Disclaimer: WB/DC own these characters. I'm only borrowing them for a while. I own the original ideas found in this.
AN: Thanks for returning to this story. Hope you are still enjoying it.
Previously:
"Anyway, this has been lots of fun, but I suppose I better go." Fingering his revolver, Slade first looked at Laurel, then at Lance. Despite herself, Sara couldn't help releasing a small gasp before regaining control. She could swear what was going to happen next, and she still hadn't seen Roy or Dig to come to the rescue.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Sara, but I've decided not to kill anyone. Tonight. Until next time, Oliver," Slade said as he quickly turned, shot an arrow with rappelling rope from it from a small bow hidden in his sleeve, and began to slide to the ground.
Before Oliver could react and grab him, Slade had reached the ground and disappeared. As he looked down helplessly trying to locate Slade, Oliver couldn't see him anywhere. Sara joined him at the edge of the rooftop, frantically looking for him as well.
Catching Oliver's look, Sara asked, "What just happened?"
Oliver curled his lip. "My third possibility. Slade exposed my identity to your father and sister and left without killing anyone."
Dig and Roy came through the door behind them. "Sorry, guys, there wasn't an opening to act. And then Slade caught us off-guard with his disappearing trick."
"Yeah, us too."
"Hey guys, what happened? Everything okay?" Felicity asked through the comms.
"Yeah, Felicity, everyone's okay. Unfortunately, Slade got away," Oliver said over the comms. "We'll be coming back soon." He looked at the Lances. "Probably with two new members knowing the secret."
Sara heard noises coming from her family. "Let's untie my family and answer their questions before they claw out of their skins." She walked over to her father and removed his gag.
"Yeah, I say, do I have the questions for you two. Especially you," Lance said, glaring at Oliver.
"I can only imagine…sir," Oliver said, being uncharacteristically subservient to the older man. At this point it can't hurt.
Lance quirked an eyebrow as Sara cut the rope binding his hands. "Sir, huh? Trying to score points, Queen?"
The return of the Queen charm was marked in the smile Oliver gave Lance. "I can certainly try, Captain."
With Dig having removed Laurel's gag and bonds by this time, Laurel walked over to Oliver. "Why didn't you ever tell me? Why couldn't you trust me?" In a softer voice, with tears in her eyes, she asked, "Why didn't you trust me?"
Oliver softly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Laurel…there's a lot which goes into that answer." Looking at her father, he suggested, "Why don't both of you come to the Lair, and we can hash this entire thing out tonight?"
"The Lair?" Lance looked sideways at Oliver. "I suppose you're going to tell me it's under Verdant?"
Oliver smirked. "Well, that was one thing I never did get a chance to thank Tommy enough for. I don't know how he managed it, but yes, he turned my hideout into a storage place before you checked it out last year."
Lance shook his head. "I can't believe I'm admitting it, but Merlyn was a good kid."
"Yes, he was," Oliver said, with a solemn look in his eyes.
"Yes, he was," Laurel agreed as she looped an arm through her father's. "I say let's take Oliver up on his offer, Dad. Even though tomorrow is a work day. I know I wouldn't be able to sleep unless some questions are answered."
"Okay. So, Dig, you drive Laurel and her father back to the Lair. Of course, the rest of us will follow on our bikes," Oliver suggested.
~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~
Laurel climbed into the back seat of the van, leaving her father to get into the front seat. She wanted to think about the huge revelation during the ride. How the man, the vigilante she had somewhat fallen in love with last year, but who scared her with his ruthlessness, was actually the boy she had once loved. How the vigilante she blamed for Tommy's death and had wanted to catch was actually the man earning her respect over the past months because of the growth he had been displaying. How complicated a man Oliver Queen had indeed grown up to be.
Laurel looked at her father's profile as he was excitedly asking Mr. Diggle questions about Oliver and his operation. Obviously her father wasn't struggling over the questions she was regarding what to do with this new knowledge they now had. Should he not arrest Oliver for being the vigilante? But, that would also mean arresting this entire group, including her own sister. Was that why her father was apparently not arresting him?
Suddenly Laurel felt a headache beginning. She rubbed her temples, trying to decide what to do. Could she really turn Oliver in? Should she? He basically was the same person he was last year, when she believed in his cause and actions. She'd only turned on him when she blamed him for Tommy's death. And hadn't she realized, with therapy and attending AA meetings, the only ones to blame for Tommy's death were Malcolm Merlyn and herself, for needing to be rescued in the first place?
"Laurel, are you okay back there? You're awfully quiet," her father asked as the van pulled up behind Verdant.
"Just thinking things over, Dad."
He got out of the van and opened her door before she could react. Assisting her out of the van, he whispered, "Are you struggling with what you should do about Oliver being the Arrow?"
She looked at her father, allowing her surprise and confusion regarding his behavior to show on her face. "Yes, I am. Aren't you?"
"No, actually not, Laurel."
She watched as her father caught Mr. Diggle's eye. "I'm going to leave you two to talk out here, until the others show up," Mr. Diggle said, nodding solemnly at her.
Laurel watched the taciturn black man walk towards the back door, then turned towards her father. "Why not?"
"Look at all the good he has done for this city. I know we can't have loads of people carrying out justice on their own, but Oliver…he has done some good. He doesn't need to be punished for that."
"But what about our oaths?"
"Sometimes we have to weigh the greater good."
"I'm not totally comfortable with this."
"I have to admit, it took me a while to come around to it as well, but…Felicity helped me change my mind. She…"
"Felicity, again," Laurel mumbled.
Lance quirked an eyebrow. "Are you bothered by what that man Slade said about Felicity replacing you as Oliver's 'true love'?"
Laurel heard a little bit of scorn creep into the phrase 'true love'. Leave it to her father to bring some levity into the situation. Laurel sighed. "I don't know, Dad. We tried again last year, and it didn't work out and he left after Tommy died. When he again returned, I was so bitter I didn't want anyone in my life. Now…with this knowledge of who Oliver really is…I'm just not sure."
Laurel heard cycles approaching, and turned to watch Oliver, Roy and her sister arrive. Oliver walked over to them after parking his bike. "Everything okay?"
"Just a little father-daughter talk," Lance said.
"Are you still willing to sit down and talk with us? Or should I be running to Mexico?" Oliver asked, looking Laurel directly in the eye.
"It's a lot to accept, to think about," Laurel admitted.
Oliver gave her a small smile. "I know. I do understand the type of…pressure this places upon you, Laurel. The ethical dilemma it places you in. All I ask is you listen to us and think things over." With his own attempt at levity, Oliver added, "And decide not to arrest us."
Laurel looked at Oliver giving her his characteristic 'Oliver Queen, playboy millionaire' smile she had so loved when she was younger and carefree. Before a cavalier choice made by her sister and her boyfriend devastated her life and changed her forever. She met Oliver's eyes and shook her head. "You shouldn't always depend upon that charm of yours to get you out of trouble, Queen."
"I know, but it does have a decent track record of helping me out of trouble, doesn't it?" he asked as he lead them towards the back door.
~~OQ~~FS~~OQ~~
Earlier, as he rode through the quiet streets of Starling, Oliver couldn't help but be somewhat apprehensive with the upcoming conversation. Captain Lance, even though he'd been more willing to work with the Arrow these days, was still the police. And Laurel? He couldn't read her reaction to the news either. For months she'd been determined to capture the Arrow, but finding out Oliver was behind the mask appeared to affect her opinion. Or was it only shock he was seeing in their reactions? Oliver forced those thoughts out of his mind as Verdant appeared in his view. He would certainly find out their reactions soon.
Five minutes later, he found himself sitting at the table with the Lances. He felt almost as nervous as the night he had picked Laurel up for their senior prom. Oliver shook his head to clear out those memories as well and looked Lance directly in the eye.
"I suppose I'll let you start with whatever's first on your mind, Captain."
Lance quirked an eyebrow. "Well, can you give me the whole story about this Slade character?"
Oliver smirked. "Maybe not the whole story tonight. For now, maybe just enough to make tonight make sense." Dropping the smirk, he said, "Slade was on the island with me, along with a woman named Shado and Sara, the second year I was gone."
Lance looked at his daughter in shock. "You were on the island, Sara?" Glaring at Oliver, he asked, "You said she wasn't with you."
Sara spoke up. "I asked Ollie, if I died, to tell you I had died on the yacht. And before you ask, yes, Oliver thought I died later, after our fight with Slade." Noticing her father's scowl and Laurel's impatient look, Sara said, "Yes, I'll tell you all the details later."
Both Lances looked at Oliver and Sara. Lance, shaking his head, said, "This isn't at all a simple story, is it?"
"That's exactly why, when I first came home, I simply told everyone I was on the island for five years, and that I was alone. Otherwise I would've been talking for a month trying to explain everything," Oliver explained.
"Anyway, Sara showed up, and you all were good friends?" Lance asked, bringing the conversation back on track.
"More or less. Until a guy named Ivo showed up. He was experimenting on human prisoners on a ship which docked at the island. After Slade was seriously injured, Ivo captured Shado, Sara and I, tied us up, led us to a clearing. He positioned Shado and Sara on their knees facing me, and asked me to choose which one to live, which to die."
"What?" both Lance and Laurel cried out.
"Like how he had Dad and I positioned tonight," Laurel said softly, understanding showing in her eyes.
"Yep, and…." Oliver started to say.
With a reproachful look at Oliver, Sara continued, "What happened, Ivo pointed the gun at me, making Oliver believe he was going to shoot me when Oliver didn't decide and demanded Ivo shoot him instead. But as Ivo pointed the gun at me, Oliver jumped in front of me and we all thought he was going to shoot Oliver. Instead…instead, he turned and shot Shado instead. Which I believe was what he'd intended all along."
"Sara…." Oliver tried to interrupt.
"No, Oliver. Do not let Ivo or Slade influence you. It was never your fault. It was only Ivo and his sick sense of humor. He was…I think he was in love with me. Of course he wasn't going to shoot me. He was only playing with your mind."
Laurel looked between Oliver and her sister, not believing what she was hearing. Eyes wide with shock, she said, "That island really was hell, wasn't it?"
Oliver looked at her, sadness in his eyes. "That's why I didn't want to talk about it with anyone. It really, truly was hell on earth. Even if its name meant Purgatory in Mandarin."
"So…undergoing all of that, and much more, you returned to Starling with the idea of becoming some sort of vigilante?" Laurel asked.
Oliver shrugged. "I had to do so many terrible things, to survive, I decided, in order to live with myself, I needed to atone for it by becoming a vigilante."
Oliver saw, for the first time, true understanding dawn in Laurel's eyes. She looked down at her hands grasped in her lap as she thought of what was said. Looking up to see Oliver's eyes still on her, Laurel shrugged. "I guess I now understand what you all went through. Or beginning to understand, I suppose."
Oliver took a breath, let it out, and asked, "So…shall I ask right now, will you be turning me in?"
AN: This story sure is extending into all sorts of directions. For some readers, I know, that is kinda disappointing. Others, however, are enjoying it. I hope eventually everyone likes where the story ends up going. I originally meant it to be a story of Felicity dealing with issues, but along with those issues, comes things in life that complicate healing. Such as continuing to deal with Slade, and the Lances finding out about the Arrow. But I am lengthening this story, and adding parts to it, as I go along, from my original outline. I still have that wing-banger ending I can't wait to share with you. With Felicity as the star. And Slade getting his due.