Hello readers
So, like my Oliver/Sara take for 1x05 which was originally an Oliver/Laurel fic, I'm doing the same for my old Checking up on story.
Little background changes are Sara and Laurel both decided to become lawyers, and they had a stronger relationship.
Also, Laurel went on the Gambit as part of a college humanitarian project and Oliver upon realizing what was happening as the boat sunk headed for Laurel's room only to get there in enough time to watch her get taken below.
Which Oliver remained faithful to Sara throughout and never followed in his dad's footsteps.
On with the story
Late February 2010 during the night on a rooftop in Starling City
Running across Oliver stops near the edge, crouching down, to look below at the parking lot. Currently, he's dressed in a blue hoodie with the hood up and a pair of gray jeans plus brown colored work boots. Flipping the hood down, Oliver reveals neck-length blonde hair and a full beard.
Currently watching Sara exit a silver Lamborghini where she begins walking off as the vehicle drives off. Oliver figures based on the careless way of driving; it was no doubt Tommy.
Which decided to check up on Sara Lance before leaving back to the ARGUS safehouse. Only really got the chance to do so after a little over an hour ago due to the incident with China White down at his father's old Steel Foundry.
Fortunately, Chen Na Wei is now in ARGUS custody and so a part of the bioweapon meaning that it is out of any rogue nation's hands.
Regarding Sara, well she still is the woman he loves and has kept the picture she gave him all those years ago, but it's currently back on the island tucked away safely in the fuselage. Less chance of getting damaged in his now almost daily life-threatening situations.
Oliver's thoughts refocus upon seeing three men dressed in typical street clothes approaching Sara. Knowing from his enough experience with pirates, Chinese Triad operatives and other such people since first getting stranded on Lian Yu those men are not giving out free cookies.
Briefly watches as Sara tries to fight back but loses, getting shoved to the ground.
Already scaling down the side of the building by pipes and window ledges, to the street Oliver flips his hood back up. Running forward at a fast pace but his footsteps nearly silent, something learned during his time learning to hunt on the island.
Doesn't even hesitate to break the first man's right knee, with a well-placed left kick then Oliver finishes him off with an elbow strike to the back of his head sending the mugger to the ground.
The second man pulls out a switchblade but that does little good as Oliver is already twisting his left arm breaking bone however Oliver gets hit in the back by a couple of punches from the third man. Rapidly kicking the third man back, Oliver takes out the second man with throat punch, not really caring if it kills him. These men hurt a person he cares for.
Hearing the all too familiar sound of a hammer being pulled back; Oliver sees the finale man is holding a small revolver. The man pulls the trigger, as the bullet hits Oliver in his left side but never gets another shot off as Oliver disarms him of the gun and tosses it aside.
Blocking a punch, Oliver moves around with placing the man in a chokehold and despite the mugger attempts to break free only succeed in ripping his hood off before finally getting rendered unconscious by Oliver.
Dropping the body Oliver briefly runs his hand over the entry wound, which is thankfully not bleeding… much he concludes based on his fingers lightly covered in blood and the obvious pain.
"Thank you for that. Can I help" Sara begins while getting to her feet but stops mid-way upon realizing who it is "Oh my god. Your dead."
Meeting her gaze "No I'm really alive, Sara. It's really me" Oliver says, knowing this situation is now worse. Through notes humorously it's the story of his life.
"How is this even possible?" Sara asks, after a few minutes of getting over her shock.
"It's a long story and we really don't have the time for right now" Oliver replies.
"Right your shot," Sara says, her gaze drifting to his wound.
"We really need to get inside your apartment, so we are not out in the open and you get killed," Oliver says.
"Why not you?" Sara replies.
"Because I'm no use to them dead" Oliver says.
"Right. I'll help you inside" Sara replies, confused and not exactly understanding of what's going on.
"No, you still live on the same floor, right?" Oliver asks then at her nod "I'll meet you up there."
"You are shot. I don't really think you need to be moving around like that, right now and how are you even going to get up there?" Sara replies with concern in her voice.
"I've had much worse than a bullet and I'm going to climb. I've picked up a few skills since I've been gone" Oliver says.
"Won't people see you?" Sara wonders.
"No" Oliver replies.
"I'll meet you up there," Sara says.
Oliver nods then runs off into the darkness, and Sara notes almost like the pain of the gunshot doesn't even faze him at all. Which she feels like just going into shock from almost getting mugged to discovering her boyfriend, is still currently alive.
Pushing down those thoughts given their current situation, Sara knows she needs to help him.
Grabbing the fallen purse, Sara begins walking to the building.
Inside the apartment
Closing the door, Sara drops her purse to the floor and turns around only to let out a startled yelp when seeing Oliver standing in her living room silently and already has the lights on.
"Right, sorry. A new habit of not being heard. You should think about getting locks on your windows. For somebody going into the law field, your apartment is easier to break into then Edward Fyers camp" Oliver replies.
"Who?" Sara asks.
"A problem… I had to deal with" Oliver says, not looking to go into the details then raising up a box "I got your first aid kit from underneath the sink."
"Let me help you," Sara says taking off her coat with placing it on the hanger.
"No, I can do this alone. It's best if you don't see" Oliver says.
"See what?" Sara asks.
"Me remove a bullet from my side," Oliver says.
"Yeah, no such chance. I'm helping" Sara says, though she has a feeling he was referring to something else when saying he didn't want her to see.
"Fine, you open this" Oliver says tossing the box to her.
Sara catches the box with opening it up then glances back up at Oliver who is dropping the hoodie to the ground then walks over to the couch to sit down. Moving over to Oliver, but Sara stops upon seeing the clear scars along his upper body and a red Chinese dragon tattoo on the back of his left shoulder.
"How… who did this to you?" Sara asks slightly horrified and the anger she had towards Oliver fading a little. Clearly, he's been put through difficult living, wherever that has been.
"Doesn't matter. They are gone" Oliver says, pain in his eyes while taking a few items from the box.
Wiping away the blood from the entry point, Oliver doesn't even hesitate to put the tweezers directly into the open wound.
Letting out a scream of pain but quickly clamping it down, due to not wanting any outside neighbors to hear Oliver begins to try and locate the bullet. Sara reaches down taking his right arm to comfort Oliver who finds the object pulling it out.
"I need the glue," Oliver says.
Sara hands him the objects as Oliver gives her the bullet which she places in her pocket. Wordlessly Sara watches as Oliver places the glue and presses his skin together, then after a moment lets go.
"Superglue is cleaner than a needle and thread. Plus, it heals better" Oliver replies.
"Right," Sara says then meeting his gaze "Where have you been?"
"After the Gambit went down, I washed ashore an island on a life raft. I wasn't alone on Lian Yu. After two years of surviving in one of the worst places on earth from both the elements and other people, I was found" Oliver explains.
"Thank goodness for that" Sara says.
"No, not really. I tried to escape and come home multiple times but eventually, I was forced to work for them because they threatened a family, mostly an innocent eleven-year-old boy" Oliver replies grimly, with clenching his fists.
"Who are they?" Sara asks. A hard voice while ready to take whoever they are to court and charge them with winning.
"ARGUS, they're a government agency who mostly specializes in black ops. They are led by Amanda Waller who is as dangerous as the people she swears to stop" Oliver says, tightly concealed hate and anger in his tone.
"How exactly does this involve me?" Sara asks, referring to earlier when he mentioned somebody possibly would kill her.
"When I was brought to Starling City, Waller says anybody who found out I was alive would die," Oliver says, meeting her eyes.
"… that makes sense" Sara replies not having much else to add and somewhat startled by the obvious threat on her life naturally.
"Now we just have to figure out a way to keep you and the rest of our families alive," Oliver says.
"How about we make your return public? Like a press interview or something. There would be way too much attention on you and make them unable to do anything" Sara suggests.
"I was thinking of doing something like that. Through it's going to have to wait until first thing in the morning" Oliver says.
"Why?" Sara asks.
"Because if I'm going to deal with the press and my family, I want a few hours of sleep. Besides the sun is going to be up in only a number of hours anyway. ARGUS is going to no doubt be busy with getting China White into custody and dealing with the bioweapon for now" Oliver replies.
"Right," Sara says with letting out a yawn.
"Plus, the vultures are probably going to be stirring up things again with Laurel and due to your connection with us both… you need a decent night's sleep to deal with all that" Oliver says.
"Thank you," Sara says with bringing up her sister's name "Is Laurel still alive?"
"No Laurel went down with the Queen's Gambit" Oliver replies.
"Did she suffer?" Sara asks after a moment with sadness.
"No" Oliver replies keeping his face blank to sell the lie, despite reliving a flash of Laurel being pulled into the ocean from the Gambit.
"Did anybody else survive?" Sara asks.
"No" Oliver replies grimly then with guilt in his voice "About Laurel, I am sorry I got her killed."
"Listen Ollie you didn't get Laurel killed, she chose to go on the Gambit willing and unlike my father I've never hated you for it. You didn't control the weather" Sara says reassuringly than changing the conversation "I have some of your old shirts still in my closet."
"It's fine. I'll use the hoodie; it doesn't bother me" Oliver replies.
"With a bullet hole in it?" Sara asks, in disbelief.
"The rest of it is still good and it's not in tatters either. On the island, I'd be lucky to get any cloth to wear that was in good shape" Oliver replies.
"Oh," Sara says, in realization.
"I've got nowhere else to go and if I go to ARGUS, I might not be able to slip away again. Do you mind if I stay here?" Oliver asks.
"Of course, I'm not going to kick you out even despite the danger. Though do you mean here in the living room?" Sara wonders.
"Yes, I don't sleep well on beds anymore. Plus, the living room has no windows and I can easily hide up against the wall with the lights off" Oliver explains.
"Okay, you can use the living room but if you want my bed is always open" Sara replies.
"Thank you," Oliver says.
Sara exits the room, only pausing to turn the lights off, leaving Oliver surrounded in darkness. Not bothered he easily finds his discarded hoodie and slips it back on.
Moving over to the far wall Oliver lays down with his back facing the wall and curling up into a ball.
In a bathroom
Having removed her makeup and changed into a pair of pajamas Sara drops the bullet down the toilet and presses the lever to flush it away.
Stepping over to the counter, Sara braces her hands against it with letting down the walls she's been using since the mugging started. Despite trying to hold herself up, Sara sinks down to the floor with resting her back against the wood doors that conceal the sink's plumbing.
Sara begins letting tears from her eyes in partial shock due to everything that's happened tonight and in partial grieve as old wounds are reopened. That pain hits her all and some as Sara grieves for the family she lost, including both her mother leaving and Quentin into his downward spiral of alcohol. And now Laurel, is still dead.
Though instead of falling apart Sara forces herself to think elsewhere. Moving her thoughts elsewhere thinks over the near mugging and possibly being killed or worse if Oliver didn't show up to help. It also goes to show how much her self-defense classes are clearly lacking to really survive on in The Glades. Still can't believe Oliver is still alive, a man she's never stopped loving.
Wiping the tears away, Sara gathering her emotions together while climbing to her feet and walks into the bedroom. Making her way over to the bed, Sara exhausted lays down falling asleep.
Hope you all enjoyed this and leave a review letting me know what you think.
Until next chapter