Chapter 17
The Fear inside
"The best way to make peace with your past is not using it to make war with your present."
― Charles F Glassman
The hospital didn't tell him much over the phone. Just that Katie had lost consciousness and was brought in. He rushed into the doors of the hospital, and his eyes scanned the halls, needing to just see her face. When he could see her face, then he wouldn't currently dancing on the edge of insanity right now.
"Oliver!" Christian came down the hall, and Oliver went to meet him halfway.
"Where is she?" Oliver asked and Christian nudged his head for him to follow. "What happened?"
"Mr. Chase said that she was walking out of the police station when she just collapsed." Christian said. "She's been going in and out since she got here, but I'm running tests." they stopped outside of a door and Oliver let out a sigh before turning back to Christian. "Oliver, right now initial labs say she's fine. We're going to figure this out." he patted Oliver on the shoulder. Oliver turned back to the door, taking one more deep breath before walking into the room, only to find Katie asleep, but she wasn't alone. There in a chair beside her bed was Adrian Chase. Chase turned when the door opened and immediately stood to his feet.
"Mr. Mayor-" Adrian walked over to Oliver. "I meant to call you, I just-" Adrian shook his head and glanced back over to Katie. "Everything was moving fast, and there never seemed like a right time. I'm glad Christian was able to get a hold of you." Oliver looked at the man for a moment before walking around him to Katie's side, taking her hand. "Uh, she's been in and out for a while."
"A while," Oliver muttered before looking over to the man. "How long have you been here?"
Adrian chuckled slightly, "Since she was brought in. She passed out at the station, and I rode along with the paramedics, answering any questions they may have had about what happened, then we got here and she still wasn't very lucid, so I stuck around. In case she woke up, I thought she might not freak out as much if she saw a familiar face."
"And you thought that face should be yours?" Oliver asked. There was a tone to his voice that he was very much aware of at the moment. A lot was happening today, and he wasn't in the best mood. Then he gets a call from the hospital telling him that his wife was brought in, and now this district attorney thought his face was the face his wife would be happy to see when she woke up.
"I didn't mean it like-" there was a knock on the door and they both turned as Christian came into the room. Christian looked from Oliver to Adrian, clearing his throat before focusing his attention on Katie as he walked to the other side of her bed.
"Any news?" Oliver asked and Christian looked over to him about to answer, but stopped and once again glanced over to Adrian who seemed to watch him as well. Oliver followed his eyes and sighed. "Mr. Chase, thank you for staying with my wife, but-"
"I should go," Adrian said already backing up toward the door. He glanced over to Katie, looking at her for a moment, and Oliver noticed his eyes linger on the woman before turning back to him. "I-" his phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, glancing down to the screen. "I really have to go." he looked back over to Oliver. "Sir," he gave a nod before turning and rushing out of the door, letting it shut behind him. Oliver looked over to the door, before turning back to Christian who shook his head before turning to Oliver.
"Was he in here when you came in?" Christian asked and Oliver's brow furrowed. "I told him that only family was allowed in the room, he showed me a badge, I told him that didn't change the policy and I assumed he accepted it, but I guess I was wrong." Oliver didn't say anything for a moment before looking down at Katie. "She's fine. A bit dehydrated which is why I have her hooked up to this IV."
"What happened?" Oliver asked.
"From what your DA told me, he'd just finished getting her statement, and while she was headed out of the station she just passed out." Christian folded his arms over his chest. "I heard she was at the mall when all that craziness happened."
"You think that has something to do with it?"
"Possibly, but I won't-" Katie groaned and both men turned their attention to her. They watched as her head turned before her eyes blinked open only to snap shut again.
"What the hell?" she muttered bringing a hand to cover her eyes. "Where am I?"
"Twinkie, you're in the hospital." Oliver said and Katie removed her hand and looked over to him. "You passed out at the police station."
"I did?" she asked turning away trying to go back to that moment. She remembers being in the police station, talking to Adrian, and she remembers walking out of that office, and then just nothing. "That makes no sense, I felt fine."
"Yeah, but I heard about your little adventure in the mall, and there were talks that you'd took some nut's gun." Christian said looking down at Katie. "Maybe the adrenaline finally bottomed out." Katie turned away from him, her eyes looking over to Oliver, his hand still gripping hers and she just shook her head.
"That can't be it. I'm fine in stressful, chaotic situations." she said and Oliver closed his eyes and slid one hand over his eyes, never letting her go with the other. "Oliver, I'm fine."
"Yeah, you told me that earlier, and now we're in a hospital." Oliver said. There was that tone again, but this time it wasn't supposed to be directed at her. "I'm sorry, I'm just-" he shook his head. "I would really like to not see you lying in a hospital bed right now." she gave his hand a squeeze before turning back to Christian.
"Can I go?" she asked sitting up slightly, turning when she notices she's attached to an IV.
"You were dehydrated when you came in." Christian said and Katie turned to him in confusion. "I took some blood, and I'm just waiting for the lab to send up the results. I want you to stick around until they do."
"Do you think something could be wrong?" Oliver asked and Christian looked over to him and shook his head.
"At this point, there's a lot that could be happening. I mean-" he shrugged before looking down to Katie. "If you don't think it was the excitement from the day, I would then follow up with my next question-" Katie looked over to him and waited for the question. "When was your menstrual cycle?" Katie looked at him for a moment before letting out a snort.
"Well that's a stupid question." she said with a slight chuckle. "Because there's no way I-" she turned away because the question kept repeating itself in her head and for the life of her she didn't have an answer.
"Twinkie?" Oliver spoke and she turned to him with a look that made him let out a deep breath.
"No, no, no, that's not-" she was shaking her head as she turned to Christian. "I should hit you." the man chuckled as he held up his hands in surrender.
"Hey, it's just another possibility, but we won't know until those results come back. I'll let you know as soon as they do." Christian glanced over to Oliver who now seemed nervous. "Oliver-" Oliver turned to him. "Let's wait for the results before we freak out ok." he turned back to Katie who was still just shaking her head. "I'm going to leave you two to obsess about this." he was backing out of the door.
"I'm so going to hit you!" she called after him as he walked out of the door. Katie dropped back on her pillow before looking over to Oliver and she could see the nervousness in his eyes. "Liver-" he looked over to her. "I'm not pregnant. I can't be pregnant." she shook her head and turned away and Oliver frowned slightly at her word choice. Oliver took a seat on the edge of the bed, his hand still wrapped around hers. She turned to him and could see that questioning look in his eyes and she just shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. You have to agree that a baby right now would just be-" she pulled her hand from his just brought her knees to her chest, before dropping her face to her palms.
"What?" Oliver asked and Katie looked over to him with a furrowed brow. "A baby right now would be what?"
"You can't be serious?" she asked and he just looked at her waiting for an answer. "Ok, well there's the fact that we have a small child who's not even a year old and not potty trained."
"We would figure it out. I mean we didn't know what to expect with Robyn, but we made it work."
"No, we left." Katie said with a shake of her head. "We spent months away from stresses in this city. We wouldn't be able to do that now."
"But this isn't just you Twinkie, we're in this together, and-" she scoffed and turned away before sitting up in the bed and looking down to the IV in her arm. Without a word she reached down and carefully pulled it from her vein. "What are you doing? What-" she didn't answer him as she pressed her hand to her arm to stop the blood before walking over to one of the drawers. She began pulling them open until she found some gauze and tape which she used to bandage her arm. "Twinkie, will you just-" she wasn't even listening as she grabbed her jacket and just headed out the door. Oliver let out a groan before rushing to follow her. "And now you're running."
She turned a glare at him. "I'm not running, I'm walking actually. Trying to get away from you and all this optimism you're spewing because I really just can't." Oliver continued to walk beside her, trying to figure out where she was going. When they arrived back to ER doors he knew they were leaving.
"Where are you going?" he asked again and this time she didn't say anything and so he just let out a sigh as he continued to follow her.
Soon they were just walking along the sidewalk. Neither saying a thing. Oliver continued to look over to Katie who kept her eyes forward. She wasn't saying anything, but he knew a lot was going through her head at the moment. He wanted her to talk to him. He was nervous too at the possibility of another baby, but all in all, he was happy about it. It was his wife, his Twinkie, the love of his life, who could possibly be carrying their child. The longer he sat with the idea, the less freaked out he became. Suddenly she stopped walking and he stopped as well, thinking she'd given up on running away and was finally going to talk to him.
"Weren't you trying to find Prometheus?" she suddenly asked turning to him. "Did you find him?"
"No, but that's definitely not important right now. Twinkie we should talk about-"
"We should talk about the fact that this guy is out killing people and instead of trying to find him, you're here. You should go."
"I'm not going anywhere and I'm definitely not going to let you push me away right now." Oliver said before taking a step toward her, only for her to take a slight step back. He met her eyes and he just knew what she was about to do. "Twinkie, don't—don't—" he didn't even finish his sentence before the woman turned and bolted away from him. "Run." Oliver let out another sigh because he knew he was going to have to go after her. Without a second thought, Oliver ran as well.
He had her in sight up ahead. He tried calling after her, but she wasn't stopping. He let out a groan looking around to see if maybe he could just cut her off. Soon he wouldn't have to. She finally stopped, and so did he. He was still a good distance from her, but he could see her stop the moment she happened upon a park. He watched as she walked over to sit on the swing before swaying back and forth. He began walking over before he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out to see Felicity's number. He glanced back over to Katie once more before bringing the phone to his ear.
"Hey Felicity," Oliver answered slightly breathy. "What's up?"
"You sound like you're out of breath. Is everything alright?" Felicity asked. "What's going on?"
"Everything's fine, it's just been a crazy night." Oliver said his eyes still on Katie as she sways on the swing. "Look I have to go, can I-"
"Wait, that list of potential victims you wanted, well I have it." Felicity said and Oliver let out a sigh as he continued looking over to his wife. It was the lack of response that made Felicity sigh. "You're not coming back tonight are you?"
Felicity stood in front of her computers before turning to John who stood at her side as they waited for Oliver to say something.
"You not coming back here would only mean you came to a moment where you had to choose between Oliver Queen or the Green Arrow. You would only do that if something was wrong." Felicity said and he still wasn't saying anything. "Oliver, you need to speak now because I'm going to freak out, and if I freak out, I'm going to track your phone, find you, and hit you multiple times. What's going on?"
"Katie was taken to the hospital." Oliver finally said and Felicity's eyes went wide as she turned to John. "She's fine, she fainted, but now she's awake and she just ran from me."
"What do you mean she ran from you?" Felicity asked and that made her more nervous. "Wait, is she really ok? This isn't some kind of effects from the coma thing, or the people going into her head thing, or the-"
"No, she's fine. She's just being stubborn and—" he let out a sigh. "Scared I think. We might be pregnant."
"Oh my gosh!" Felicity squealed.
"Felicity-"
"Sorry," the woman said with a smile she turned to John. "It's just another baby, that's—that's great."
"My wife doesn't seem to think so and I would like to figure out why." Oliver said.
"right." Felicity shook her head before turning back to John, and then glancing down to her computer. "What should we do about the possible targets?"
Oliver closed her eyes, racking his brain. He hated this moment where he felt pulled in so many directions and yet he wasn't moving his feet from this spot. He wasn't leaving Katie. Not right now. He also had to think about more people possibly being killed and something needed to be done. And when he tried to think of a solution that would allow him to be here for his wife and also make sure those people were saved, only one thing came to mind and it was the very last thing he wanted to do.
He opened his eyes and looked over to Katie and he knew that he would do anything to just be with her right now, even make the one call he just didn't want to make.
"Call the team, get them back there." Oliver said.
"Ok, and then what?" Felicity asked.
"Just get them there." Oliver said before ending the call. He glanced down to his phone before looking over to Katie who stood from the swing and he took a step forward, thinking she was going to make a run for it again, but instead, she walked over to take a seat on the roundabout before letting herself spin around. He shook his head before finding the number he didn't want to dial and dialing. Oliver listened to the ringing, and after a while, he thought he wouldn't get an answer, but then he heard the click.
"The only reason you would call me is if you need something." came the voice from the other end. Oliver just slid a hand across his face. "And I have to say, I'm not in a charitable mood."
"Bruce," Oliver tried his best not to let his annoyance and anger show in his tone because he knew he needed the man's help. "Look I get you to have absolutely no reason to help me, but right now I'm out of options." he let out a sigh. "You're the last person I want to have to call, but here and I am without a choice." the line was silent.
"What is it?"
"Has Felicity told you about Prometheus?" Oliver asked.
"I guess as much as you guys know. But I've seen his handy work with the throwing stars. You guys got a lead on him?"
"Yeah, we think we may have a list of his possible next targets."
"So you think if you get to the targets first you can protect them and maybe catch the bastard in the process."
"That's the plan."
"So why are you calling me?" Bruce asked.
Oliver began walking closer toward Katie, still at a distance. "Because right now I can't leave my wife."
"what's going on? Is she alright?"
"She's fine, I just have to be here with her right now so I just—I can't." Oliver really didn't anticipate how tough this whole thing was going to be. He felt an obligation to this city, to protect it, and yet when it came down to it, he had a stronger obligation to his wife and he wasn't bending on it.
"I got it." Bruce suddenly said and Oliver sighed. "I'll go." Oliver wished like hell he could just hate this man, could curse his name, and just wish him away into nonexistence. The truth was Bruce Wayne was one of few people he could truly depend on in a time of need. Sure they didn't see eye to eye on some things, and sure the man was arrogant and pompous and just plain annoying, but at the end of the day, Bruce Wayne was still just one of his closest friends and he has no idea how the hell it happened.
"Bruce, thanks, I-" neither man was good at facing the unintentional friendship they had. "Thanks."
"Yeah, yeah. It's probably better I go anyway, less chance of this bastard getting away." Bruce said and Oliver just shook his head before ending the call.
Oliver walked over to the roundabout where he watched Katie slowly spinning around before he reached up and stopped it the moment she faced him.
"I could've lost you, you know?"
"You could've and I still would've caught you." Oliver replied and Katie shook her head. "So I have questions." he took a seat beside her. "Why did we leave the hospital? Why did you full-on run from me, and now why are we sitting in a park at night?" Katie dropped a foot to the ground and jerked her leg to get them spinning again. "And now we're spinning."
Felicity and John shared a look as the team gathered around impatiently waiting.
"So what exactly are we waiting for?" Rene asked looking between Felicity and Bruce. "I thought you said you had a list of potential targets. Why aren't we out trying to find them?"
Felicity let out a sigh, glancing from John to the team. "You're right, we can't wait any longer and-" they all turned at the sound of the elevator opening and at that moment a pin could drop and they all would hear it.
"That's-" Evelyn said her eyes wide. "Is that Batman?" Felicity looked over in confusion before walking around the team and over to Batman.
"This is a surprise." Felicity said looking the man over. "It's been a while since you've put on the suit. So Oliver called you?"
"He did." came the gravelly response and Felicity rolled her eyes as John walked over to stand beside her.
"So he bit the bullet and asked you to stand in for him?" John asked. "I'm honestly not surprised." Batman lifted his eyes to the team and John and Felicity glanced back to see the eyes on them. "So does everyone know who you are under that cowl?"
"Nope." Felicity said turning back to him. "And I have the feeling that since you showed up here as the cape crusader, you would like it to stay that way."
"Right you are Ms. Smoak," Batman said before walking around them to the recruits. They all stood in front of him, no one quite sure what to say. "Oliver couldn't be here, so I will be standing in."
"So Oliver works with Batman too, huh?" Rene said with a shake of his head. "So is there anything else about this guy we don't know? Apparently, he has a kill list and he's superhero friends with Batman."
"So yeah, it's cool that Batman is here," Evelyn said before her eyes turned to Felicity and John. "But where's Oliver. The guy is killing these people because of him and what now he's taking a break?"
"No, now he's dealing with a personal matter and couldn't be here. For right now that's all you can know." Felicity said.
Ari took a step forward. "What's wrong?" Felicity looked over to the girl and sighed.
"I bet the A team knows where Oliver is." Rene said. "The B team will probably find out when all hell breaks loose." Batman glanced from the team to Felicity who was now at his side.
"So we figured out Prometheus' targets names are anagrams." Felicity sighed. "The anagrams translate to names from Oliver's notebook given to him from his father. "
"His murder list." Evelyn said and Batman turned to her before turning back to Felicity.
"It's been a thing and everyone is just coming to grips with the news." Felicity said. Bruce turned from her back to the team.
"A thing?" he said, a slight hint of annoyance. He looked over them and shook his head. "You all can go home." he turned to John. "Suit up, you're with me and-"
"Wait a minute!" Rene took a step forward, bold enough to come toe to toe with the Dark Knight. "This is our city, and this is our fight too. Who are you to try to bench us?"
"Look kid, I don't have time to babysit a bunch children upset their dad has a past he didn't tell them about." he turned from Rene to the other recruits. "Out there, there are no personal feelings, there's only the mission." he moved around Rene. "I'm here because someone is going to die if we don't help them. The truth, I usually work alone because I don't have the patience, or the time to deal with anyone's feelings but my own. Right now I'm here for Oliver. He asked me to be here, to help you all stop a murderer. Anyone not one hundred focused on doing that needs to leave now." Batman stood there for a moment and when no one moved and gave a nod. "Ms. Smoak, do you have a list of targets?"
Felicity hurried over to her computer and they all walked over as well."Uh, yes, I was able to cross-reference the list with the city census, nailing it down to seven potential targets." Felicity said walking over to pull up the list
"How do we know who he'll hit?" Rene asked.
"We don't." Batman said his eyes looking at the names before turning to the team. "In order to cover that much ground we have to split up and each take one potential target. We run surveillance. Whoever spots Prometheus first, call it in and we all converge."
"Cool," Curtis said before they all dispersed to get changed. Bruce watched each one, trying to determine if he could trust them out there. There was still tensions and emotions which is why he took a step forward and blocked Evelyn.
"Are you good to go out there?" he asked and she met his eyes with a glare.
"I'm fine." she muttered attempting to step around him, but he moved to block her.
"You're not fine, and not fine people can't do the job."
"I've been doing the job just fine. But if you expect me to stand here and tell you that I'm not angry. That the fact that I blamed Oliver for my parents dying, blamed him for leaving them to suffocate in one of Damien's Darhk's chambers only to find out that this guy who made himself seem like some kind of saint was actually a murderer-" she shook her head. "It doesn't make this easy."
"The truth, Oliver isn't a saint, and he isn't without sin, no one down here is. He's just a guy who wants to do some kind of good. "
"Whatever." she muttered before moving around him to get changed.
Bruce let out a sigh before turning only to find Ari standing in front of him, arms folded over her chest.
"We have a problem?" he asked looking down to her as John and Felicity walked over.
"What's going on with Oliver?" she asked glancing from him to Felicity. "I tried calling my cousin and she hasn't answered. Did something happen?" she looked from Felicity to John. "Will one of you say something?"
Felicity let out a sigh. "Katie was taken to the hospital." Ari turned to her with wides eyes and Felicity held up her hands. "She's fine, she fainted earlier, but now she's awake and alert. Oliver is with her now, which is why he isn't here." Ari dropped her shoulders.
"Tell me where your head is kid?" Bruce said and Ari turned a glare to the man.
"You suck as a team leader." she replied before turning off to get changed.
"I second that." Felicity said turning to the man. "You really need to work on your bedside manner Batman."
"I haven't had any complaints before." he replied and the woman just laughed with a shake of head before going back over to her computer. Bruce turned to John who let out a sigh. "I still vote you and me do this. I have faith that we could make it work."
John just laughed before walking off to go get suited up.
Oliver and Katie sat on the roundabout, just silently spinning around. Katie glanced over to see Oliver check his phone.
"Liver, if you need to go, just go." Katie says and Oliver turns his eyes to her.
"So you run away from me and now you're trying to get me to leave." Oliver said slipping his phone back in to his pocket. Katie let out a sigh before turning away from the man. "Tell me what's going on in your head?"
"We don't have nearly enough time to dive into that chapter." Katie says wrapping her arms around her knees as she brings them to her chest. She dropped her head to rest on her arms.
"Fine, then let's narrow it down." Oliver said still watching her. "We could be having another baby." Katie groaned as she buried her head into her arms. "Which you don't seem excited about at all." she didn't say anything. "Twinkie what's going on?"
"Oliver, just this morning you told me we wouldn't be able to fit a dog into our lives." she said and Oliver let out a sigh as she turned to him. "And you were right. So if we can't fit a dog into our lives, how does another baby fit?"
"I'm not sure we should be comparing a dog and a baby." Oliver said and Katie scoffed and turned away. "Listen, if this is real, if we really are having a baby, then we will make it work. Just like we did with Robyn."
"Except it won't be the same, Oliver." she said lifting her head and standing off the roundabout. Oliver stood and watched as she went back over to sit on the swing. "When I was pregnant with Robyn, we left this city because we knew we didn't want to deal with the craziness while trying to bring this life into the world." Oliver walked over and took a seat on the swing beside her. She shook her head. "And no this isn't me saying that I think we should leave, but I'm just saying our lives now are just not the same."
"So you don't think we could do this?" Oliver asked and Katie closed her eyes before standing to her feet in front of him.
"Ok I'm going to say something. Something I probably would never say if we weren't in this moment right now." she said and Oliver stood to his feet and looked at her for a moment before he finally understood.
"You don't think I could do this?" he asked and Katie sighed with a shake of her head.
"I think you spend your days at city hall, and your nights under the hood and then we get the few hours you have to spare before you leave and when you get back." Katie said and she saw how the words hit him and she hated it because she knew they would which is why she didn't want to say them. But she wanted to be honest. "Liver, I'm sorry, I just-" she shook her head. "The truth, I think you want to go on dates and you want to have family dinners and you want to have family trips, but you have absolutely no idea how to make it happen with your life. I think you work too much. I think you work so much that you forget things. You forget that you were supposed to come with me to the dinner from hell with my dad, or you forget to pick up milk on your way home." she looked up to his eyes and she hated the guilt she saw. He hadn't said anything and she wonders if she said too much. She took a step forward. "And I'm not saying any of this to hurt your feelings or to-" he took a step back and turned away from her. "Liver-"
"I'm screwing this up." Oliver said and Katie looked over to him in confusion. He turned back to her. "The one thing I didn't want to screw up and I'm screwing it up."
"Oliver, you're not screwing up anything." she said walking over to him and taking his hand. "You're a great father, and you're the best husband I've ever had. I mean I'm sure I can overlook the fact that you don't laugh at any of my jokes." Oliver let out a sigh as he dropped his head and she brought herself closer to him, wrapping her arms around him. "Oliver, it's not just you. How can I think about another baby when I just came to the conclusion that I probably need to talk to a therapist about helping me deal with the fact that I'm not...ok." Oliver brought his arms around her. "That I have yet to fall asleep and not have endless nightmares about that monster in my body. Or how when I'm awake, and when I'm not expecting it, I just see it as if it were happening right in front of me. Or how I'm using this birthday party as a distraction from it all and I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I don't have it to hide behind anymore. " She dropped her head to his chest. "You're not screwing up, I think we're both just still trying to figure things out."
Oliver tightened his grasp around her and they stood there in a silent embrace for a few moments. "I forgot the milk." Oliver suddenly said and Katie let out a snort. "Why didn't you tell me that I forgot the milk."
"Honestly, I've given up hope that you will remember to pick up milk." Katie said. "I pretty much know that you will never pick up milk. At this point, it's just a running gag with me and Ari." Oliver pulled back and looked down to meet her eyes. "Do you remember me asking you to pick up milk?" he looked at her for a moment and nodded. "And when was the last time you've actually went to a store and bought milk?" Oliver looked at her and then turned away in thought and his eyes went wide as he realized he couldn't actually remember. "Liver it's fine."
"That's just it, it's not fine." Oliver said turning back to her. "You don't ask a lot from me, and one of the few things you ask and I don't even remember to do it." he shook his head.
"Liver, really it's fine." she said. "I get it. There's just a lot going on and I don't expect you to remember every little thing." he let out a sigh as he turned away.
"You know I remember my dad was barely home. Always at work or on business trips, and we barely saw him." Oliver shook his head. "I love my dad, but I promised myself that I wouldn't be that kind of father." he turned back to Katie. "I wouldn't be the type of dad who blew in and out of my family's lives." he met Katie's eyes. "I'm going to do better. I'm going to be present, and I'm going to make time for us, for our family. I promise."
Katie looked up to his eyes with a smile. She could see it. The certainty. She believed him. He leaned in to her, only to stop when his phone rang. He groaned as he stepped back to pull his phone from his pocket. "Liver, really if you need to go you should-"
"It's Christian." Oliver said looking down to his phone. He looked up to Katie's eyes and he once again saw the nervousness and fear. Her eyes dropped back down to the phone and he noticed her take a slight step back. "Twinkie, wait, don't-" before he could speak, the woman had turned and bolted off. Oliver let out a sigh as he looked up to the sky. His phone continued to ring and so he finally answered, bringing the phone to his ear.
Bruce finally got his first glimpse of this Prometheus guy. He expected more than a guy in all black wearing a weird mask. They were right, he did try to attack one of the targets. Turned out to be the target was a subway conductor Evelyn was surveying on a moving subway. Evelyn had gone offline and so Bruce went to check it out, but the moment he came into the subway, Prometheus seemed to run off, but not before leaving a present. A bomb was at the front of the subway car and there was no time to disarm it. And so Bruce hooked a grapple line to conductor's belt, before grabbing Evelyn and shooting a parachute grapple through the hole in the subway ceiling and shooting them all of there before the train exploded.
Currently Bruce, still dressed as the Batman stood in the lair, his eyes looking between the monitors currently showing the area around the subway station.
"Any sign of him?" he turned as Evelyn came wallking over.
"Nope." Bruce turned back to the screen. "How's the hand?"
"Good as new." she said looking down to her bandaged hand as she stood beside him looking between the monitors as well. "Look I'm sorry about earlier." he turned to her and she just looked back to him slightly nervous. There was just something about this guy who she's only seen in blurry pictures or heard about on the radio that was just intimidating. "I was a jerk and I was taking my frustration about Oliver on you and it wasn't fair. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't have made it out of there tonight, so thank you." he didn't say anything as he turned back to the monitors. "You really aren't good at this whole team thing, are you? I mean you still haven't even taken off the mask. It says a lot."
"An exactly what does it say?"
"That you don't trust us." she said looking over to him, his eyes never turning from the monitor. "And being a part of a team means there must be some level of trust or it all just falls a part." she shook her head. "Oliver is the perfect example of that."
"So you're upset he didn't share with you the person he used to be?" Bruce asked and Evelyn shook her head. "Kid, we're all running from the people we used to be. The part of ourselves that we hate and that we don't like to bring up." he turned to the girl. "Him not telling any of you about that notebook wasn't just him being secretive about who was, it was him choosing to no longer give power to those demons. One day you're going to learn what that's like, kid. One day you're going to choose who you want to be and that person you were, that person you used to hate when you looked in the mirror, you're going to find a way to put them into a tiny box with a big lock and then you're going to just throw it away and never think about it again."
"At least until some psycho finds that box and uses it to torment you." she said turning back to the screen. "But I get it."
"Good." he said before turning and stalking off. Evelyn turned in confusion.
"You're leaving?!" she called after him. "What about the train guy?!"
"Well this morning, him and Prometheus' other six targets were placed into protective custody." Bruce called after he stepped onto the elevator.
"Won't Prometheus just find another way to go after Oliver?"
"Probably, but when he does, I'm sure Oliver and the rest of you will deal with it." and with that the doors closed giving the man an impressive dramatic exit.
Oliver found himself walking alone down the sidewalk. After his call with Christian, he'd gotten an update from Felicity that they were able to stop Prometheus before he could hurt anyone else. He made the call and had all the possible targets put into protective custody. One problem was solved, and he was hoping to solve another as he walked down the streets of Star City looking for his wife. He finally spotted her, sitting inside of an ice cream shop, a ridiculous size sundae that looks like it weighed just as much as her, sitting in front of her as she just ate away. Oliver just shook his head as he walked inside to find the place practically empty. The only people inside was a worker behind the counter and his wife. He looked over to the person behind the counter who smiled at Oliver before coming over.
"Good evening, Mayor Queen."
"Hi," Oliver said looking around. "I didn't know you guys were open this late?"
"Uh, we're not." the young man said. "Your wife sort of caught me right when I was about to close. I knew who she was and let her in even though I'm pretty sure I'm going to get fired because of this." the kid nervously laughed but shrugged. "But hey at least I will have a story to tell my friends tomorrow at school." Oliver shook his head before looking at the boy's name tag.
"Bobby?" the young man nodded. "Bobby, I will personally talk to your boss. Don't worry, you're not losing your job." he looked over to Katie. "And I'm sorry we're keeping you, I'll talk to her and we'll get out of your hair so you can get home."
"Thanks Mr. Mayor," Bobby said and Oliver just gave him a nod before walking over to sit in the seat across from Katie.
"You know I thought we were making progress." Oliver said looking over to Katie who looked at him for a moment before going back to eat her ice cream. "And then you ran away again, and now you're holding this kid hostage in an ice cream parlor eating the largest ice cream sundae I've ever seen. I'm not seeing the logic here Twinkie. "
"Am I usually a logical person?" she asked looking over to him and he looked over and smiled with a nod.
"Point taken." he said as he watched her poke the ice cream with her spoon, staring at it instead of looking at him.
"The test was negative, right?" she asked and Oliver didn't say anything for a moment, and so she looked up to meet his eyes.
"Yeah, it was negative. We're not having a baby." he said and he watched her for a moment, unsure of how she would react. He expected to see relief, and yet she just nodded and looked back down to the ice cream. " I have to admit, I'm kind of disappointed." she lightly laughed as she looked up to him. "I mean I thought we were on our way to our five kid goal." she laughed a bit louder as she sat back in her seat.
"I never agreed to five kids."
"I thought you did?" he said with a smile and Katie just shook her head, unable to contain her own smile. He reached across the table and took her hand. "Twinkie, I get you feeling nervous, and scared about the possibility of another baby, because I felt it too. But if those feelings are stemming from me, or the things I'm doing as a husband and father, than I really think that's something we need to talk about. It's you and me, we're partners in this and if you feel as if I'm not carrying my share of the weight then-"
"Liver, stop." she pulled back her hand. "That's not-" she shook her head as she sat back in her seat. "That's not it."
"But what you said-"
"Oliver, I said that you work too much and that you're forgetful, something that we both know. I have no doubt that you will figure it out and I also do not doubt if we were having another baby, that you would probably become a helicopter husband like you were when I was pregnant with Robyn."
"I wasn't-"
"Oliver we went everywhere together. I had to put my foot down when you decided you wanted to escort me to and from public bathrooms." she said with a light chuckle. "You went into over protective Oliver mode 5.0 and it was both annoying and sweet."
"So what is it?" he asked. Katie didn't say anything for a moment before she dropped her eyes once again. It was at this point where he was really starting to get worried. He stood from his seat and moved to sit beside her. He brought an arm around her and she dropped her head to his chest. "Twinkie, tell me."
"The first thing that came to my mind when Chris brought up the possibility of a baby, was the fact the last thing living inside of me was this dark, evil thing."
"It's gone."
"But what if it's not." she said her ear still pressed against his chest, her eyes closed as she lets her fears come out of her mouth. It was something she never had the courage to do and yet she knew she had to let go or it would kill her. "What if it's still in there and then one day I do become pregnant, and it—that just can't happen."
"It won't because it's gone."
"You don't know that." she replied and Oliver pulled back and looked down to her eyes. He brought a hand to her cheek and just sighed.
"Yes I do." she dropped her eyes from his and he just knew that his certainty wasn't enough for her right now. "But that's not enough for you, is it?" she once again met his eyes. "What do you need?" Katie looked at him for a moment. He always asked the question when she found herself in this spot. The answer was always the same. To her at least. She had no idea what she needed.
"I don't know." she pulled back and looked up to meet his eyes. "How about I let you know when I do." he gave her a nod before dropping his lips to hers. She pulled back with a smile. "We should probably let this kid get home." Oliver turned to see the teen sitting on the counter laughing at something on his cell phone.
When the pair walked through the door of their home, they stopped as Ari came walking down the stairs holding the baby monitor.
"Lyla called and said you went to get Robyn." Katie says as she walks over to meet the girl as Oliver closes the door. "You didn't have to do that. We would've gone to get her."
"Yeah, well you say that and then something else happens, so I decided I would just get her myself." Ari says moving around the woman and heading into the kitchen. Katie looked over to Oliver and they both let out a sigh before heading into the kitchen where they found the teen looking inside of the refrigerator. They simply stood and watched her for a moment before she looked over to them. "What?"
"Talk." Katie says walking over and hopping on the kitchen island, and looking over to the teen. "You're obviously all angsty and moody for a reason, so talk." Ari looked at Katie before glancing over to Oliver. Katie followed her eyes to Oliver before turning back to the the girl. "He told me you all know about the notebook." Ari turned to her. "Know about the list. If you have questions, or you want to say something about it then just-"
"My father got tangled up with criminals, stole from our family's company and tried to murder people." Ari slammed the refrigerator closed before taking a step forward toward Oliver and he looked at her without a word and let her just speak. "My mother held a restaurant filled with people against their will. And I swear that's all people saw when they looked at me." she took another step toward Oliver. "But then my annoying cousin found me and she took me in and when people looked at me, they told me just how lucky I was to have been taken in by saints Oliver and Katherine Queen." she shook her head. "And at some point I just believed them. I believed that after the crap my parents had put me through, I'd finally found an actual family and-" she dropped her eyes from his as she felt emotions steal her words. Oliver took a step toward her, but she backed away from him. "They were liars and you two are liars and the only difference between you and them is that no one knows it but me." she shook her head before turning and heading for the steps.
"Ari, wait-" Oliver said, but Ari didn't stop walking. "Ari, will you let me explain, at least give me that." Ari let out a huff, but stopped and turned back to him. "Look I get how finding out that notebook and the person I was could be confusing-"
"Not confusing, you were a murder. You went through a list of names in a notebook and you killed them." she looked over to Katie. "And you knew about it, still fell in love, got married, had a kid."
"Except that's not the full story." Oliver said and Ari turned to him. "If you want to know it, I will tell you." Ari looked at him for a moment. "The truth, you're right, we're not saints. We're flawed, but what I hope you never doubt is how much we love you, how much we love Robyn, and how much this family means to us." they stood there, neither saying a word.
"Well it looks like you two have a lot of talking to do." Katie says breaking the silence as she hopped from the counter, only to stop to grasp the counter as she felt slightly dizzy.
"Hey," Oliver came around to her, grabbing her waist.
"I'm fine." she says turning to him, before glancing over to Ari who came over as well. She turned to Oliver, placing a hand on his chest. "I'm fine. I'm going to go up and check in on Robyn, and then I will grab a shower." she pulled from his grasp, before heading forward the stairs. She stopped in front of Ari, placing a kiss to the side of the girl's head, before bringing her arms around her. "You know who we are Ari, deep down, you know." Ari brought her arms around Katie as well before the pair pulled away, and Katie headed upstairs. Ari watched until she was gone before turning and walking over to Oliver.
"Is she alright?" Ari asked and Oliver sighed before glancing over to the stairs.
"I don't know." he replied before turning to the teen. "Have you eaten? I'm pretty sure your cousin hasn't which means I need to feed her." he walked around the counter. Ari watched him for a moment before walking over and taking a seat at the counter. "Any requests?" he looked over his shoulder to the girl and saw the examining look in her eyes. She was thinking. Even though they hadn't actually talked, she was trying to come to a conclusion right then and there. He walked over to the the counter that separated them. "Ari, I'm not that guy."
She didn't say anything for a moment, but gave a nod. "I know. You're my dork cousin who makes some pretty awesome waffles." Oliver laughed with a shake of his head.
"So waffles for dinner?" he asked and Ari gave a small smile. "Great, we can talk as you help me make them." the girl gave a dramatic sigh as she stood to her feet and walked around the counter to him.
"You talk to Bruce?" Ari asked as she pulled the milk from the refrigerator. He looked over to her with a quirked brow. "I mean he wasn't the best team lead-" Ari turned away. "Actually he kind of sucked." Oliver laughed as he went to grab the flour. "But he was still awesome. He was Batman-" the girl smile widely. "Like I worked with Batman, the coolest hero ever." Oliver stopped and looked over to her and she laughed. "Well next to Superman." her eyes went wide, "Wait you know Superman right, could he be our team lead the next time you need a day off or whatever?"
"Would you just get the eggs?" Oliver said with a shake of his head.
"Sure, but you should thank him." Ari said and Oliver once again looked over to her. "You and Katie have been really icing him out and for him to show up when you need him." she looked over to the man. "You owe him."
Oliver let out a sigh. She was right. "I do."
"So where are you going to start?" Ari asked and Oliver stopped for a moment in thought before he gave a nod as he turned around and leaned back against the counter.
"Almost ten years ago, I went on a trip with my father and Sara Lance on our family's Yacht, the Queen's Gambit." Oliver said letting out another sigh as he prepared to tell this story.
Later that evening, when the story was finally told, and Ari had more information than she expected, the pair parted. Oliver brought a waffle upstairs, intent on getting his wife to eat something before she went to bed. He walked up the stairs about to go down the hall to their bedroom, but his eyes look down the other end noticing the light in his office on. He walked over, pushing open the door, a smile coming to his lips as he sees Katie sitting at his desk, wearing only her nightgown reading something on the computer. She glanced over to him.
"Sorry, I forgot to charge my laptop and Michael texted me saying he emailed me something." Her eyes turned back to the computer. "Apparently he thinks Annabelle has been trying to lobby some of the board members to vote him out. He thinks there's a reason she wants him gone."
"I mean he has been trying to unseat her as CEO." Oliver said walking over and placing the plate in front of her. She glanced down to the waffle and a smiled before looking over to him. "Breakfast for dinner. You should eat something. Christian wasn't able to determine the real reason for you fainting, so we need to cover all our bases." She gave a nod before grabbing the fork and bringing the plate closer and began eating, and Oliver dropped down in his seat and watched her. "Twinkie?" she turned to him with a slight smile. "How are you doing?" the smile fell and her eyes dropped down to her plate. He knew she hated the question. Hated having to think about the answer. Hated having to admit the truth. He expected her go to answer of "I'm fine", but that answer usually came quickly. This time she turned her eyes away from his.
"I'm not quite sure," she answered honestly bringing her eyes back to his. "Like I have no I idea why I fainted and that worries me. Sometimes I feels anxious, or nervous, or sometimes I feel angry, or sometimes I feel sad or scared." she shook her head, turning away. "It seems like each day I feel something every minute of everyday that just completely drains me and it's exhausting. I thought stepping away from helping with the team would allow me to just focus on me and trying to figure out a way out this dumpster fire of emotions I can't seem to understand." she dropped her eyes to her waffle, realizing she actually just said all of the words she just didn't want to say. She didn't look over to Oliver. Didn't want to see that look in his eyes when he looked at her. "So breakfast for dinner, whose idea was that?" she took a bite of her waffle, still not chancing a glance at the man.
"I'm going to take some time away from being the Mayor." Oliver said.
Katie let out a sigh, finally looking up to meet his eyes. "No you're not."
He simply nodded, "And I'll take a break from the team. I hear Bruce could use more practice at being the team leader."
"You're not doing that either." she said dropping her fork on her plate. He looked up to meet her eyes. "This isn't a problem that you can just fix. So I'm going to eat my waffle and then think of what I can do about this whole Michael-Annabelle thing, and then I'm going to go to bed." Oliver looked over to his wife and she could see in his eyes, his refusal to believe that he couldn't help her at all. He glanced down to his watch. "You have to go?"
"Just for a little bit." Oliver said looking back over to Katie. "I need to talk to Bruce." she didn't say anything, but did give a nod. "I think it's time I forgave him." she looked at him for a moment, but gave another nod. "I shouldn't be gone long." he stood to his feet and walked around the desk to her. She turned to him as he brought his lips down to hers. She figures it was supposed to be just a quick peck, and yet his hand slid through her hair, pulling her closer, and her hands clenched his shirt. When they pulled away, Oliver looked down the woman, her eyes closed, panting, lips slightly swollen and parted.
"I love you." he said, the words never seeming to encompass the entirety of his feelings for her. He did love her. He worshiped her. She was his first thought when he woke up every morning, and his last thought before he went to sleep. She opened her eyes and gave the smile that would always drain the air from his lungs.
"I love you too, Liver." he brought his lips back to hers, in a shorter kiss this time. "I think I might wait for you to get back. I think we should continue testing how thick those walls are. You know, for science."
"For science." he said with a smile before placing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be quick." he turned and headed for the door, but stopped and turned to her. She looked over to him with a quirked brow, then watched as he snakes his phone from his pocket.
"What are you doing?" she asked, but he didn't say anything. He simply held up his phone. "Are you taking a-" she heard the snapping sound of his camera and her eyes widen. "Wait, you can not-" he took a few more. "And you did. Are we thinking half naked pictures of your wife in your phone is a good idea?"
"It's my private phone, and it's fine, and this-" he tilted his head as he looked over to the woman, the strap of her tiny nightgown fallen from her shoulder, and a waffle in front of her. "Will get me through some long days in the office." the woman just smiled and shook her head.
She stood to her feet, "And if those pictures ever see the light of day, I-" he lifted his phone and took a few more pictures. "I will murder you." He smiled and she couldn't help the smile on her face. He took a few more before slipping the phone back into his pocket. "Your eyes only, Mr. Queen." his eyes trailed over her, before he met her eyes once again and gave a nod.
"Of course doctor." He replied. "I'll be back soon. Don't fall asleep." she just shook her head before watching the man leave.
Felicity Smoak stood with a glass of wine in hand as she leans against her kitchen counter watching as Bruce stood stirring something she thinks has burned at this point, and yet she smiles. Bruce looked over to her with a quirked brow.
"Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Smoak?"
"Well I'm just standing here looking at my Batman who helped save lives tonight before ending up in our kitchen to burn our dinner." Felicity said and Bruce shook his head before looking back down to the sauce.
"It's not burnt." he leaned in a bit to smell it. "Well it's not that burnt, I'm sure it's still edible." he looked back over to the woman who was still just smiling at him. "Seriously, what are you thinking about?"
"I think it's time." she said placing her glass down and walking around the counter to him.
"Time for what exactly?" he asked.
"I think it's time we tell everyone-" the sound of their door bell interrupted her and they both turned. It was late, and they never got visitors. Bruce pulled away from Felicity and grabbed his phone from the counter. She walked over to see him pull up the surveillance video from their front porch and they both looked down to the screen in confusion before Felicity went off toward the front door, Bruce not far behind. With a nervous breath, she pulled open the door. "The fact that you're standing at our door this time of night could only mean zombie apocalypse." Oliver just shook his head with a slightly chuckle.
"No, and I'm sorry I'm here so late." Oliver said. "I'm here to talk to Bruce." the woman looked surprised, but took a step back to let him inside. Oliver walked inside, letting his eyes look around the large house. "Wow, this place is nice."
"Things you would know sooner if you visited more often." Felicity said closing the door and turning to see the two men just standing there staring at each other. "You two do know that talking usually helps when one of you actually speaks." she sniffed the air and cursed. "Damn, the sauce!" with that Felicity when running back into the kitchen. Oliver turned a quirk brow to Bruce.
"I think she burned our dinner."
"I heard that!" Felicity called over her shoulder before she rushed into the kitchen.
Bruce turned back to Oliver. "Showing up without a call, dare I say I'm rubbing off on you." he walked over to the mini bar in the corner of the room. "Drink?"
"Uh, no, I'm good. I can't stay long." Oliver said and so Bruce stopped and turned back to him. "I just came here to say thank you." Bruce looked at him for a moment and shook his head.
"Don't thank me yet. The bastard got away, but he did look spooked when he saw me." Bruce said.
"Not that." Oliver said and Bruce's brow furrowed in confusion. "Well yeah, thanks for that, but that's not what I was talking about." Oliver shrugged. "You have no idea how much it pains me to say this, but you were right. All of you were right. I wanted to bury my head under the sand and pretend that everything was fine, when deep down I knew there was a possibility that it wasn't." he shook his head. "I didn't want to open that can of worms because I thought in the end I would lose her again. I was afraid—no I was scared to death that I would lose her again."
"We all were."
"Yeah, but you were strong enough to realize that doing nothing wasn't going solve anything. And yes I wish certain things could've happened differently."
"You can be rest assured that Constantine and Zatanna will never try anything like that ever again. We all came to an agreement that even though I don't have a mystical bone in my body, I could still make their lives hell."
"I appreciate that." Oliver said before walking over to the man and held out his hand. "And I appreciate you Bruce." Bruce reached forward and shook the man's hand with a slight smile. "And now it's getting weird."
"Agreed." Bruce dropped his hand and the men just stood there in silence. "So uh, where is Robins?"
"Home. We don't know why she fainted.
"So Robyn, isn't going to be a big sister?" Bruce asked and Oliver chuckled with a shake of his head.
"Not yet." he said with a sigh. "Well anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I should get back home." he turned for the door just as Felicity came back into the room.
"You're leaving?" she asked and Oliver looked over to her with a nod. She glanced over to Bruce before turning back to Oliver. "And you two-"
"Best friends again." Bruce said and Oliver looked over to the man with a quirked brow.
"Yeah, sure." Oliver said before looking over to Felicity. "Goodnight Felicity." he once again turned for the door.
"Oliver wait!" Felicity said and Oliver stopped and turned to her. She glanced over to Bruce who looked over to the woman in confusion before she turned back to Oliver. She took all of ten seconds to think about what she was about to say before she just came out with it. "Bruce and I are married." Oliver's eyes widened a bit before looking over to Bruce whose eyes were on Felicity before turning to him.
"Uh, congratulations." Oliver said. "When-"
"Three months after we left Star City." she said with a smile. "The first time we were in this village in Ireland. It was raining and we found ourselves in this church and the moment was there and it happened."
Oliver smiled over to the woman before looking over to Bruce. "Wait, first time?" he turned back to Felicity. "How many times have you two gotten married?"
"Three," Bruce said glancing over to Felicity who glared over to him. "Wait, is it four?"
Felicity shook her head before turning back to Oliver. "We were never sure how legit the first wedding was so we did it couple of times just in case."
"Why didn't you say anything?" Oliver asked and Felicity shrugged.
"A lot was happening and it never really seemed like the best time to come dump our happy news on you when you were having a tough time." she said and Oliver sighed before walked over to the woman.
"I appreciate the sentiment Felicity, but we're friends and I think we should know when the other gets married. I'm happy for you-" he shook his head before looking over to Bruce. "For both of you." he walked over to the man. "I was supposed to threaten you and do the whole show and dance before you married her, much like you've done the entirety of me and Katie's relationship."
"Hit me." The amusement left Oliver's face suddenly, that made even the smile leave Bruce's face. Oliver didn't say anything, but there was a look in his eyes that Bruce completely understood. "Got it." Bruce gave a nod and Oliver did the same before waving goodbye to Felicity before leaving. Felicity stood at the door and waved goodbye as Oliver pulled away. "So, Mrs. Wayne-" a smile pulled at Felicity's lips as she closed the door and turned to the man.
"Yes, Mr. Wayne?" she walked over to his arms that wrapped around her the moment she was near.
"It was four, wasn't it?" the woman just laughed with a shake of her head as she pulled out of his grasp and headed back into the kitchen. The man turned away in thought, using his fingers to count before he headed into the kitchen as well. "Wait, was it six? Are you counting the whole lost in the desert with the random camel and the witch doctor?"
Author's Note:
And I just did that I guess.
Review Replies:
EchoMoment: I like it when I make you think! But you're right, no baby Twiver number 2 just yet, but the possibility did bring up some important topics among the couple. Hopefully facing these fears now will make the next possible Twiver Baby not so scary.
BlueBloodsSVUOrder: I hope you liked it! This chapter was a bit Twiver focused. I wanted to show them dealing with the reality of their lives with them having honest conversations...Ah yes, finally someone noticed Adrian Chase's strange behavior toward Katie. There is a reason behind it.
As always, shout out to everyone who has jumped on this train. I'm glad you've come aboard and can't wait to show you where we're headed. Special thanks to everyone who added this story to your fav/follow alerts. Also virtual hugs and kisses to those who left a review!
Here's you your sneak peek
"What aren't you saying?" he asked and Katie sighed before turning back to him with a smile. "What is it?"
"Felicity has to finally come clean to her mom about the fact that she's married, so Thea thought it would be a good idea if we took Felicity to give her mom the news in person." Oliver shook his head as he turned back to the road.
"Donna lives in Vegas." Oliver said and Katie furrowed her brow.
"Does she?" he looked over to her unamused and she just shook her head. "Fine, Thea wants to kidnap Felicity, take her to Vegas to come clean to her mom, and maybe have a little celebration for Felicity."
"All I hear is you, Felicity and my sister on some wild trip to Vegas and I'm not ok with it."