12

Author's Note: So, it's been a while since I've done any writing. A combination of real world things have held me back for a while, but recently something heavy went down and I've found that writing is a good distraction. I wrote the majority of this chapter in barely any time at all, so with any luck I can keep this pace up for a while.

I'm not totally happy with this, but I can't figure out a better way to write this and it's been forever since I've given you an update anyway so I figured you deserved it.

Oliver had raced from the warehouse the moment Jeremiah had left his sight. As soon as he had switched his comms back on, he had heard the conversation between Alex, the D.E.O and Supergirl. He had heard J'onn's concern, Alex's fear, Kara's strain. Astride his motorcycle Oliver had rushed in the direction of the frigate's flightpath, Winn guiding him on a private channel. Listening to Kara struggle to stop the frigate had been torturous for Oliver, hearing her cries of pain, hearing her scream under the strain of trying to carry the weight of the ship, under the fear of losing her sister. By the time Oliver caught up the ship was invisible to him, too high in the sky for him to pick up. All-but directly below them, Oliver scrambled from his bike, allowing it to drop down ungracefully into the coarse sand of the desert.

Then, his comms fell silent and Oliver stopped breathing.

The comms stayed silent; Oliver and those at the D.E.O. unsure if Kara had been successful, all of them too afraid to say a word in case the worst had happened.

"Supergirl," J'onn spoke tentatively. "Is the ship secure?"

"Yeah," Alex's whispered reply came. "She did it."

Oliver let out a sigh of relief, his whole body relaxing as tension flooded from him. It wasn't long before Oliver saw something shift in the sky, the faint dot of the frigate getting larger as it sailed back to the surface. The frigate approached the ground quickly, thudding into the sand not far from where Oliver stood and sending out a shockwave that almost knocked him from his feet. Quickly grounding himself, Oliver started towards the frigate, seeing Kara still levitating at the front of the ship. Before Oliver could make it to her, Kara dropped from her position and collapsed down into the sand. Putting a greater effort into his step, Oliver ran toward Kara.

The Kryptonian had sunk to the ground, sitting in the sand, her back propped up against the hull of the ship. As Oliver ran closer, he saw that Kara's head was lolled back, her eyes shut, her chest rising and falling quickly. Oliver dropped to his knees in the sand, practically skidding to a halt beside Kara. As if sensing his presence, Kara heaved her head up and opened her eyes.

"Hey." Kara panted breathlessly with a weak smile.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked, his eyes running over her automatically to check for injuries, even though he knew she wouldn't have any.

Kara's grin came on a little stronger. "Just peachy, it only weighed…a hundred thousand or so tonnes," She wheezed. "Just a light workout. It is only a Wednesday."

Oliver couldn't help but to chuckle a little beside himself. "You've barely broken a sweat, doesn't even look like you were trying."

Kara laughed openly for a moment, her hand wordlessly slipping into Oliver's. "Flatterer."

XXX

"Oliver?" Alex called tentatively as she walked into Kara's apartment. "You here?"

Oliver looked up from where he had been sat at the kitchen island to see the elder Danvers sibling walk in and swallowed heavily. After Kara had returned the frigate to the ground, the D.E.O. had arrived to help get all the abducted families back to where they belonged, and Oliver and Kara had headed back into National City to get a well-deserved rest. Kara had insisted Oliver stay at her apartment, not wanting him to have to spend another night sleeping at the D.E.O. and despite his attempts to refuse Kara had given him little choice, and since the bag packed with his civilian clothes had still been strapped to the back of his bike, Oliver hadn't had an excuse to say no. He had been nervous about staying there, not wanting to have to explain the details of Jeremiah's disappearance to Kara and Alex. Thankfully, the Kryptonian said nothing, and Alex had returned to the D.E.O. for a debrief with J'onn.

By the time Oliver had woken the following morning – his back aching a little from sleeping on Kara's couch – Kara had already gone. On the table had been a note informing him that Kara had gone into CatCo. and had a dinner meeting, so to not expect her back until late that evening. Oliver had taken the day as a chance to wind down after the intensity of his time on Earth-38, and to prepare for how to explain the Jeremiah situation to Alex and Kara. Alex walking in before he was ready had thrown a wrench in his plans.

"Alex." Oliver's eyes went a little wide with surprise and he slid from the stool to his feet. "Kara's out, said she had a dinner."

"She's with Maggie," Alex took a few more cautious steps towards Oliver and nodded to herself a few times. "Actually, I'm here to see you."

Shit.

Oliver felt the defensive parts of his brain clicking into motion, instinct telling him to prepare for some kind of assault from Alex; verbal or physical. The agent didn't appear to be outwardly angry, which put Oliver even further on edge. The emotion Oliver read from her was…resignation more than anything else he could identity. Still on the opposite side of the kitchen island to Alex, Oliver carefully measured his next words.

"I guess we need to talk."

Alex just tipped her head, the corner of her lip cocking into a weak smirk as she took a seat opposite Oliver. With a small sigh Oliver slipped back down onto the stool and met Alex's eyes.

"J'onn said that by the time the D.E.O. made it to the scene my father was gone," Alex's eyes dropped for a moment. "Was he…"

Alex trailed off, the rest of her words fading into the air. Oliver ran his tongue over his teeth as he tried to formulate the words to explain what had happened to Alex. Jeremiah had asked him to lie to Alex and Kara, to save them from blaming themselves for his disappearing. If Oliver told Alex that Jeremiah left to protect her, she would blame herself for his leaving. Taking in a deep breath, Oliver caught Alex's eyes again.

"Jeremiah he…" Oliver's breath caught in his throat. Lying was anything but alien to him, Oliver considered himself as skilled in the art of deception as he was an archer. Somehow though, looking at Alex, he wasn't sure how to do it. He had kept his identity as the Arrow a secret from those closest to him easily, lied to Thea for years about their father making it to the life raft after The Gambit went down, lied to Tommy on his deathbed and told him that he had spared Malcom's life. Whether it was his time on Earth-38 influencing him or because the consequences for Alex were so closely tied to those for Kara, Oliver found himself jarringly unable to lie to her. Then, his thoughts turned to Jeremiah, to the promise he had made to the older man, father to father. Lying, in some twisted way, was preferable to the truth. "After you left, Hank Henshaw attacked us, I got knocked down. By the time I was back on my feet, Henshaw was out cold and Jeremiah was gone."

Alex attempted to scowl at Oliver, and he could sense the gears churning in her mind. The immediate reaction was to explode, to shout, to blame someone. Oliver would have understood entirely if Alex chose to take that anger out on him. Instead, she seemed to reach and even deeper resignation. In a move that Oliver thought was wholly uncharacteristic for the agent, Alex just hung her head.

"Do you think that Cadmus…" Alex trailed off, unable to finish that thought out loud.

"No." Oliver answered firmly. "They wouldn't have taken him and left Henshaw behind."

Without a word, Alex rose to her feet and walked to one of the cupboards mounted above the kitchen counter and pulled out two glasses with one hand, followed by a bottle of – what Oliver assumed was – scotch. Turning on her heel, Alex placed the glasses down, poured a healthy measure into both, then dropped down into the stool opposite Oliver. Cautiously, Oliver wrapped a hand around one of the glasses.

"I was wondering why Kara kept scotch here," Oliver spoke with a hint of a smile. "I'm not surprised it's for you."

Alex nodded. "Well Kara might not be able to feel the effects of alcohol, but for those of us who can…"

She let the rest of that sentence hang in the air, taking up her glass and enjoying a slow gulp. Alex hummed in approval and placed her glass back down on the table. Taking in a deep breath, she fixed her eyes on Oliver.

"So, we lost him…all over again."

"I don't know." Oliver answered with a heavy heart, feeling the torment he knew was raging in the agent's mind. "Last time they told you he was dead but now…If something had happened to him there'd be evidence, a blood trail, something. But Jeremiah just vanished after the fight. He's alive, Alex, you can be sure of that much."

Alex's gaze focused on something in the middle distance, and Oliver could tell she had retreated into thinking over his words. Of all people Oliver was one who understood the process Alex went through in those moments, from his own experience he knew he had to just wait and give her time. He had been lucky, Oliver supposed, that the revelations he had about his own family over the years had been staggered. Alex had been landed with a crushing series of truths about her father in such a short time that Oliver was impressed she was keeping up with it.

After a few moments, Alex sucked in a heavy breath and turned her gaze back to Oliver.

"I'm not good at saying it but…I'm sorry." Before Oliver could interject Alex continued. "I didn't exactly treat you fairly when you arrived, and…well if it wasn't for you I might not even know if my father was alive right now."

Oliver's lips curled into a weak smile as he looked across at Alex. "You've got nothing to apologise for. You didn't know me, you had no reason to trust me, you were just trying to protect your sister. That's something I understand better than you think." At Alex's inquisitively raised eyebrow, Oliver continued. "I've got a sister back home, Thea, and she…is so much more like me than I ever wanted her to have to be."

"Well the only thing Kara got from me is my taste in TV and a love for pizza." Alex smiled fully and sipped from her glass. "How come you're so worried about your sister taking after you?"

Oliver scoffed a little, knocking back what remained of his glass before speaking. "When I first started into this life, Thea was still just a kid, I swore to myself that I'd do everything in my power to make sure that she didn't end up like our parents…like me. I failed spectacularly."

Without a word Alex refilled both of their glasses.

XXX

"I'm so happy we get to do this now," Kara beamed across the table at Maggie, hand wrapped around a club soda. "No secrets or anything."

"Me too, you teetotal weirdo." Maggie teasingly rolled her eyes at Kara and took a gulp from her bottle of beer. "Besides, Alex was pretty insistent I keep you out while she gives your boyfriend what I can only assume is the shovel talk."

Kara felt a flush rise in her cheeks and her gaze shot down to look at the glass grasped in her hands. "That's…I mean…Oliver and I aren't…"

"Relax Little Danvers," Maggie grinned wickedly. "I'm happy for you. Just…ya know…don't break the guy in half by getting too excited or anything."

Kara's blush only deepened, the image of her and Oliver doing…that exploding unbridled in her mind's eye. It wasn't an image Kara was unhappy with, in fact it was one she almost enjoyed. Not that she would never admit it out aloud, but it wasn't the first time that image had crossed her mind either. Doing her best to push that particular thought down, Kara focused back on the woman in front of her. Swallowing hard, she looked up to Maggie.

"Maggie really, Oliver and I aren't together." Kara insisted.

Maggie paused for a moment, studying Kara carefully. Kara could tell what she was doing, the duo had similar processes after all; a cop and a reporter. As she fixed the Kryptonian with a studious gaze Maggie sipped her beer.

"You're being serious." Maggie spoke after a few moments of silence. "Shit. Guess I owe Winn twenty bucks."

Kara's eyes went wide at Maggie's words. "Wait, you guys were betting on me and Oliver…"

"Getting freaky? Yeah."

Kara groaned openly, her head dropping down onto the table with a heavy thud. Across from her, Maggie only chuckled lowly, unable to feel anything but amusement at the Kryptonian's particular mix of embarrassment and frustration. Maggie would, albeit reluctantly, admit that she had been wrong about Oliver and Kara. To her credit though, Maggie knew she was better at reading gay tension, straight people were complicated. A moment later, a muffled whine sounded out and Kara flopped back upright, a faint scowl on her face.

"I can't believe this. Oliver and Alex are going to kill each other." Kara insisted, moving to get up from the booth.

Maggie didn't share Kara's concerns, instead just waving a dismissive hand at the other woman before taking a sip of beer. "Relax, Alex will figure it out same way I did. Let's at least finish our drinks before we go and make sure they're alive."

Kara took a moment to process that. Even if Kara knew that Maggie was right, she couldn't help her mind wander. The worst case scenario was that Alex didn't believe Oliver and his repeated denials would lead to a physical confrontation. If that happened, the two were pretty well-matched in skill so any fight could reasonably last until her and Maggie finished their drinks. The best case scenario was that Alex believed him and they shared a glass of that scotch that she insisted Kara keep in her apartment and they laughed off the misunderstanding. Either way, there was no real hurry.

"Okay." And with that, Kara sank back into her seat.

Sensing Kara's lingering concerns, Maggie decided to opt for a distraction.

"You know, before Alex and I figured us out I was pretty jealous of you." At Kara's befuddled look, she added. "Not you, but you."

"Oh…Oh!" Kara's eyes went wide, her cheeks flushing red as she realised what Maggie meant.

"Yeah…" The detective sighed, taking a large gulp of her beer, the pitiful amount of liquid remaining sloshing around in the bottom of the bottle.

Kara's cheeks didn't lose their red hue as the blonde began to stammer out some semblance of a response. "But…well…Supergirl and Agent Danvers have always had a professional relationship."

"Oh sure," Maggie teased. "Ignoring the fact that you two clearly know each other outside of 'work', whenever you're both at a crime scene you end up having some whispered conversation, and you argue like an old married couple pretty often. Completely professional."

Kara's eyes dropped for a moment, her mind scanning through all of her and Alex's work interactions. "That's…ahh…"

"So, before I figured it out, I was kinda jealous of Alex spending so much of her time around the smoking hot superhero who she clearly had history with." Maggie huffed before catching exactly what she had said.

If it was possible, Kara's blush had only deepened but the look on her face told Maggie that she wouldn't be living down that particular comment any time soon. Before the detective could even get a chance to walk back her words Kara grinned.

"You think I'm hot?"

"I thought Supergirl was hot." Maggie grumbled.

"Same thing." Kara beamed in a singsong voice.

Fixing Kara with her best "bad cop" glare Maggie spoke lowly. "You mention this to your sister, and I swear I will personally break Lex Luthor out of jail to have you killed."

Kara just smiled. "You love me too much to do that."

"Not as much as I love getting to sleep with your sister." Maggie shot back with a wicked smirk. "See there's this one thing she does with her tongue that—"

"MAGGIE!"

XXX

In something of a surprise to himself Oliver found that he enjoyed the company of the Earthly Danvers sister, the similarities he had noted between himself and her became progressively more apparent the more they spoke. Alex had arrived at Kara's apartment to try and come to some kind of neutrality with Oliver, but half a bottle of scotch and a conversation about their shared overprotectiveness later they had manged to bond. Not only that, but they had slipped into swapping stories like old friends.

The bottle of scotch had been drained frighteningly quickly, replaced by a bottle of wine, and then another. Oliver hadn't even realised how much he and Alex had been drinking. When he and Kara had shared that drink, which felt like longer than a week prior to Oliver in that moment, he had paced himself staggeringly, but with Alex he had less reservation, taking comfort in that fact that Alex felt the effects of the alcohol at the same rate that he did. He supposed it was somewhat cathartic for the both of them, the animosity they had held since his arrival bleeding away with each sip of alcohol.

Despite that Oliver was acutely aware that he had not gotten drunk since his return from the island. Every time he had touched alcohol it had been measured, in situations he knew he could control. He had never used it as an excuse to ignore what he was feeling, the guilt over lying to Alex about Jeremiah being buried deeply under years of practised compartmentalisation simply wasn't quite enough. Even with that realisation Oliver simply took another sip from his glass. Regardless of his motivations to begin with, Oliver was enjoying himself.

"Kara was far from thrilled to find out I'd been lying to her about the D.E.O. Worse that we had to tranq her with the Kryptonite to bring her in. You're lucky your sister took it so well." Alex finished regaling Oliver with the Cliff Notes version of Kara's ascension to becoming Supergirl.

"After everything Speedy had already been through, finding out I was The Arrow was more of a final piece of the puzzle type thing. It helped her make a lot of sense of what had been happening after I got back to Starling." Oliver responded, taking a thoughtful sip of wine as he paused. "I can't help but to wonder if things would have turned out differently for her if I'd told her my secret sooner."

Alex sighed, eyes dropping for a moment before she met Oliver's again. "I went back and forth like that for a while when Kara became Supergirl. If I'd told her and my mom the truth about the D.E.O. from the start then maybe Kara would have come to me when she put on the cape, maybe we'd have found out about J'onn sooner…and our dad."

"John always tells me that you can't blame yourself for that kind of thing, that thinking about 'what-if's' is just a rabbit hole you don't want to crawl down." Oliver sighed, taking a sip of wine. "Not that I can preach hypocrisy free…" He paused, weighing up what he was considering confessing to Alex. He had told Kara, in a roundabout way, but he had been angry and deflecting in that moment. Ultimately, Oliver supposed, he owed Alex some truth after the lie he had told her about her father. "There was a choice I made, almost ten years ago, one of those moments that you know is about to change everything, who you are, what your life is going to become." From the look that crossed Alex's face, Oliver could tell she had some experience with those moments. He delayed for a moment before continuing, giving Alex a moment to finish whatever thought was lingering in her mind. "His name was Slade Wilson…"

XXX

"So, how did you figure it out?" Kara asked, stopping to take a gentle sip of the ale Maggie had insisted she drink, unable to prevent herself from pulling a face at the bitter taste.

Across the booth, Maggie chuckled, Kara's persisting hatred of alcohol a permanent source of amusement for her. Kara's infinite politeness seemed to cancel out the distaste for the Zakarian ale that Maggie had bought for the Kryptonian. The difference between the two couldn't be more clear, the table top was covered with four empty bottles of human beer, whilst Kara was still nursing her first ale. As Maggie pondered her answer, Kara took another sip, her features scrunching up like a baby biting into a lemon for the first time.

"It's like watching a bunny hop into a buzz saw…repeatedly." Maggie snickered, taking a sip of her own beer. "I figured there was something weird going on with you before the whole…" Maggie waved her hands vaguely at Kara's glasses. "But Alex was the one who gave it away. When Supergirl got stuck on Slaver's Moon she was beside herself, and I'd only ever seen her get that worried about one other person."

Kara smiled warmly at the thought of her sister's overprotectiveness. "And Alex tells me that my acting skills need some work." As Kara spoke, Maggie matched her smile. "She ever tell you that she was kicked out of the undercover unit at the D.E.O.?"

Maggie almost spat out her swig of beer she had been taking at that. Pressing the back of her hand to her mouth, Maggie swallowed hard, forcing the beer down and coughing once she had.

"Tell me everything!" Maggie beamed, shark-like.

XXX

The second bottle of wine had been emptied during Oliver's recounting of the saga of Slade Wilson. Alex had pulled out the third, and last as she assured him as Kara's cupboards were bordering on empty, bottle and had filled up their glasses as he recounted Thea's kidnapping. The sympathy in her eyes was one Oliver was thankful for, he wasn't overly surprised that Alex knew that pain, that fear. It must have been almost worse for Alex, Kara's superpowers made her almost invulnerable, which meant that seeing her weak must have been crippling.

"Slade was just the first," He continued. "That was part of the reason I was so suspicious of…of Jeremiah, I'm not used to good things happening without the universe dealing some backhanded blow. You make enough mistakes that come back to haunt you and eventually you start expecting the hauntings."

Alex swallowed heavily before she responded. "I killed Kara's biological aunt. She was going to kill J'onn, I didn't have much of a choice. But Kara she was…she was so distraught when she found out, she was convinced she could redeem her. J'onn took the blame for me because he didn't want there to be anything between Kara and I." The look in Alex's eyes was harrowing, even by Oliver's standards. "She was angry at him for so long before I told her the truth."

She paused, the emotion of the memory clearly becoming overwhelming.

"I killed my best friend's father," Oliver spoke suddenly, trying to distract Alex before she jumped down that rabbit hole. "Who also turned out to be my sister's father…who also turned out to not be dead."

Alex blanked for a moment, eyes widening. She sank back in her chair and let out a heavy breath. "Okay, it's official. Your backstory is way more tragic than mine."

The two held each other's gaze for a few moments before they burst out with laughter. The alcohol and the bonding they had shared made the heaviness of the conversation bleed away in an instant as they slipped into comfortable amusement.

"I bet I've got you beat on dramatic scars too." Oliver chuckled before taking a large pull of wine.

Alex grinned wickedly, placing her glass down on the table. "You're on Robin Hood."

XXX

It was almost another hour before Maggie and Kara decided to return to her apartment to check on Oliver and Alex. Thankfully, Maggie had been able to distract Kara from her concern over the wellbeing of her sister and…whatever Oliver was to her…with drinks and entertaining stories. Alex had asked Maggie to buy her some time to talk to Oliver one on one and she wasn't one to let her girlfriend down.

The walk back to the building, accompanied by the final setting of the sun and rising darkness of night, had been filled with Maggie mercilessly teasing Kara about Oliver, the alcohol they had made their way through at the bar making it seem even more amusing to the detective, and less humiliating to Kara. The Kryptonian had been talked into a grand total of two bottles of Zakarian ale and a Klavnian fire tea, which was a surprising amount given Kara's total lack of alcohol consumption until that point. With the added lubrication of alcohol, Maggie had managed to get Kara to admit her crush on the archer, not that it had been difficult. Ever since his arrival on their Earth (their Earth, Maggie still wasn't totally comfortable with the existence of multiple universes) Oliver had been the only thing Kara had spoken about. Regardless if she was calling him a saint or calling him a monster, Oliver had been the only topic of conversation.

The two were halfway down the corridor to Kara's apartment when they heard a sound neither of them were totally familiar with; a loud and undignified laugh that sounded frighteningly like it belonged to Alex Danvers. A moment later, it was followed by a similar – but pointedly more masculine – laugh. The two shared a befuddled look and continued a little quicker towards the door. As they got closer, the voices became louder.

"…like a four foot Howard the Duck, and I'm standing there thinking 'oh come on this thing is harmless'. Next thing I know I'm on the other side of the park with a hole in my gut!" Alex's slightly muffled voice burst through to them.

As Kara slipped her key into the lock, they heard Oliver. "I can safely say none of these have been induced by aliens."

"Oh, just wait until Kara gets through with you. She threw a pillow at me once when we were kids, knocked me out cold!" Alex shot back as the door opened and the two burst out into laugher again.

Kara and Maggie walked into the apartment to a sight neither of them thought they would ever have seen. On the kitchen island was a litter of empty bottles, one of scotch and three wine, and a matching assortment of glasses. Oliver and Alex were stood on the opposite side of the island to them, both holding wine glasses, and completely shirtless. The two were still doubled over in laughter, only realising they were no longer alone when Maggie cleared her throat.

"Mags!" Alex beamed as she laid eyes on her girlfriend, placing her glass a little too roughly down on the table and bounding over to pull Maggie into a hug.

The detective wrapped her arms around Alex, her eyes roaming suspiciously over the room, from the shirtless Oliver, to the litter of empty glasses and bottles, and finally on a red faced Kara whose eyes were fixed dead ahead. Maggie couldn't help but to scoff a little at how blatant Kara's staring was, the subject of said gaze clearly having already noticed. As she had that thought Alex pulled away and took a few steps back towards the island. Maggie followed with a faint grin on her lips.

"So, had a fun evening you two?" She asked, giving Oliver a sideways glance and a teasing smirk.

"Mmhm," Alex hummed, picking up her shirt, which had been discarded over one of the stools. "We've been comparing scars."

Maggie shook her head with a soft laugh at that, watching as her girlfriend pulled her shirt back on over her head. She hadn't doubted for a second that there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for both Oliver and Alex being stood shirtless in Kara's apartment, she knew them both too well to assume anything else. The line of conversation the two of them must have wandered down to end up on a contest of comparing their scars was one she wasn't even sure she wanted to hear repeated though. Her eyes turned to Oliver for a brief moment, the litany of scars crisscrossing his body making an interesting sight, Maggie didn't want to linger on the trauma that must have come with a life lived the way Oliver clearly had.

Clearly having noticed Maggie's look, Oliver picked his own shirt from the counter and slipped it back on. As he did, Alex's attention turned from her girlfriend to her sister, who was still lingering in the open doorway with a red flush running from her cheeks down her neck and disappearing beneath her shirt. With a grin on her lips, Maggie turned back to Kara too.

"Tryna catch flies there, little Danvers?" Maggie teased with a grin.

Alex snorted somewhat unceremoniously and even Oliver managed a small chuckle as Kara snapped back into reality. Shaking her head a little, Kara quickly pushed the door shut and walked over to the island, joining the others.

"I was just…well…"

"Distracted?" Maggie supplied, her grin only growing. "Looks like it."

Oliver took a step forward then, sensing Kara's discomfort at the teasing of her sister and Maggie. A glance to the watch on his wrist confirmed that is was still relatively early, especially for the bustling nightlife of a place like National City. If the slightly glossy look in both Maggie and Kara's eyes said anything, they had been drinking as well.

"Well why don't we all head the way of distraction?" Oliver spoke easily, feeling surprisingly sound giving the amount he and Alex had drunk – that said he definitely had drunk less than Alex. "It's been a long two weeks, we could all do with a little unwinding. Why don't we call Winn and J'onn, and we can all head out for a drink?"

Both Maggie and Alex lit up at that suggestion, the agent immediately moved to grab her jacket from where it had been discarded on the kitchen counter come time prior. Kara didn't seem quite as convinced, and it wasn't a huge leap for Oliver to deduce that she didn't have quite the same experience with alcohol as the three of them. Looking at Kara in that moment was like looking at Laurel when they had been seventeen and the two of them, plus Tommy, had been sneaking glasses of scotch out of Malcom's study.

As the couple moved quickly through the door, arm in arm, clearly expecting the other two to follow, Oliver stepped to Kara's side.

"You don't need to drink anything else," He smiled at her. "I think I'm done for the night myself, but Alex inferred something the other day and I'll begrudgingly admit she was right. Doing what we do means we need to relax from time to time, doing that with people who actually get it…that's got to be the better way to do it."

Kara doubled the smile that Oliver had given her, and it infected him in an instant.

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

Oliver snagged his jacket from where it had been hung on a chair with one hand and slipped into it. His grin still bright on his lips, Oliver looped an arm around Kara's shoulders, her arm snaking around his waist, and the two of them took off after Alex and Maggie.