Disclaimer: see part one.

Part Five

Oliver had promised to fight for Felicity, for them as a couple. When she walked out because he'd messed up again, he tried to win her back. He poured his heart out to her in his vows while trying to capture Carrie Cutter, but it did no good. She'd shut him out and written him off. He'd kept one too many secrets, made one too many decisions alone.

"I told you to communicate with her, to work on being her partner, her equal," Laurel tutted gently. They were in her living room, Oliver crashing on her couch since he'd ceded the apartment to Felicity.

"I was trying, but it's not that easy," Oliver defended; "You may know people who've made it work for decades, but your parents were the best role models of a healthy relationship I had growing up."

That had Laurel quieting. She was willing to give him more credit afterward, considering his only other role models were his parents' marriage (see: infidelity) and the Merlyns' (one half murdered, the other half mad). Laurel became his rock, his council, his voice of reason as he dealt with his heartache over the break up, and Brie Larvan. He wasn't completely over Felicity by the time they captured their Bug-Eyed Bandit, but he was done wallowing in self-pity.

"Give her some time," Laurel advised as they suited up for patrol that evening.

Oliver made no promises. Now that he was done berating himself, he was starting to take a hard look at his relationship with Felicity and a part of him couldn't help but compare her with Laurel. If Laurel could forgive him after everything that he'd done to her, most of which was far worse than the mistakes he'd made with Felicity, how could Felicity claim to love him more but still be unwilling to forgive him?

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"Mmm, smells good. What's all this for?" Laurel walked into her kitchen upon her return home. She found Oliver and a pot of chili present.

"I heard about your dad's suspension. Thought I'd see how he's holding up and I figured he'd be less likely to turn me away if I brought some food over."

"He wouldn't turn you away, even without your infamous chili," Laurel said, inspecting the pot surreptitiously. Oliver chuckled, reading her intentions easily.

"You don't have to sneak any, I made enough to share. After all, you've been working wonders lately," he smiled at her.

"Now what are you talking about?"

"You've been counseling me and saving the case against Darhk in court. That couldn't have been easy, and I wanted to show my appreciation for how great a friend you are."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to. One is my job, after all, which I was highly motivated to win, and the other was my pleasure. Seeing you happy again is all the thanks I need."

"And that's why you're a better friend than me," Oliver murmured, stirring the almost-ready chili. He would never be able to encourage Laurel to fight for another man the way she helped him with Felicity. But then, she'd moved on, and he was beginning to realize, he hadn't.

"You're a great friend too, you know," she reminded him. Oliver kept his expression neutral – she'd misunderstood, and he didn't want her catching wind of what he'd meant.

"Hey, I mean it, Ollie," Laurel touched his arm to get him to look at her. "Just look at all the times you've saved my life. You know me better than anyone. You're my oldest, dearest, and best friend, and that's never going to change."

"I know. You're mine too," he smiled at her and it was true. Dig was like a brother and Barry was a close friend, but neither of them could compete with Laurel. With their history. Tommy used to share the role with Laurel, and if he'd been alive, Oliver liked to hope that they would've made up by now.

When Laurel smiled at him, happy he saw their friendship in the same light, that was when he knew without a doubt. He was still in love with his best friend.

Then he had to reach around her for the container he needed and for a moment he almost held her in his arms. There was quite a bit of space between them, but the air still crackled with the physical attraction that had defined their relationship from the start. Oliver found his gaze dropping to Laurel's lips, wanting to taste them again. He couldn't though, because all she wanted from him was friendship. A fact made abundantly clear when she stiffed.

"Ahem, are you two going to ogle each other the rest of the night? Because I really want a bowl of that chili now," Thea smirked, unapologetically, from the doorway.

"I, uh, need to change," Laurel ducked around him and headed for her room, a blush forming.

"Oh, just ask her out already," Thea whispered as she helped herself to the chili. Oliver glared at his unhelpful sister then took the spoon to dole out Quentin's portion.

He managed to catch Laurel on his way out the door. "Hey, would you go to dinner with me some time? Not as a date, just as friends. These last few days reminded me how much I enjoy talking with you. How I've missed you."

"Sure, just let me check my schedule."

One dinner turned into three, though Oliver made certain to keep them as un-date-like as possible. He took her to a Big Belly Burger and teased her for teaching Nyssa to dip her fries in milkshakes. He volunteered them to watch baby JJ for one night and let her drag him to a late-night street vendor for the third. He also made certain to spend time with Thea when his sister wasn't out with Alex. Sometimes, Laurel joined them.

Between Darhk, Felicity's paralysis, and the wedding preparations, Oliver realized he hadn't been spending as much time with his friends and sister outside of their night activities and he wanted to make up for that. He promised himself, he'd do better at staying connected with them in the future – Thea's idea of weekly family dinners seemed like a good start.

It was on their third friend-date that Oliver grabbed Laurel's hand as they were leaving the street vendor behind and impulsively, he led her to a nearby park. Laurel laughed but didn't object. She also didn't pull her hand out of his when they reached the park.

"I used to dream about this, on the island," Oliver told her quietly.

"Walking through a park?"

"Being here with you again. As a friend. Having you forgive me and let me be a part of your life – that was what got me home through the hardest trials, when wanting to see my family wasn't enough. I had a goal, to get back to you, and spend my whole life apologizing if I had to, just to see you happy again. It wasn't about me or my own happiness but righting my biggest mistake. And that need, that dream, it gave me strength. You gave me strength to return home."

Laurel stopped walked and turned to face him directly. Her hand squeezed his tightly but didn't let go. "Ollie, is that what you meant . . . in Nanda Parbat?"

"Yes," he confessed. Ra's had made him recall every moment on the island, so that he could understand the man Oliver was at the core. Oliver hadn't been able to hold anything back, but Ra's hadn't been disappointed. He'd respected the atonement that had driven Oliver to become a new man and sought to remold that dream to make Oliver into his heir.

"It wasn't an act for me, either," she whispered. "Being with you in Nanda Parbat, I finally felt whole again. And I'm sorry, for pushing you away after Tommy died. He loved us both and never would've objected to us being happy together. I should've seen that, but I wanted to hurt us both at the time."

"Laurel," he drew her closer, but she pressed a hand to his chest to keep them apart.

"I want you to be happy, Ollie, but going back down this path, after all the mistakes we've both made, that isn't healthy. I don't want to repeat the past."

"I don't want to repeat the past either. I want to start something new with you – we've both changed, why can't our relationship change as well? Let's make a new path altogether."

His phone interrupted them before he could say more. He would've let it go to voicemail, except Laurel's went off a second later. He answered.

And everything went downhill from there.

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The arrow hurt worse coming out than it did going in. Laurel cried out as Oliver did the deed; he didn't trust the doctors to know how to remove the arrowhead without causing greater damage. He carried her into the hospital himself; Laurel faded in and out due to the blood loss. She thought she heard them mention surgery, but when she woke up, she was in a bed in a private room and Ollie was still dressed in the suit.

"What happened?" Laurel moved cautiously. There was a burning sensation where the arrow had penetrated but not as bad as before. Laurel suspected the IV in her arm had something to do with the lessened pain. A closer look revealed a saline drip, not painkillers. Good, her sobriety remained intact.

Ollie didn't answer right away, going to the door to get a doctor instead. Dr. Schwartz entered, relived to see Laurel awake, yet worried as well. "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. Considering. Will one of you tell me what's wrong?"

"They were going to take you to surgery, when something unexpected happened," Ollie spoke without the voice distorter on. He paused and looked at Dr. Schwartz to take over.

"You stopped bleeding on your own," the doctor explained matter-of-factly; "In minutes we realized your cells were regenerating faster than you were experiencing hypovolemia."

"You were healing yourself," Ollie clarified.

"Yes," Dr. Schwartz nodded; "And you've continued to do so at an unprecedented rate – I've never seen anything like this."

"I'm not, this isn't like the mirakuru is it?" Laurel's mind flashed to the worst-case scenario.

"No," Oliver was quick to assure her; "With all the magic at play when you were stabbed, I suspect this might be related to the Pit." Dr. Schwartz made a sound of disbelief, but Laurel hardly paid her any heed. Her eyes were on Oliver, her fear evident. If this was the Pit, did that mean she was going to develop the bloodlust?

"Whatever the cause, at your current rate you'll be fully healed within the next twelve hours."

Only Laurel didn't have twelve hours to rest in bed.

As happy as her dad was to find her quickly on the mend, he feared what Darhk would do when he learned she was alive – Darhk had made his promise, he wouldn't stop until Laurel was dead. Quentin refused to give Damien the chance. He confronted Ruve, trying to get to Damien, and get to him he did. Darhk called the Green Arrow to taunt him with the news, crowing about the torture he had planned.

Laurel's wound was healed enough that she could get out of bed and suit up, which was what she did despite the team's objections. With Curtis's assist, since Felicity was still on break, they tracked her dad's cell to a warehouse. Needless to say, Darhk was shocked to see Black Canary up and about, but not so shocked he forget to cut her dad's throat.

"NO!" Laurel's cry turned into an earsplitting scream and her scream became a physical force which sent Darhk and his Ghosts flying.

Laurel raced to her father, heedless of the growing pain in her abdomen. She was too late.

Darhk recovered quickly and fled.

The team gathered around Laurel and the fallen Lance.

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Though he'd been in her shoes, Oliver couldn't find the words to help Laurel in her grief. He'd accompanied her to the morgue, where she said her first goodbye. He made a call to her sisters, though only one got back to him. "Brother-in-law?" Nyssa answered warily.

"Your sister needs you." And she promised she was on her way.

Laurel didn't cry, she didn't speak. She barely wanted to get out of bed. The whole team was fracturing around him and Oliver knew he had to stay strong for them, to help them get through this.

At first, it helped to focus on the newest threat – the girl masquerading as Black Canary, complete with Laurel's stolen collar. Yet his team needed him at every turn. He talked with Felicity and how she was blaming herself to find reason in the heartbreak. He felt an old flicker of their connection as she started to appreciate the deaths he carried on his shoulders, but he found he no longer cared if they might reconcile. Another woman lingered on his mind these days.

He reached down deep to counsel John after Spartan attacked the mayor. He wasn't certain he got through to his brother-in-arms, but with Thea, he found words weren't necessary. Quentin may not have always agreed with them and at times even hated Oliver, but he'd been a father figure to the Queen siblings. Often times a better father than their own.

Nyssa helped corral Laurel out of bed and into her suit in time to stop Evelyn Sharp and prevent Ruve Darhk from tarnishing Black Canary's reputation.

When it was over, Oliver held onto Laurel and Thea as they all cried on their couch.

A good man was dead, and nothing could make that right again.

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Laurel clung to her mother almost as much as Dinah clung to her. Thea was close at hand, Nyssa looking after her while Oliver gave Quentin's eulogy. Her mother wanted to hold onto hope that Dad could be resurrected like Sara, but Laurel knew the hard truth. It hurt to make her mom face reality, to have to face it herself. (Her parents may have divorced, but they still loved each other as dearly as they loved their daughters.) Oliver spoke beautifully, from the heart. When he finished, he held Laurel's hand and hugged Thea close. Laurel drew strength from him in a way she hadn't in a long time. Her dad had told her for years that she was his rock, but the fact was he'd been hers in return.

"John, I know you want to blame yourself, to blame Andy, but don't. Darhk is the one who killed my dad, not you. None of what happened is your fault," Laurel tried to assure her friend.

They were in the Bunker, days after the funeral. Laurel had asked them to come, but only Oliver and Thea knew why. They'd helped her pack her bags the night before.

"Felicity, you're one of the strongest people I know, and the team needs you right now to help them stay together. I need you to look after them for me," Laurel hugged her blonde-haired friend.

"You say that as if you're leaving," Felicity noted with concern.

"I am, just for a little while. I'm going back to Central City with my mom. We need each other right now, and I need to understand what this means," Laurel touched her throat. She hadn't been able to reproduce her new Cry yet, but then she wasn't quite ready to, scared of what all it might mean.

"Team Flash handles meta-humans and time travel on a weekly basis, about time they get a taste of something new," Thea quipped, watery eyed.

"Chin up, Speedy, I promise, I'll be back."

She shared a bear hug with her little sister and then a silent one with Oliver. She was glad when he chose to accompany her to the surface, alone. At the car, he wrapped her in his arms and Laurel clung to him, needing a few minutes of feeling warm and loved and protected while the rest of her world felt adrift, lonely, and cold. She needed him and as much as it scared her to admit it, she trusted him with all that she was, including her heart. He wasn't the same man he'd been so long ago.

"I'm here for you, night and day. All you have to do is call," he murmured into her hair, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Laurel eased back in his embrace to cup his face.

"I know what you're thinking right now. That none of this would've happened if you'd only put an arrow in Darhk when you had the chance. Don't blame yourself, I don't. Don't go after Darhk to kill him. Part of me wants you to, but revenge isn't justice. Remember who you are, who you want to be. This city needs you to be a beacon of hope, so be that. Be the man you told Dad you could be, the man he saw you as."

"I'll try," Oliver rasped and that was enough for Laurel.

She leaned up and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss to his lips. Oliver threaded his hand through her hair and when she pulled back, he captured her mouth again. Their teeth clinked, their tongues clashed. They tasted and touched each other in a frenzy of grief and longing, regret and love. It was beautiful. It was painful. It was entirely them.

A/N: RIP Quentin Lance. Like I said, the flashforwards still happened in this AU. Just a different body and with the changes I'm making, his character really had nothing left to contribute except to serve as a motivator for Oliver and the reason to unleash Laurel's Cry.

I've been trying to flesh out the idea that the team eventually becomes one big family of choice – how am I doing and does anyone have any suggestions on how I can do it better?