Discovery Devotion Destiny

by kayemen22

In the blink of an eye, everything changed. Oliver now had to figure out how to balance being the Mayor of Star City with being the Green Arrow. He had to do it all while being the parent to a crawling baby and a mischevous teen. New enemies would threaten all of it. He's going to need his wife...except she doesn't even remember he's her husband. Or that she has freaky powers.

18. The Contingency

Chapter 18

The Contingency

"Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised."

-Denis Waitley

---

Oliver was distracted and he knew in this moment he shouldn't be. He sat at a table covered with various small squares of cakes and he couldn't stop thinking about Prometheus. He still was no closer to discovering who this guy was who apparently knew more about Oliver than he would like.

"I like the chocolate one with the cookies." Katie said taking another bite of the cake. "Plus Robyn is a chocoholic and will just-" she lifted her eyes to Oliver who was staring off, obviously not listening. She knew he was upset that they hadn't made any headway with finding Prometheus and she hoped that bringing him with her to choose a cake for Robyn's birthday would distract him a bit from the dark stuff of their lives, but she doesn't think it's working.

Oliver must've realized that Katie was looking at him and he turned meeting her eyes before sitting up a bit. "I'm sorry, did you say something?" Katie looked at him for a moment before pointing down to the cake in front of her.

"I think Robyn will like this one, so I'm going to go ahead and put the order in." Katie stood to her feet. "You should go, see if the team has any news." she moved to walk over to the counter, but Oliver stood to his feet, catching her hand before she can get away. She let out another sigh before turning back to him. "Oliver, you wanted to help with the party."

"I do, I just-"

"You're distracted. You're not completely here and that doesn't help me. You obviously want to be somewhere else doing something else, so just go." she placed a kiss to his cheek. "I will see you at home." she made to pull away again, but Oliver didn't relinquish his grasp.

"No, I want to be here with you, picking out a cake for our daughter." his hands slid around her waist. "I'm sorry." Katie looked at him for a moment before shaking her head. He turned and looked back down to the table of cakes. "And I actually liked the red velvet one." he turned back to Katie who held a glare. "What? we both have to agree, that was the deal." Katie pulled out of his grasp and swat his arm before walking back around to the table, grabbing the fork in the slice of red velvet cake. She took a bite and Oliver watched her waiting for her opinion. "So, what do you think?" she looked at him and sighed.

"We need an intermediary." she pulled her phone from her pocket. "I thought Thea was coming."

"She probably got held up at City hall." Oliver walked over and picked up the fork to taste the chocolate cake. Katie looked over to him with a raised brow and he looked over to her and sighed. "Yeah, we need someone here to tell you that my choice is better."

"Yeah, but all of our friends are busy with lives and don't have time to settle our marital squabbles." Katie said looking through her phone before turning back to Oliver. "We can settle this like adults." Oliver looked at her for a moment and just shook his head. "Or you can just side with me because my option is better. You and I know I have better taste."

"Says the woman who can barely cook." Oliver said and Katie's eyes widen and she went to hit him again, but he moved away.

"I cook! Plus this should be my choice anyway."

"And why is that?"

Well I'm the mom."

"And I'm the dad, I don't see how that makes your opinion better than mine."

"Well you didn't spend hours in labor, and a human being wasn't torn from your body. I think that gives me a little bit more parental decision making power." she said folding her arms over her chest and Oliver just shook his head.

"Like adults huh?"

"What, that is a logical argument."

"Keep telling yourself that Twinkie, and I still vote for the red velvet cake over the chocolate one." Oliver said folding his arms over his chest and Katie just narrowed her eyes and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Rock, paper, scissors?"

"You cheat."

"I do not, you're just a sore loser." Katie turned away, biting the corner of her lip as she thought about how they could come to an agreement. She turned back to him and he watched as she moved around the table over to him, and slid her hands on his chest and he just laughed again.

"Really, seduction Twinkie? That's what you're going with?" he brought his hands around her, very confident that her tactic would more than likely work.

"We really need to figure out a way to make decisions." Katie said her hands still lazily moving across Oliver's chest. "I mean we can't even choose a cake, how will we decide on a preschool, or what age she should get her ears pierced."

"Well we could revert to how we used to make decisions when we were younger." Oliver said and Katie looked up to him with a quirked brow. "I'm older, and should-" Katie let out a laugh before pulling from his grasp and giving him a playful shove and Oliver just laughed. "As the oldest, I should have the parental decision making power."

"I can't believe I actually would let you get away with that dumb ass argument. You're only older by five months and I was more mature than you."

"Couldn't argue with that, but admit it, I gave your life excitement." he said and Katie looked over to him with a smile and he just knew he would be agreeing to that damn chocolate cake in an effort to get her back home.

"Yeah, yeah, and it would seem you still are." she said noticing that look in his eyes and she just shook her head. "You can keep that look to yourself until we choose a cake."

"Fine, let's go with the chocolate." he said walking around to her and she just laughed when her cell phone suddenly rang. She pulled it out once again this time to see Thea's number.

"It's Speedy." she brought the phone to her ear. "Hey Speedy, what's up?" she turned to Oliver who watched her closely. "He's standing in front of me." his brow furrowed. "You're joking." she turned away from Oliver. "And how do you see that happening?"

"What's going on?" Oliver asked and Katie turned to him, phone still pressed to her ear as she continued listening to her sister.

"I'm going to call you back." Katie hung up the phone and slid it back into her pocket, and Oliver waited her for to tell him what was going on, instead she pointed toward the counter. "I'm going to go put in our order for the Chocolate cake." she began walking and Oliver shook his head.

"Actually, I'm changing my vote." he said and Katie stopped walking and turned back to him. "I'm voting for the red velvet again." he folded his arms over his chest. "What did Thea want?"

"That's the game you want to play?" he simply shrugged. "I guess I'm still the mature one." she shook her head. "I'm going to let them know that we're choosing two cakes." Oliver watched as Katie walked over to the front counter of the bakery to place their order.

The quiet sound of the radio playing was the only sound that played as the couple drove home. Oliver glanced over to Katie who kept her eyes out the window.

"So I'm assuming your total avoidance of this topic means I'm not going to like whatever it is." Oliver said and Katie turned to him.

"Thea wants to give Felicity a bachelorette party." Katie said simply and Oliver looked over to her with a quirked brow.

"She's not a bachelorette."

"Neither was I, but that didn't stop your sister from throwing me one." Katie says before turning back to look out the window.

"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 a 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." Oliver said as they pulled into their driveway. He turned off the car and turned to her.

"It's me, Thea, Felicity and Lyla, and the trip won't even be wild." she placed a kiss to his cheek. "I have to go pack. Thea said the plane is leaving in an hour." Oliver's eyes widened and before he could say anything, Katie was out of the car and hurrying inside the house. Oliver quickly got out of the car and followed her inside.

"Twinkie, we're talking about this!" he called as he followed her upstairs. She didn't even turn as she continued down the hall toward their room. "Twinkie, will you-" Ari's door opened and the teen stepped out with a furrowed brow.

"What's with the yelling?" she asked looking from Oliver to Katie. "Wait, did you see the scratch on my car because it's-" Oliver turned to the girl and she suddenly stopped talking. "You're not talking about the scratch are you?"

"Not yet, but we will." he said before turning and heading into the bedroom to find Katie with a suitcase on the bed, open as she brings clothes to it. "Are we not talking about this?" Katie let out a huff, but stopped and turned to the man.

"What do you want to talk about Oliver?"

"How about the fact that right now, you guys going on some trip to Vegas probably isn't the best time. With Prometheus actively trying to hurt me, all of you are at risk."

"We're at risk in Star City." she replied with a shrug. "Plus everyone going on this trip can take care of themselves." she turned and went back into her closet. Oliver groaned and walked over to stand at the door of the closet. Katie turned and stopped. "It's a weekend."

"A weekend in Vegas isn't just a weekend, trust me." Oliver said and Katie just shook her head. "I really just don't think it's a good idea for us to be apart. I mean if Prometheus does make a move, we will be stronger if we're together." Katie moved around the man to place her shoes in the suit case.

"I'm sorry Liver, you will not use fear to keep me here." she said before turning to him. "After these last couple of months, maybe some time away could help you know. I've been so busy just trying to find me in all of the crap, that maybe a weekend with the girls could be fun. I feel like I don't have fun anymore."

"We have fun." Oliver said and Katie looked over to him. "Us, tonight, with the cake tasting and the marital bickering, that was fun."

"That was fun, for all the parts you were actually physically and mentally present for it." she said walking over to her drawer. "This is happening Liver." Oliver stood there realizing that this really was happening and there was nothing he could say to stop it. When he didn't say anything she stopped and turned back to find him still standing there watching her.

"Fine, I can be ok with this." he said walking over to stand in front of her. "Just be careful."

"I'm always careful." she says bringing her arms around him, as Oliver's hands slides around her waist.

"Well also watch out for cameras. You're the mayor's wife. I don't think we want some outrageous picture of Drunk Twinkie in Vegas on the front page of Monday's paper. "

"That won't happen. Thea says she has contingencies for that sort of thing." she replied and that just made Oliver even more nervous.

"What kind of contingencies?" he asked unsure if he even wants to know.

"No idea, but she says she has a plan." Katie replied before lifting her lips to his. "Don't worry Liver, everything is going to be fine. It's just a weekend." she turned and once again went about getting packed. Oliver let out a sigh before pulling out his phone and dialing John's number.

"Tell me you know what is happening, man." John said bypassing a normal greeting. Oliver just watched as his wife disappeared into the closet once again.

"I wish I did." Oliver sighed. "How worried should we be right now?"

"Well Lyla's packing her heels and her glocks so I'm thinking we should be completely freaked out right now about what they could be getting into." John said. "I'm guessing you weren't able to talk Katie out of going."

"Not from lack of trying." he said before watching her bring a dress to her suit case he's never seen before and the fact that it was red and very short made him pull the phone from his ear slightly. "You're wearing that?" she stopped and looked over to him before looking down to the dress.

"Probably not, but you never know. I mean it's Vegas." she just folded the dress into the suit case and Oliver let out another groan before stalking out of the bedroom.

Soon Oliver found himself lifting Katie's suitcase into the back of Thea's car before the woman pulled the trunk closed.

"Thanks." Katie says placing a kiss to Oliver's lips about to get into the car, but he caught her waist and pulled her back.

"Ollie we don't have time for you to get clingy!" Thea said from the driver's seat.

"Speedy!" he called and he heard her grumble before stepping out of the car and walking over to them. "Thea just make sure this little trip doesn't get too wild and crazy."

"Sorry big bro, I don't party any other way." she said with a smile before grabbing Katie's arm. "Now let go of my sister so we can get out of here." Katie laughed before turning to Oliver and once again leaning forward to place a kiss to his lips.

"Make sure Ari finishes up that history paper that's due Monday. And give Robyn all the kisses for me until I get back. And if she walks while I'm gone-" Thea was still tugging her toward the car. "There will be hell to pay. I love you husband!" she pulled from Thea's grasp before getting into the car. Oliver walked over to stop Thea before she could get into the car and the girl sighed.

"Ollie, don't worry, I won't let your wife out of my sight." she said.

"What brought on this need for some wild Vegas weekend?" Oliver asked and Thea sighed unsure if she should drop the crap storm she was dealing with with finding out the possibility of Quentin drinking again.

"I just need a break. I think we all could use one. Even Twinkie who you and I both know has been dealing with a lot. Let her have some Vegas fun. Plus she's wearing her ring. I doubt any guys even try to hit on her." she turned away. "I mean it is Vegas, and a lot of guys probably wouldn't even care she's married." she turned back to Oliver who shook his head before turning to get his wife out of the car. Thea just laughed as she pulled him back. "I'm joking."

"Well that's not funny." he said turning back to her. "Just make sure you do anything you have to, to make sure my wife is back to me by Sunday night."

"Yes sir!" she said with a mock solute before running to get into the car. Oliver turned and watched as she turned up the music before speeding away. Oliver shook his head before sending a text to John about making sure they had a plane to Vegas ready in the event this little trip got too wild and crazy.

Felicity couldn't stop laughing as she watched the array of frowns on Bruce's face as he held the phone to his ear pacing back and forth in front of her.

"Because I'm a grown man and I don't need to tell you every detail of my life." he said and he scoffed. "Really Richie, you want to go there, because I don't remember you all open with the honesty with your relationship with Donna Troy." he smiled smugly, obviously successful in his jab at the man. "Hey, you want to be honest, it has to work both ways."

"You two are so adorable." Felicity said placing a kiss to his cheek before heading out of the room.

"Wait-" he called after her before pulling the phone back to his ear. "My wife was in our bedroom before you called and now she's leaving. I'm hanging up." he was about to hang up but Richard once again asked the question he didn't want to answer.

"Look whatever, just what does this mean for Gotham's Batman. Is he Star City's Batman now or what?" Richard asked and Bruce let out a sigh before walking over and taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know." he replied honestly. He glanced over to the picture of him and Felicity on the table beside the bed and he just shook his head. "And right now it's not important."

"When will it be important?" Richard said. "I mean, we're fine now, but you and I both know that Gotham doesn't stay quiet for long, and at some point the next Joker, or Riddler, or some other freak with a stupid name is going to pop up and when that happens-"

"When that happens, call me, but until then, just congratulate me and hang up so I can figure out where my wife just went."

Richard sighed. "Fine, congratulations you bastard. She's too good for you and you don't deserve her, but I'm glad you finally stopped being an idiot and locked her down before she figured it out."

"Always a wordsmith weren't you." Bruce laughed before standing to his feet. "I'm hanging up now. Tell Alfred I will check in with him in the morning."

"I'm sure he's looking forward to it. You know between you and me, I think ole Alfie may have found himself a girlfriend. He's smiling and whistling all the time. He's happy and I'm going to figure out why."

"Good luck with that." Bruce said before hanging up the phone and heading out of the bedroom just as he heard the doorbell. He looked down to the time. It was late. He hurried down the hall and down the stairs as Felicity pulled open the door in time to hear the loud cheer of "surprise!"

Bruce looked to the door in confusion to see Thea, Lyla and Katie standing at the front door.

"What is this?" Felicity asked looking between the girls in confusion as well. Thea simply reached into the bag in her hand before pulling out a sash that read," Bride"

"We're kidnapping you Mrs. Wayne." Thea said sliding the sash over Felicity's head before reaching into the bag and pulling out the little plastic tiara and putting it on top of the woman's head. "Like my dear sister you went and got married before we could throw you a bachelorette party, but that's not stopping us. Go pack a bag for the weekend."

"Wait, weekend?" Bruce looked between the women. "You three are taking my wife for the weekend?" they simply nodded. "And your husbands are fine with that?" he turned to Katie. "Oliver has to be having a coronary right now."

"Sorry Bruce, girl's weekend mean no guys input." Thea said before turning to Felicity. "Now, you missy, go get dressed, pack a bag with all the pretty dresses and heels you can fit in a suit case." Felicity looked at her for a moment, obviously debating on whether she should do this or not. Soon a smile came to her face.

"Give me ten minutes!" she said before turning and running up the stairs.

"Ten minutes? Wait!" Bruce said and Felicity stopped halfway up the stairs. "Are we not talking about you up and leaving for the weekend? What if I have a problem with it?" She tilted her head before turning around and walking toward him in a way that made him nervous.

"And do you have a problem with it, Mr. Wayne?" she asked and it happened. She scared the crap out of him with just one simple sentence. He knew his answer would determine his happiness in this moment and so he relented.

"Nope, have fun." he said and the woman just smiled before standing on the tips of her toes to kiss him before hurrying up the stairs. Bruce let out a sigh before turning to the women still standing outside the door. "Are you coming in or not?"

"Worst invitation ever." Thea said before walking inside, Lyla behind her. Katie stood at the door, and Bruce looked over to her. She nudged her head.

"I'm actually going to wait for everyone in the car." she said already turning.

"So that's how it is now?" Bruce asked and Katie stopped and turned back to him. "You know at some point you're just going to have to talk to me."

"We did that already, remember? You popped up at my house unannounced and barged inside for some heart to heart looking for forgiveness. You just didn't get it."

"And you know what, I don't get it." he said walking over to stand in front of her. "You know me Robins, and you also know that everything that happened needed to happen. Maybe how they happened could've been done differently but we can't change that now. But you're back and you have your memories—I don't see why you can't just choose to move forward. Like you've done countless times with that husband of yours when he screws up."

Katie looked at him for a moment and just shook her head. "You are really pompous ass you know that? You don't get my forgiveness just because you want it, you will get it when I feel you deserve it and you don't." she turned to once again go to the car, but she stopped and let out a sigh before turning back to him. "You think it's just you and your little team gathering to get to kill me that I'm upset about. That you forced yourselves in my head without talking to me first. Yes, that shit is messed up, and yes a part of me does understand why it needed to happen. You know what. I might even say that it contributed to the fact that I have memories back right now, but none of that is why you're not getting my forgiveness."

Bruce was confused because he assumed that was the exact reason she was upset with him.

"Am I missing something?" he asked and she turned away, sliding her fingers through her hair. "Robins, what-"

She turned back to him. "I know."

That didn't clear up anything for him and so he needed to ask more questions. "You know what, exactly?" she let out a sigh before walking back over to the man and he waited for her to explain.

"It knew things and I knew what it knew. I don't get how it worked, but it did." she made sure to look the man in his eyes. "It knew that Richard showed up at Felicity's apartment freaked out about something he read in my mother's journal." Bruce paled at her words because he now knew the reason behind her anger toward him. "It knew that Richard showed you that journal, and that after you read it, decided you weren't going to tell me about it." she shook her head and pointed a finger at him. "You should've told me." she turned once again and began walking toward the car, and Bruce stood there stock still for a few seconds before he followed after her. He was able to catch up to her, closing the door to the car before she could get inside. She whipped around and shoved him forcefully, even stepping toward him as if she was going to continue the attack, but Katie stopped herself. "Go back in the house."

"No." Bruce said. "Because you have this idea in your head of what happened, and I'm going to clear it up for you." he took a step toward her. "Yes, Richie showed up with your mother's journal, showed me a page that said something that I knew would destroy you." she shook her head. "You were in a hospital and we were all finally free of the demon and the last thing I was going to do was pull you into another hell."

"So you decided what I should know or not know about something that concerned me, am I hearing you right? You made a choice for me. That's what happened, right?" she shook her head. "Just like with you knowing about Jacob, you chose not tell me that he was alive. Just like with ARGUS, you chose not to tell me that they were only in my life because of my father. You chose to bribe Christian to not hire me in an effort to force me to go back to Gotham with you. It has to be tough being you. Having to not only make your own choices, but mine too." Bruce didn't say anything, figuring the woman letting years of emotions about the things he's done out right now meant he really did hurt her, and to that he could only do one thing.

"I'm sorry, Robins." he said taking another step toward her. "You're right. Everything you said I did, I did." he shook his head. "When my mom told me that I needed to look out for you, had to keep you safe, that stuck with me. It got to the point where I assumed I knew what was best for you which should not have happened, and from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry."

Katie wanted to hate him. She wanted to punch him and kick him and let him feel just an ounce of the pain he's caused her. The problem was she had more things going on in her life that she should focus on, and this little pocket inside of herself dedicated to hating Bruce Wayne was just taking up unnecessary space. She stood there for a moment, looking at the man and making the decision right then and there. She walked over to stand in front him.

"I forgive you Bruce." she said and even though those were words he was hoping to hear from the woman, it was also something else. "I will be courteous and respectful to you for Felicity's sake-"

"Robins-"

"I will accept that you will work with Oliver, and I will always appreciate the way you have his back and supporting the team."

"Robins, just-"

"I'm not holding onto this anger anymore Bruce, and right now I'm choosing to forgive you, but I am also choosing to end this friendship."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that." she said before turning at the sound of laughing. She watched as Thea and Lyla came out of the house, Felicity close behind rolling her suitcase behind her. They all came to a slow pace when they walked upon the tension filled air. Felicity walked forward, the smile on her face dropping as she looks between Bruce and Katie.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Katie says with a smile before nudging her head to the car. "Let's go celebrate!" she turned walking down to the car and getting inside. Lyla and Thea unsure what to do, just waved to Bruce before going to get into the car as well. Felicity walked over to Bruce.

"What was that?" Felicity asked. Bruce glanced over to the car and shook his head before turning back to Felicity. "That bad?"

"Well she forgave me, but also said she doesn't want to be my friend anymore." Bruce dropped his head, and Felicity could see even though he didn't want to show it, she knew it did hurt him.

"Aw Bruce," she slid her hands around his waist and his arms came around her bringing her closer to him in an embrace he really needs. "She's just upset, I'm sure she really doesn't want to end decades of friendship."

"Maybe." he said before placing a kiss to the woman's cheek.

"Should I stay? I feel like I should stay." Felicity said and Bruce looked down to her, really wanting her to stay, but not because she felt she needed to.

"No, go, have fun." he dropped his lips to hers once again before letting his lips fall to the crook of her shoulder.

"You're really not playing-" she gasped when his lips placed another kiss to her neck. She groaned before pulling away to meet his eyes.

"What? I'm just reminding you what will be waiting for you when you get home." he said with a smile that she couldn't help but to return. "Have fun, be safe, and call me if this little trip goes sideways for whatever reason."

"We're going to be fine." Felicity said and Bruce looked at her with a quirked brow. "I hope we're going to be alright." he just shook his head before grabbing her suit case and taking it to load into the car.

The fun mood Katie was hoping for seemed to dissipate after her conversation with Bruce and now as she sat on the plane, she barely said a word as she stared out the window.

"You know you could've sat broodingly by a window in Star City." Katie turned to see Felicity in the seat across from her. "This is my fake bachelorette party, and for a couple of days we get to take a break from weird guys killing people named Prometheus causing trouble in all of our lives."

Katie smiled and gave a nod. "You're right, I'm sorry, I just-"

"Thinking about the friendship you just ended in my driveway?" Felicity asked and Katie looked at her for a moment, before turning away. "I'm sorry, I promised myself that I would stay out of this. I know Bruce made some mistakes and I know that no one can control how you feel about the situation, but you." Katie let out a sigh before turning back to the woman. "You are my best friend, and he is my husband and I would love nothing more in the world for you two to work this out." Katie didn't say anything for a moment and soon she wouldn't have to as Thea came down the aisle of the plane carrying flutes of champagne.

"Alright, tonight begins a night of fun without overbearing husbands and dealing with City Hall and the press. We are going to drink and party." she handed the glasses to Katie and Felicity who stood to their feet. "We are here to give Felicity the last hoorah she robbed us of when she went off and married Gotham's most eligible bachelor." Thea turned a smile to Felicity. "But we are really happy for you two. We've witnessed your love story, seen the up and downs, and it has all just been a beautiful story. Congratulations Felicity."

"Here, here!" they cheered and laughed before clinking their glasses and drinking.

"So Felicity," Lyla said and the blonde turned to her. "How are you feeling about your conversation with your mother." Felicity visibly deflated before turning to Felicity.

"You know I would've been happy with a surprise fake bachelorette party in Hawaii."

"I know, but you have to tell your mom you're married. I mean, wasn't she helping plan your wedding through one of you and Bruce's on again off again moments?" Felicity glared at Thea's question and shook her head. "The longer you put it off, the worse it will be. Just get it over with and find us and join the party." Felicity looked over to the woman.

"Oh no, you all will not abandon me. You're bringing me to Las Vegas to face my mother, then you all will be my backup, got it?" she looked between their faces as they all nodded.

"Of course." Katie says, bringing an arm the woman. "We got your back."

The next morning Oliver opened his eyes before glancing over to the empty space beside him. He let out a sigh. He'd waken up multiple times throughout the night. He knew why. He was worried about her, and there was no specific reason why. He just wanted to see her. He wanted to wake up and see her laying there beside him. Oliver looked over to the table beside the bed and grabbed his phone before deciding to call her. He sat up, bringing the phone to his ear as he listened to it ring. After a while of no answering, he started to worry, but then he heard a click.

"Good morning my early bird husband." Katie greeted, her voice rasped as if she'd just woke up.

"You sound terrible. I'm almost afraid to ask what you did last night."

"Honestly, I don't really remember. Your sister got us on the plane to Vegas, then we got here, got to our rooms, and then like a couple of hours later she tells us to get dressed because we were going out. We went to some club that was way too loud."

"So you don't remember calling and texting me last night?" Oliver asked.

The line went silent for a moment and Oliver let out a laugh before Katie spoke again. "I called and texted you?"

"You attempted a call, but it turned into a video call." Oliver replied and he heard Katie groan.

"I'm almost afraid to ask. What did I do?"

"Oh, I recorded the whole thing. I'll show you when you get here." he chuckled again. "It's uh—It's kind of graphic, not gonna lie."

"Did you at least enjoy what I'm guessing was Drunk Twinkie's attempt at a sexy time call?"

"Definitely enjoyed it. Probably not for the intended reasons, but I'm never deleting this video. I mean there was a strip tease where you got stuck in your dress and then fell down while trying to take it off and I don't remember the last time I've laughed so hard." he was still laughing. "It's a miracle I didn't wake up the kids."

"I'm glad my drunken antics have entertained you."

"Oh, they definitely have. I hope those contingencies my sister cooked up worked." Oliver said and Katie let out a snort.

"I'm like ninety five percent sure those contingencies might be a bit illegal and with you being a mayor and all, I think we should change the subject." Oliver tilted his head to his hand. "We're fine. Everyone is still alive and made it to their rooms in one piece."

"That's definitely up for a debate especially after that call. So here's a thought, what if you came home today?" Oliver suggested and Katie let out a rasped laugh. "Twinkie-"

"Felicity is going to see her mom today, and I think we're supposed to go shopping and then we're having dinner. That's the day. Very safe and not wild at all. I wouldn't expect another call from Drunk Twinkie."

"You know I trust my sister with a lot of things, but when she parties, and she has my wife with her, I get nervous." Oliver said lifting his head at the sound of his daughter's whines. "Robyn's awake. I got to go, just please be safe, I'll call you later."

"Yes dad." she muttered and Oliver laughed. "Go kiss my daughter, make sure Ari is awake and make her show you that scratch and figure out through whatever lie she tells you, what actually happened. I'm going to sleep for a little while longer. I love you."

"Love you too." Oliver replied before hanging up the phone. He let out a sigh before hurrying out of bed to get to Robyn.

A few hours into the day and Oliver remembered what it was like to do all of this by himself. And this time he didn't have Thea to help him. He was currently moving around the house, his eyes trying to scan over every nook and cranny. He lost his daughter. She was on the floor playing, he went into the kitchen for literally five seconds and when he came back she was gone.

"Robyn, sweetie, come to daddy." he called once again, but she didn't make a sound and now he was getting nervous. The doorbell rang and he stopped walking with a groan before once again looking around. The bell rang again and he headed down the hall and opened the front door to see John, little John jr in his stroller and Bruce. He just looked at them, waving them inside before turning back inside to look for his daughter.

"Ok, I guess that was an invitation." John said before the men walked inside. "What's going on?"

"Robyn is playing a game of hide and seek, only she didn't tell me she was playing and now I have no idea where she is!" Oliver called from somewhere in the house. Bruce and John shared a look.

"You lost your daughter?" Bruce said and John just turned to him and held up a hand.

"It's not as shocking as it seems. Trust me I've been there." he said before looking around as well. "She couldn't have gone far." John grabbed junior from his stroller and took him over to the play area, the room barricaded with a child gate. "She got over the gate?!" he sat the boy down who instantly went over to the toys.

"Kid's not even a year old and she's already scaling walls." Bruce chuckled as he walked into the kitchen just as a wild hair Ari was just coming downstairs. Both stopped and looked at the other.

"What are you doing here, old man?" Ari asked and Bruce chuckled.

"Looking for a runaway baby." Bruce replied and Ari sighed before walking past the man down the hall. He quirked a brow before following after her. She walked into the living room just as Oliver and John came back. Oliver looked over to Ari as she walked across the living room before squatting down in front of the divan. She pulled up the blanket and there laying on the floor was Robyn, who went into a fit of laughter the moment she was found.

"Ree Ree!" Robyn squealed as Ari reached forward and pulled the girl out from her hiding spot.

"When will you learn kid, you can't hide from me." she placed a kiss to her cheek before turning to the three guys. "It's her new hiding spot." she held the girl out to Oliver who took her in his arms. "Katie didn't tell you before she went to her old ladies trip?" Oliver gave the girl a look before she just shrugged and headed for the kitchen.

"Wait!" he called after her and she stopped and turned back to him. "Show me the car." the girl visibly deflated.

Soon they all stood staring at the pretty minor scratch on the car's back bumper and yet every possible scenario was going through Oliver's head right now.

"A little paint, and it would be good as new." Bruce said and Oliver turned a glare to the man. "What?" Oliver just shook his head before turning to Ari who hadn't said a word.

"Explain."

"It's not that big of a deal. I was at school and I was backing up from the parking lot and this stupid sign just came out of nowhere and I hit it." she said as if it was the most logical explanation in the world.

"How does a sign that doesn't move come out of nowhere?" Oliver asked and Ari looked over to him not expecting him to argue logic with logic.

"Well it was moving." she said. "It was one of those moving signs." Oliver folded his arms over his chest and looked down to the girl. She was heading through this rabbit hole of lies and she wasn't turning back. "And when I backed up, it just moved behind me before I could stop. We may need to talk to the school because it's not safe. I could've died. I could-"

"Enough!" Oliver said and the girl closed her mouth. "Not that, that wasn't a best seller of a story, how about the truth this time, or I take the keys and you never drive this car again." Ari looked at him and let out a sigh. "Arianna Locke, if you want to keep this car-"

"Fine!" she said turning back to him. "I did hit the sign, but not because it came out of nowhere. I wasn't paying attention." Oliver shook his head. "Before you say what I know you're going to say, I was alone in the car, so that had nothing to do with it."

"What happened?"

Ari knew this wasn't going to end well, but she realized a lie wasn't going to work either. "Ok, as I was leaving, I saw Jamie and he was talking to this girl, Amy, who's on the debate team with him, and she was laughing and touching him and he's not even that funny. I guess while I was watching them, I didn't notice the sign behind me."

"You do realize that sign could've been another car or a person, right?" Oliver asked. "Ari, the number one rule with driving is that you have to focus on what you're doing when you're behind that wheel. That car is inherently a weapon and you could really hurt yourself or someone else if you don't pay attention."

"I know, and I'm sorry and it won't happen again." Ari said and Oliver looked at her for a moment. "Please don't take the car."

"You were in a car accident and then you lied about it." Oliver said.

"I mean accident is a stretch." Bruce once again spoke and Oliver turned to him with a glare. "You can barely see the scratch."

"Right!" Ari said looking over to Bruce, grateful for the backup. "It probably doesn't even cost much to get fixed." she turned back to Oliver.

"Well I guess you're going to find out." Oliver said and the girl looked at him in confusion. "It's your car, you're going to fix it."

Ari shook her head. "With what money?"

"You know there are these things out in the world called jobs. People complete tasks and then are given money for them. Use that money, plus your allowance and get your car fixed."

"And how do I go to school, work at a job and help out on the team?"Ari asked. "You and Katie pulled me from the team because you thought it was too much, now you want to take on more."

"No, now I want you to take responsibility for something you did. You hit your car, you got the scratch, and you will pay to get it fixed."

"You're such a hypocrite! You've never had a job a day in your life and someone let you be CEO of a billion dollar company, and that experience was enough to help you become the mayor. How many times did you wreck your car in high school? How many times did your parents make you pay for it?!" with that the teenager turned on her heel and stalked into the house.

"In case you were wondering, you're grounded!" Oliver called after her before turning back to look at the scratch on the car.

"Kind of harsh." Bruce commented and those three words just so happened to be the last straw. Oliver turned and took a step, but John came forward to block the man. "I'm just saying."

"Well don't." Oliver said. "When I'm talking to my daughter you don't give your two cents, do you understand?" Bruce didn't say anything, and Oliver just shook his head before turning to John. "What?"

"You just called Ari your daughter." John said and Oliver looked at the man in confusion.

"No I-" Oliver shook his head before turning back to the scratch on the car. He was still seeing more than the tiny scratch. He was seeing all of the fears he had the moment he put those keys in Ari's hand. He was imagining it not being some sign that she hit, but another car and that just scares the crap out of him. "I just misspoke." he turned looking over to the men. "What are you two doing here, anyway?"

"I had to talk Bruce down from going to Las Vegas to get Felicity." John chuckled. "She called him last night." Oliver looked over to John before turning to Bruce who let out a sigh through is nose.

"She was wasted, and I don't like her that intoxicated when I'm not there. Anything could've happened." Bruce said and the two men looked at him. "Why are you looking at me like I'm crazy."

"You're not crazy man, just in love and married. They're fine, I guess Thea hired some security so they could party while also being protected."

"Yeah, and who knows who those guys are." Bruce muttered. "I'm just saying, I could go to Las Vegas and keep an eye on them." John and Oliver shared a look before turning and walking back into the house.

"You two can't tell me you weren't thinking it." Bruce said as he followed them inside.

"Of course we think it. I also got a call from my Drunk Twinkie last night." Oliver said walking through the living room to the den to see Robyn and JJ happily playing. He took out his phone and pulled up the video from the camera he had set up in the room before heading in to the kitchen, the guys behind him. "But us going there, to check on them would mean we don't trust them, which we do."

"It's not about trust. I trust Felicity, I just don't trust anyone within arms length of her." John just laughed at the man as he walked over to take a seat at the counter. Oliver brought him over a mug and poured him some coffee. "You two are not taking this the way I expected. I thought we would all be on the same page here." he looked over to Oliver. "So a drunk call from your wife who's in another state doesn't make you worry."

Oliver was about to answer, but then he thought of that video call and worried wasn't the primary emotion at the moment.

"We probably got different calls." Oliver said with a light chuckle.

"What does that mean?" Bruce asked and Oliver looked over to him and it was the look that Bruce understood. "Actually don't answer that."

"Bruce you've been married for a couple of months. If you can't handle her being away for a weekend without going all psycho, you have bigger problems my friend." John said. "Right now your wife is with the director and agent of a secret government agency, Star City's Chief of Staff, who is also a former vigilante and the Mayor's wife who is also formally trained by the league of assassins and is also the Guardian. Your wife is safe man." Bruce walked over and took a seat at the counter beside John and Oliver grabbed another mug.

"I'm going to need something stronger than coffee." Bruce muttered.

Felicity had to literally be dragged from the car and pulled into her mother's apartment building. Felicity shook her head as she looked up to the numbers of the elevator as they got closer to her mother's floor.

"Why do I have to do this again?" she asked.

"Because she's your mother." Katie says. "And she deserves to know that her daughter is married and you know that."

"I do know that." Felicity groaned. "I also know that she was expecting me and Bruce and some big Jewish wedding that she would've helped plan. It would've been completely over the top and so Donna. We did the right thing eloping." the elevator opened, but the blonde didn't move.

"If you did the right thing, why can't you face her?" Thea asked and Felicity looked over to her. "Look Felicity, you have no idea how lucky you are. I don't want to pull this card, but I'm going to—your mom is alive and she's healthy and she loves you. And that's something not a lot of us have. Just tell your mom that you couldn't wait another day to be that man's wife. Tell her you're sorry for her not being there and that when the craziness dies down you and Bruce will have a wedding reception that she can help you plan." Felicity stared at the woman before turning and finally stepping off of the elevator. She stopped and turned to them.

"Thanks. This did need to happen, and it would not have if you guys didn't push me, I really appreciate it. "

"What are sisters for." Katie said and Felicity turned to her with a smile. "We always have your back Felicity."

Felicity gave a nod. "I think I should do this on my own."

"Are you sure?" Lyla asked and Felicity looked over to her with a nod. "Right, I guess call us when you want us to pick you up." Felicity pulled her hand from the door.

"You got this, Smoaks" Katie said as the elevator doors finally closed. Felicity stood there for a moment before turning and walking down the fancy hall until she reached her mother's door.

"You got this." Felicity muttered to herself before lifting her fist and knocking. She heard footsteps and soon the door pulled open. "Hi Mom."

A stunned smile cane to Donna's face. "Felicity, honey, hi!" she reached forward pulling her daughter into a hug. "What are you doing here?" she pulled back before looking around her. "Is Bruce with you?"

"Nope, just me." Felicity said and Donna turned back to her. "I have some news. Can I come in?" with a look of nervousness Donna took a step to the side to let her daughter inside.

Katie, Thea and Lyla walked down the Las Vegas strip, sipping cold lemonade, they bought from a vendor, unsure what to do.

"The weather is perfect." Thea said straightening her sunglasses. "When we pick up Felicity we should totally go to the beach. I have a friend who can get a us our own private cabana with the works."

"This isn't the same friend who was supposed to get us into the club last night was it?" Lyla laughed. "You better be glad your sister in law is kind of famous." they glanced over to Katie who laughed as well.

"I have no idea at what point people I don't know, just know who I am." Katie said as she sipped from her straw.

"Well you're married to a Mayor of a major city. Your family like owns half the world, oh and your face is always on the cover of something." Thea said turning to Katie and Lyla. "Which is why the disguises are key." And by disguises, Thea was referring to the blonde, bob cut wig Katie was wearing, the raven black, long hair wig Lyla was wearing and the red haired wig she was wearing. Felicity was the only one who had a wig the same color as he actual hair, but the wig was also a very short pixie style. Apparently contingency was just code for wigs.

"You know given the fact that the bouncer recognized me, I don't think the disguises are that good." Katie said laughing at the glare that Thea sent her. "Look we just need to keep our heads down and not gain too much attention and we can make it home tomorrow without a scandal in our wake." they continued walking when Katie glanced over to Lyla and sighed. "We're being followed."

"I know." Lyla said keeping her eyes straight ahead.

"How long?" Thea asked glancing over to Katie.

"Not long."she replied before looking around and spotting one of many casinos. "Let's go in here." they nodded before they all went into the casino that was packed with people even though it was only the middle of the day.

"Now what?" Thea asked as they walked further inside.

"We're going to split up." Katie says turning to the women who she could already tell were going to object. "But within eye line. Thea you watch me, I'll watch Lyla, and Lyla will have eyes on you. Then we wait to see if we spot someone out of the ordinary."

"And then what?" Thea asked and Katie looked over to her.

"As a government official, I think it's best if you don't ask questions you won't want to know the answer to." Katie says before turning and walking off. Thea glanced over to Lyla.

"Great disguises by the way Thea." Lyla said with a smile before walking off into the crowd as well. Thea just let out a huff before walking into the crowd, her eyes scanning the people before she spots Katie sitting at one of the tables. She takes a seat behind one of the slot machines with Katie in her line of view but also able to scan the crowd as well.

Felicity looked at her mother who sat at the kitchen table across from her, her eyes now focused on her tea.

"Mom, say something."

"What is there to say?" Donna asked looking back up to her daughter. "You're a married woman. Married to Bruce Wayne. In some wedding in some foreign country without your mother."

"Mom, I'm sorry, it really was just one of those in the moment things. It wasn't planned, we just-" Felicity shrugged. "We couldn't wait any longer. I wanted to be his wife and he wanted to be my husband and so we got married." Felicity smiled and Donna could see that look in her eyes. She was still in that newlywed love bubble where everything just seems perfect and magical and it was a look she remembers in herself at one point. It didn't last for her, but she has a feeling it will for her daughter. "Look we're going to have this big wedding reception when things kind of calm down back home and I want you to be there and you can even help me plan it." Donna looked over to Felicity for a moment before she smiled.

"Of course I'll help you plan it. It will be the best damn wedding reception Gotham has ever seen." Donna replied.

Felicity shook her head. "No, it's going to be in Star City."

"Oh, I thought-" Donna shook her head. "I thought you were moving to to Gotham."

"Well yeah, we did, but then Katie came back and we needed to help her."

"Right, she's been back for months now and I believe she got memories back." Donna said looking over to her daughter. "She doesn't seem to need that much help I would assume."

"I mean yeah, I guess, but that's not the only reason we're staying. There's just stuff that we have to do."

"And then you're going back to Gotham?"

Felicity slightly frowned at the question. In all honesty she and Bruce hadn't even talked about returning to Gotham. It was just to her, Star City felt like home and she assumed Bruce felt the same way. She just now realized this was probably a conversation they needed to have.

Felicity turned back to her mother, and shrugged. "I don't know."

Katie sat her eyes locked on Lyla who stood watching a card game. She turned, scanning the faces around, but no one really stood out. She shook her head before sending a text to Thea and Lyla. They should get out of here, pick up Felicity and head to their hotel. When they both responded, she stood to her feet only taking a step before she's bumped from the side. She turned, but stopped when she felt what she knew was a barrel of a gun on her side.

"Don't turn around, keep your eyes straight." came a voice that Katie did not expect. "Give me the phone." Katie didn't say anything as she held up her cell phone that was quickly snatched from her hand and tossed into a nearby trash can.

"Now what?" she asked before she was shoved forward.

"The doors to the kitchen is just a couple of feet to the right. Walk." Katie was tempted to turn, but that gun was still pressed in her back, one wrong move and he would pull the trigger. So she grit her teeth and continued walking, until they passed through the doors of the bustling kitchen. Everything was moving so fast that no one was looking at them. "All exits toward the left. Move." Katie turned and followed his instructions, annoyed that at this point, no one had stopped them. They stepped out into the alley, where a black car with tinted windows was parked. He pressed the button on his key fob and the trunk opened.

"Really, the trunk!" she snapped as he shoved her forward. In a moment she was sure she would regret, she whipped around to face the man. "You don't want to do this, Steve. You have no idea the kind of shit you will be in if you do this."

"I'm already in shit, and you're going to help me get out of it." Steve said and without warning swung the gun, but Katie caught his wrist. She gave him a shove, about to throw a punch, but she didn't expect him to jerk forward, with a syringe he stabbed into her arm. She shoved him back once again before pulling out the syringe. Katie turned about to run, but whatever he injected her with was strong and she could barely keep herself up. She felt herself dropping, but Steve came back, grabbing her around her waist before lifting her up and tossing her in the trunk. His face was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.

John came downstairs after laying both Robyn and JJ down for a nap. He walked into the living room where he found Bruce lying on the couch and Oliver standing near the window with his phone to his ear.

"And this can't wait until Monday?" he asked and slid a hand over his face. "No, it's just my wife is out of town and I'm the only one here and my daughter just went down for her nap." He let out a sigh. "No it's fine, I will be there soon." Oliver ended the call and turned around, glaring over to Bruce who was making himself way too comfortable before looking over to John. "That was City Hall, apparently there are some contracts that just came in that I need to sign as soon-" the doorbell rang and both men stopped and turned. Oliver walked over to the door, pulling it open, instantly annoyed by the sight of Michael Carroll standing there, holding the leash of his small boarder collie. It was a look Oliver had never seen on the man who was dressed very casually in a t-shirt and jeans.

"Mr. Mayor!" the man greeted a little too enthusiastically.

"Michael, I'm almost afraid to ask, why are standing at my door with your dog."

"Oh, me and Harry just came from the vet and it's not too far from here. But I needed to talk to Sweets about a little situation I need her help with. " Michael glanced around the man inside of the house and Oliver just shook his head.

"She's not here." Oliver said and Michael turned to the man with a frown.

"Of course she's not. That's probably why she isn't answering my calls." the man said with a shake of his head. "Well when she gets back, let her know that my problems may become her problems soon." he turned to leave.

"Wait, what the hell does that mean?" Oliver asked and Michael stopped and turned to the man.

Michael let out another sigh. "Look it's not something I feel comfortable talking about on your porch, especially since I think I'm being followed." the man glanced around. "Just tell Sweets, to call me when she gets back."

Oliver looked up to the ceiling and shook his head before looking back to the man. "Is the dog house trained?" Michael looked back over to Oliver with a quirked brow.

"Sometimes." he answered honestly, wanting to laugh at the look on Oliver's face right now. Oliver glared and the man just shrugged.

"Come in." Oliver said stepping aside to let the man in. Michael looked at him for a moment before coming inside, his little dog coming in with him. They headed into the living room. "Michael, this is my friend John, and on my couch-" Oliver walked over and kicked Bruce's foot causing the napping man to jolt awake. "Way too comfortable on my couch is-"

"Bruce Wayne." Michael said as Bruce lifted his head and looked over to see the man. "We've met." Bruce stood from the couch, and Michael took a step back. "Good to see you again Bruce."

"Wish I could say the same Mikey." Bruce said glancing over to Oliver. "Did I miss something?" Oliver didn't say anything as he turned back to Michael.

Michael looked from Oliver to the men in the room before turning back to Oliver.

"It's fine, they're fine, talk."

Michael just shook his head. "There was a break in at my house." he looked back over to Oliver. "The place was completely wrecked and it took me hours to get everything cleaned up."

"They take anything?" John asked and Michael looked over to the man and nodded before turning back to Oliver.

"There were some pictures." he said and Oliver looked at him for a moment and it was as if something clicked and both Oliver and Bruce took a step toward the man who held his hands up. "Not those kind of pictures! She was too paranoid to take those kind of pictures, trust me I asked." he turned back to the man figuring he should probably get to the point. "That's not-" he let out a sigh. "They were just pictures...of us. Pictures we took at parties, or just random pictures we took around our apartment, and it's clear that we were more than just friends in them."

"Why the hell would you keep old pictures of someone's wife?" Bruce asked glaring at the man.

"Well they were taken when she was my girlfriend, my fiance, and I don't know, I kept them." he turned to Oliver who just shook his head. "That doesn't matter now, because somebody has them and it's only a matter of time before they're out there."

"And you think Annabelle is behind this?" Oliver asked looking over to the man who nodded.

"She's up to something with the company, something not good, I know it, and I think she knows I know it and she's been trying to get rid of me and this will definitely do it. I was in hot water when those pictures of us from the coffee shop were in the news, another scandal and I'm gone. They will vote me out of the seat. If they try, I need Sweets there to use her majority vote to stop them."

"She's not doing that." Bruce said and Michael turned to him. "If those pictures do come out and then she does something like go against the board who want you gone, that paints an entirely new picture. One that will have people questioning her true relationship with you, have people questioning the authenticity of her relationship with Oliver." Michael looked at him knowing he was right, knowing that there would be implications if she came to his defense.

"Right now we don't know what she will or won't do because she isn't here to decide that." Oliver said before turning to Michael. "Me and Katie are stronger than any pictures that may pop up in newspapers. But if you think there's-" Oliver looked down to see Michael's dog walking over and curling up under the divan. He shook his head before looking back to the man. "If you think something is up at the company you need to find out what it is before you no longer have the access you have now."

"What do you think I've been doing?" Michael asked in frustration. "Whatever she's up to, she's doing it smart and she's doing it quiet."

"What makes you think she's up to something at all?" John asked and Michael looked over to him.

"Since she's been made the CEO the company has been failing." Michael said before turning back to Bruce. "At this point, the board is even afraid of another intervention by Mr. Fox if things don't get better."

"That's a lot to pin on one woman." Oliver said and Michael shook his head. "You have to have more than that to put the blame on her."

"I don't. This woman who has a number of business degrees, who came in saying she knew the type of company RI was and knew how to get the old bird soaring again after Sweets was ousted. Then she came in and did the exact opposite of what the company stands for. She's spewing this crap about how the company could be making so much more money if it took advantage of it's more profitable ventures. "

"Like turning the New Beginning's Initiative into some money making machine." Oliver said and Michael nodded.

"And it's only because Sweets stepped in with that did we even have a chance." Michael replied. "Look, I'm doing the best I can to figure this out, and you're right if I don't figure this out soon, we may never have a chance again before whatever she's planning goes into affect. I'll keep trying." he turned to Bruce. "I may need your help. There's still that contract in place, if Wayne Enterprises doesn't feel the CEO isn't putting their best foot forward-"

Bruce let out a sigh, but gave a nod. "I'll talk to Lucius."

Michael nodded before turning back to Oliver. "And I guess we will see how Sweets wants to handle this when she gets back." Oliver took a step toward the man, and Michael stepped back. "Wha—what's happening?"

"I'm only going to say this one more time, and I promise it will be the last time." Oliver said. " You will stop referring to my wife as Sweets, do you understand?" Michael saw that dark look in his eyes and knew he should probably just nod in this moment.

"Ok, "he nodded. "Message received. I should go." he tugged on the leash. "Let's go Harry." the dog just laid there, very content laying underneath the couch.

"Look like he's comfortable." John said and Michael glanced over to him.

"She. Harry is short for Harriet." he turned back to the dog, walking over and picking her up in his arms instead. "And she's stubborn." he turned back to the guys. "I guess I will keep you in the loop if I find out something." Oliver just nodded before walking the man out the door. Once he closed the door, he turned back to John and Bruce, but looking over as he heard Ari coming down the stairs.

She only came down halfway, before she stopped and folded her arms over her chest.

"Did you need something?" Oliver asked folding his arms over his chest as well. "I just assumed you knew grounded meant you in your room for the foreseeable future until you learn how to show me respect when we're talking."

"Oh, I thought you grounded me because you were upset that I actually made a very good point that you could no longer argue." she said and he just shook his head.

"What do you want Ari?"

"Well since I'm once again a prisoner in my own home, forced to be locked away in my bedroom like some-"

"You have a point in all the dramatics, don't you, because if so, you should get to it."

"Fine, look I need to go to the store." she said and he just shook his head.

"You're smart enough to know the dynamics of how being grounded works."

"And you're smart enough to know that once a month a girl needs specific girl things and I don't have them right now and need to go to the store to get them." she said and she saw the man sigh but gave a nod. "So can I-"

"I will go to the store. You're still grounded." Oliver said looking over to the girl who just let out a huff before stomping up the stairs. He shook his head before walking back over to the living room seeing the looks from both men. "What?"

John shook his head. "Nothing, I just never realized just how many balls you have in the air man."

"You have no idea." Oliver said before looking over to Bruce who was on the phone. The man had ended the called and turned.

"Lucius is in a meeting, but he says to call him back. Apparently RI's numbers were already a topic of concern, but that's not even the worst part. It seems Ms. Grey has been attempting to sever that safety net Wayne Enterprises has with RI."

"To prevent anyone from taking the reigns." Oliver said turning away with a shake of his head. "This doesn't make any sense. Annabelle always seemed like she wanted the best for RI. Something happened and then-"

"And then she decided she wanted to tank the company." Bruce said nudging his head to the door. "I have to go."

"Let us know what you find out." Oliver said and Bruce gave a nod before leaving.

Oliver turned back to John. "I hate to ask you this-"

"You need me to babysit don't you?"

"I have to go to the store for Ari, and then go to City Hall, and Robyn and JJ are having fun and I wouldn't want to break that up." Oliver turned grabbing his jacket and slipping it on. John turned back to the man with a quirked brow as he prepared to leave.

"Well is there anything I should know?" John asked and Oliver turned to him. "I've never babysat your child, usually people would have a list of things, what she eats, likes, dislikes, a number for her doctor." Oliver turned away and shook his head.

"She eats normal food, cut it into small pieces and make sure it's not too hot and she'll pretty much feed herself. Half of it will end up in her mouth, the other will end up on her face and clothes, but I should be back in time to give her bath." Oliver turned about to leave but once again stopped. "Also Ari does not leave the house. I've confiscated all electronic devices she could use to have fun, but she probably has more, if you see them, take them away."

"Oh, so I'm babysitting a baby and a teenager?" John asked and Oliver gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be gone for more than an hour. I will owe you big time."

"Man, you broke me out of a high security prison, let's just chuck this off to me paying off my debt." he nudged his head. "Now go, and hurry back. I'm not sure if I can handle a day in your life for too long." Oliver laughed before grabbing his keys and hurrying out the door.w

John let out a sigh before heading up the stairs. He peeked inside the nursery to see JJ and Robyn still sleeping, but he knows they won't be for long. He quietly stepped out, closing the door before walking over to Ari's door and knocking.

"Go away!" she called. John let out a chuckle and he lifted his eyes to the ceiling. He was so not ready for teenagers. He just hoped boys were better. He once again knocked before the door swung open. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"Just checking in, making sure you weren't plotting Oliver's demise in some way." John said and Ari let out a snort before walking back over to her bed and grabbing her book to continue reading. "You know you were kind of hard on him." Ari scoffed and looked over to John.

"It was barely a scratch on the car and if I didn't tell him about it, he wouldn't even know it was there." she shook her head. "He's acting like a ran into a bus filled with nuns or something."

"No he's acting like a concerned parent after finding out you damaged your car and instead of telling him the truth, you lied about it. I'm pretty sure you knew you were going to be grounded."

"Of course I knew." she sighed picking up the book, "I knew it was stupid and I knew I should've been paying attention. And I also knew that I shouldn't have lied, but I thought he would cut me a little slack." she looked back over to John. "Given the antics I've read about his younger years in the news, you'd think he wouldn't be so hard up."

"You know I think that's reason why he won't. You're right he made mistakes, he did stupid things, but there was never anyone to force him to take responsibility for his actions. Not all the time anyway. Plus you're a smart kid Ari, he's knows it, so when you do something as unpreventable as hitting a sign because you're distracted by some boy-" John shook his head. "He knows you're capable of making better choices. You know you're capable of making better choices. This is just his way of making you see that."

"So he's teaching me some sort of life lesson?"

"Yeah, so maybe you can cut him some slack and actually learn it." John said before turning at the sound of tiny laughs. "And they're awake." he turned back to Ari. "Wish me luck."

Felicity sat across from her mother who only after finding out about the reception not too long ago already had ideas. Ideas that made Felicity inwardly cringe. But because she felt guilty about cutting her mother out of a big moment in her life, she would just smile and nod.

Felicity let out a sigh of relief when her phone buzzed. "Oh mom, this is probably the girls. I should tell them that I-" Felicity opened the message.

It was from Lyla. "We have a problem." was all it read and Felicity didn't hesitate. She stood to her feet.

"Mom, I have to go." she said, walking over and pulling her mother into a hug. "I will give you a call before we leave."

"Well ok, make sure you tell that husband of yours that I want him to call me!" Donna said as she watching Felicity hurrying out the door.

Felicity stepped out of her mother's apartment building, stopping at the sight of Thea and Lyla. But it was who she didn't see that made her worry. She took a step forward.

"Where the hell is Twinkie?"

Soon Lyla and Thea stood behind Felicity who was typing like a mad woman on her computer. They were able to track Katie's phone back to the casino, finding it in a trash can. Now they were hoping to find something from the surrounding surveillance video.

"We need to call Oliver." Lyla once again said and Thea turned a glare to the woman. "I know you think we can handle this, and maybe we can, but I know what your brother is like when someone keeps something important from him and it concerns his wife."

"You're right, I do know my brother and right now if we call him, he's just going to fly here, yell and stomp his feet about how we shouldn't have come here and how we should've just stayed in Star City before turning to Felicity and telling her to do her techie stuff to find his wife. Right now we're cutting out all of that and just getting straight to the plan."

"Well the plan isn't working." Felicity said as she stopped typing and turned to Thea. "This hotel's wifi isn't strong enough for me to complete the necessary search I need to do to even begin searching for Katie." she shook her head. "And Lyla is right, we need to call Oliver. Yes he's going to be all grr, but if we don't tell him and something happens-"

"Nothing is going to happen. We're going to find my sister." Thea said. "You need a better computer. Where do we find it?" Felicity sighed turning back to her laptop to think. Her eyes trailed down to her hand, and at the sight of her diamond wedding ring she got an idea.

"Wayne Technologies." Felicity said turning back to Thea and Lyla. "It's the biggest division in Wayne Enterprises and there just so happens to be location here in Vegas. Just opened up a few months ago."

"And you being Mrs. Wayne, getting in shouldn't be a problem." Thea said and Felicity shook her head.

"That's not how that works. I'm not a WE employee so I would need to be granted permission."

"From Bruce?" Thea asked and Felicity turned back to her with raised brows.

"Actually, not necessarily. I need to make a call." Felicity grabbed her phone and stood to her feet, walking away from the women. Thea watched her nervously, hoping for good news.

"Thea-" Lyla said and Thea turned to her. "We need to call your brother." Thea knew she was right. She knew that the moment she realized Katie was missing, that her first call should've been to Oliver. Thea also knew she promised him that she would bring Katie back, and right now she just needed the chance to do that.

"Not yet." Thea said and Lyla turned away. "Look I get it, and we will call him, but let's just see if we can do this without him. " Lyla turned back to her. "The moment this gets too far we will call him."

"And you should know that if you call Oliver when all options are exhausted and there's nothing for him to do, he will not forgive you." Lyla shook her head. "I'm going to get changed and then I'll come back here to see what Felicity has." Thea nodded before watching the woman as she left. Thea let out another sigh as she walked over to stand by the window.

"Where are you Twinkie?"

Lucidity came back to Katie the moment water was splashed into her face. She inhaled sharply, but it came out in a fit of strangled coughs. She blinked the water from her eyes trying to come back to the moment. Soon she remembered the casino, and then Steve and him injecting her with something that knocked her out.

"You back with me, Mrs. Queen?" she looked up to see Steve, but then her eyes scanned the space around them. They were in a building, and from the debris and tools around, it was probably under construction, and also probably not safe. "You can scream if you want, no one is going to hear you." she turned back to the man before dropping her eyes to see her arms and legs duct taped to a chair. She let out another deep breath before looking back up to the man. "I thought it was time we finally had a conversation that you couldn't walk away from."

"So is this part of the plan?" Katie asked and the man tilted his head at the question. "Your bosses wanted you to kidnap me, tie me up in some building, for what? What is this about?"

"Ah, I knew it!" he said with a shake of his head. "I knew you knew something. It was getting too sloppy. I told them, someone would notice, someone would pay attention." he turned back to Katie. "I told them that you were smart, that your husband wasn't an idiot and that at some point you would figure it out, but they didn't listen." she watched as the man began pacing in front of her, and she noticed the gun still in his hand, another tucked in his pants behind him. "But you got one thing wrong." he stopped and turned back to her. "They don't know I'm here. They don't know that I've struck out on my own." she looked at the man in confusion. "I'm a loose end, and you and I both know what happens to loose ends."

"Fine, you taking me was your idea. Your plan." Katie says. "What do you want?" she watched as he looked at her for a moment before he went over to sit in the chair across from her.

"What I've always wanted." he said as he let out a shaky breath before meeting her eyes. "Someone to just listen."

Katie simply nodded. "Ok Steve, I'm right here, right now listening. What do you need to say." he dropped his eyes to his gun for a moment, and Katie watched him as well. He was spiraling and she knew a guy like that, with that much firepower at his disposal was unpredictable and very dangerous.

He lifted his eyes back to Katie. "I didn't have a choice." he let out another sigh. "I had a stable job, one that kept me busy, kept mind mind from wandering back to Iraq. I was fine, and then they found me."

"Who found you?" Katie asked and Steve shook his head.

"It was all cloak and dagger. Phone calls from unknown numbers using modulated devices to hide there voices. Meetings where I didn't see their faces."

"Why didn't you go to the police?" Katie asked and he let out a snort.

"You and I know the SCPD is corrupt. Plus they started sending me pictures." his jaw clenched. "Pictures of my daughter leaving her dorm room, pictures of my son leaving basketball practice." he shook his head. "Those bastards sent me pictures of my ex wife who works in DC at the Pentagon." he looked back up to the woman. "They had guns pointed at my entire family. I had no choice." he once again stood to his feet and started pacing again. Katie watched him nervously before looking around. She needed to figure out a way to get out of this chair or that wild and crazy weekend Oliver was afraid of, just might happen.

Thea and Lyla stood nervously in the large Wayne Enterprises lab as Felicity sat typing away on a massive computer.

"Tell me again how you were able to get us in here without Bruce getting wind of it?" Thea asked before glancing back over to Felicity.

"I had to beg and plead with Lucius Fox to give me access and not tell Bruce about it."

"Why would Lucius do that?" Lyla asked

"It wasn't that hard actually." Felicity said. "He just said make sure I didn't do anything illegal that could blow back on the company and he'd keep his lips sealed." Felicity pecked a few more keys before her fingers stopped. "Alright, there have been sightings of Steve through out Vegas." an image appeared on the screen of Steve standing out side of his car. "What's more disturbing is it looks like he's been following us." she pointed to one screen. "This is him outside of our hotel." she pointed to another screen. "Him outside of the restaurant we had dinner." she pulled up another image. "Him outside of the night club." Felicity shook her head. " He's been on our tail this whole time and none of us even knew it." Felicity glanced over to Lyla and Thea. "Given the fact that we know that Steve is working with someone who has been paying him thousands of dollars to be in Oliver and Katie's life-" Felicity turned back to the screen. "Right now we have no idea what this is. We need to call Oliver."

"Fine." Thea said walking over to look over the screen a bit closer." Lyla and Felicity looked over to the woman. "We will, right now we need to find out where Katie is. Can these pictures track where he was when he wasn't following us?"she turned to Felicity who was still looking over to the woman. "Look, I get it, Oliver needs to know, but right now she's been missing for too long, and we have no time to waste. We find her and then we call Oliver. Now tell me you can find out where he's hiding." Felicity let out a sigh before turning back to the computer, her fingers moving against the keys before they stopped. "Where's that?" they saw a surveillance image of Steve outside of boarded up building.

"That-" Felicity stood to her feet, bringing the image on the computer up to the big monitor against the wall. "Is the soon to be Chariot Casino. I saw on the news that they would be starting construction next week."

"So at the moment, it's empty?" Lyla asked and Felicity looked over to her and gave a nod. "Got it." Lyla turned about to leave.

"Wait, I'm coming with you." Thea said moving toward the woman who looked over to her in confusion. "What?"

"Well Thea, I was made to believe that there were certain parts of your life you wanted to take a step away from." Lyla said.

"Thea you said it yourself, you don't want to go back to that place." Felicity said walking over to stand beside Lyla. "You don't have to."

"Actually I do. Katie is here because of me, and if this was me, she'd have already snuck out the door to save me." Thea said before turning to Lyla. "I'm coming with you to save my sister." she turned to Felicity. "See if there's any way for us to get eyes in that building." she looked back over to Lyla who simply let out a sigh before reaching behind her and pulling out one of the nine mils she had tucked behind her and handing it to Thea who took it and tucked it behind her and headed out the door. Lyla cast one final glance to Felicity.

"I'll give you a call once we're there." Lyla said before turning to catch up to Thea.

Oliver was a little over an hour late when he finally pulled into his driveway. He was in City Hall longer than anticipated. There was an issue with one of the forms he needed to sign and he had to wait for a corrected version be drawn up and he had to reread it before he could finally sign it and head to the store. He actually was able to get in and out of the store pretty quickly. It wasn't the first time he'd had to pick up tampons. It had became a norm living in a house with women. Oliver reached over grabbing the bag before stepping out of the car. He was about to head to the door when he turned at the sight of Hank.

"Hank? I thought today was your day off." Hank gave a nod before walking over to the man. Oliver looked over the man who was dressed a bit more casually than usual. "What's wrong?"

"Sir I'm here about that other job you have me working." Hank said and Oliver looked at the man in confusion before he realized what the man was talking about. Hank was the only member of Steve's team that Oliver had revealed his suspicions to about Steve possibly working for someone else. The only reason Oliver trusted Hank was because he knew for a fact that Hank was a member of the security firm way before Steve and his team had joined. Oliver had witnessed himself Hank taking his job completely serious, and absolutely nothing getting past him while he was on duty. Oliver checked. All incidents of Ari sneaking out, of unexpected visitors to their home or any other circumstance that security should prevent never happened while Hank was on duty or on the post. Hank was the only person who get close to Steve to find out the truth.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"Sir, he's gone." Hank said and Oliver's brow furrowed. "I was tailing him yesterday, he went into this bar, I waited outside for him to come out and he didn't. I went inside the bar and he was nowhere in sight."

"He knew he was being followed." Oliver sighed with a shake of his head. "You have no idea where he's gone?"

"None, I've tried calling him. His phone's disconnected." Hank shook his head. "Look, I have friends who will let me know if they find anything, I just thought I would give you a heads up. Him just disappearing from the face of earth could mean a lot of things."

"None of them good though." Oliver muttered before turning back to Hank. "Let me know as soon as you find out something." Hank gave a nod before turning and heading back to his car. Oliver let out a sigh now definitely nervous. Maybe he should've taken care of their whole Steve situation sooner. Oliver turned heading for the door, stopping at the sound of low motor. He stopped once again turning and shaking his head at the teen who'd just pulled up on his moped. Oliver watched as the teen removed his helmet, before walking toward the house, coming to a stop the moment he sees Oliver standing there.

"Oh, uh, sir-" Oliver watched as Jamie stumbled over his words. "Mr. Mayor sir, I-"

"Why are you here Jamie?" Oliver asked looking over to the boy.

"Right, I was uh-" he looked up to the house. "You know I was-"

"She called you didn't she?" Oliver asked taking a step toward the boy who took a step back. "How did she call you, I took her phone-" Oliver shook his head before turning back to the boy.

"Wait, she didn't call me. I hadn't heard from her all day and we were supposed to meet up to see a movie and when she didn't show I thought I would come here to make sure she was alright." Oliver looked at the teen with a stern glare that always made Jamie nervous. "Is she-"

"Ari's grounded. Go home." Oliver said turning to go into the house.

"Uh sir-" Oliver closed his eyes and dropped his head. He opened his eyes and looked back over to the boy. "Could you tell her I stopped by?" Oliver's glare darkened and Jamie just held up his hands and backed away. "Actually, I'll talk to her when she's not grounded."

"Good idea, now go home." Oliver ordered once again, and this time Jamie turned not needing to be told again.

Oliver stepped inside of the house, finding John standing in the living room. John nudged his head toward the window.

"I see you've already began scaring off teenage boys, huh?" John laughed and Oliver just shook his head. "So is that the boyfriend?" Oliver just groaned at the word before heading into the kitchen. John followed behind him.

"I don't like to call him that." Oliver said as he sat the bag on the counter. "Sorry I'm late," he turned back to John. "How did it go?"

"Well the kids napped, woke up, played, then both JJ and Robyn decided to play another round of hide and seek. It didn't take me too long to find them this time. JJ couldn't hold his laughter." Oliver chuckled as he reached into the bag and pulled out two cartons of milk. "you guys go through a lot of milk?" Oliver looked over to him and held them up.

"I need you to be my witness. I went to the store and actually picked up milk." Oliver said before walking over to the refrigerator stopping at the sight of a carton of milk. "Where-" he looked over to John. "Has this been in there the whole time?"

"No, you guys didn't have any, and two small children who love the stuff really wanted it, so I had to call one of those delivery services to bring some. I didn't know you were going to grab something. Ari mentioned something about you and this thing about picking up and milk and-" Oliver slammed the refrigerator door. "Maybe it's more than a thing." Oliver let out a sigh, sitting the carton on the counter before turning to John.

"I've never picked up milk from the store." Oliver said and John looked over to the man in confusion. "I can remember countless times, before I have to head over to City Hall, Twinkie would tell me that we were low on milk and asked that I would pick some up on the way home, and every time I tell her sure." Oliver shook his head.

"And then with your life, all the hats, mayor, Green Arrow, somehow the milk gets lost in it all." John looked over to see the guilt in the man's eyes. "Oliver, I'm not sure anyone has told you this but as a person gets older they start to forget things." Oliver glared over to the man who laughed. "No, but seriously, you really do have a lot going on man, I don't think forgetting to pick up milk is that big of a deal."

"But to me it is." Oliver said looking over to John. "I have to remember numerous sanctions, codes, peoples names as the Mayor. I have to know which criminal is causing trouble on the streets, what they're doing and where I can find them. And yet as a husband and father, I miss planning my daughter's birthday, I miss Ari getting an award at school for her work with the tutoring program. Out of all the hats that I wear Digg, being here as a husband and father is the most important. So I just can't forget the milk!"

"Why do I get the feeling this is more than the milk?" John asked and Oliver let out a sigh. John looked at the man for a moment. "Oliver?"

"I just-" Oliver sighed. "It's been a long day." he looked back over to John. "What about Ari?"

"Good, she stayed in her room." John said and Oliver just nodded before grabbing the bag and taking it upstairs.

Thea and Lyla stepped out of the car, glancing around before turning to the empty building.

"This place is huge, we should split up." Thea said and Lyla turned to her. "What?"

"We have no idea what is going in that building. We're sticking together." Lyla said before pressing the earpiece. "Felicity we're here, any luck getting eyes on the building."

"Nothing on the inside." Felicity replies as she types away. "I was able to get into the outdoor surveillance of the shop across the street, but I don't see anything. You guys are going to have to go in there blind. Eyes open and watch your back."

Felicity heard the sound of the door opening behind her. "Hey, sorry, I'm going to need some more time if you don't-" she spun her chair around her words getting caught in her throat. "Br-Bruce, what are you-" she couldn't believe he was here. "What are you doing here?"

"Is that the first thing you really want to ask me?" Bruce said as he walked over to look over the monitors in front of her.

"Did Lucius tell you I was here, because he promised he wouldn't." Felicity said and Bruce turned to her with a quirked brow. "And you didn't know about Lucius?"

"No, I didn't, but I think me and my old pal may need to have a talk if he's making promises to keep things from me." Bruce said turning back to the screen. "You used my program to search for Steve, when you got a hit, I was notified." he shook his head. "When I found the source of the search came from Vegas, I just knew my wife's fake bachelorette party had turned into something she should've called me for."

"You're right I should've call you, but there wasn't a lot of time to stop and call the calvary." Felicity said and Bruce turned to her.

"So what is it, Steve popped up and now Robins and the others are going after him?" Bruce asked and Felicity nervously shook her head.

"Felicity, we're inside." Came Lyla's voice and both Felicity and Bruce turned to the computer. "I'm going to switch on my camera." soon the video feed appeared. "We haven't found them yet."

"Them?" Bruce asked.

Thea and Lyla stopped walking when they heard Bruce's voice. They turned to each other before Thea spoke. "Bruce?"

"What the hell is going on right now?" Bruce asked. "Where are you?"

"Uh-" Thea looked over to Lyla who just shook her head before going about surveying the floor. "We'll tell you when we get back."

"Thea, will you-"

"We should keep the line quiet. I'm going to put you on mute." Thea quickly said before muting the line.

Bruce growled in anger before turning to Felicity. "What is happening?"

Felicity saw the seriousness in Bruce's eyes and knew the only thing she could do right now was tell the truth. Which she would've done if a phone hadn't started ringing. They both turned to the phone to Felicity right.

"That's Robins' phone." Bruce said walking over to see Oliver's name appear. "Why doesn't Robins' have her phone?" Felicity looked over to the man and without a word the man just knew what was happening. "Damnit!" he shook his head. "Text me that location, tell them I'm on my way." Bruce didn't wait for a response before turning for the door. "And we're definitely talking about this when I get back!"

Felicity let out a sigh, turning back to Katie's phone. She knew if Oliver didn't get an answer he'd freak out and so she did what she probably shouldn't have done. She answered.

"Hello." she greeted nervously.

"Felicity?" Oliver said. "Why are you answering Twinkie's phone?"

"Oh, she-" Felicity cleared her throat. "She um—she dropped it, I think." it wasn't a lie. It was actually the truth which is the only reason Felicity wasn't stumbling over the words as she usually would. The line went silent for a moment.

"Ok, where is she?"

"She's um...she's with Thea and Lyla." That was possibly true. Thea and Lyla hadn't confirmed that Katie was in the building, but they also hadn't confirmed that she wasn't. So there's a chance that it was true.

It didn't go unnoticed that Felicity seemed to be giving vague answers to his questions.

"And where exactly are they?" Oliver asked and Felicity turned to the monitor.

"Uh, the Chariot Casino." Felicity answered honestly once again. The line once again went silent and that made her nervous. "You know I actually have to go, but I will have Twinkie give you a call back once they get back." Felicity quickly ended the call before placing the phone back on the table. She knew either he believed her, or there was a good chance Oliver would be on his way to Vegas as well, and she's sure that if he shows up before they find his wife, there may not be a Vegas left once he's done. She pressed the button on the keyboard. "Guys Bruce is on his way to you and Oliver called."

"What did you say?" Thea asked.

"Well I didn't tell him his wife had been kidnapped Thea." Felicity huffed. "But that doesn't mean he believed that watered down lie I told him. We need to find her. Have you guys found anything?"

"Not yet, but this place is huge." Lyla said.

"Which is why we should split up." Thea said turning to her.

"We're not splitting up. We have no idea what's happening right now. There's a possibility we're walking in here outnumbered." Lyla shook her head. "Actually we should fall back, I can have a team here and they can search this building far quicker than we could."

"And how long will that take?!" Thea asked shaking her head. "I'm not falling back. I'm going to search every inch of this building for my sister. You can either join me or wait outside for whatever team you want." with that Thea stalked off. Lyla groaned before following after her.

The longer Katie sat the more lucid she became. Her strength came back as well. With a firm jerk of her wrist she'd be able to unlatch herself from the chair, but not quick enough to untie her feet before Steve turned the gun to her. She needed to get him to see reason. He was still nervously pacing.

"You know Steve, I get it." she said, but he didn't stop pacing. "I get doing whatever you have to to keep your family safe. You had no choice." he stopped and looked over to her. "You were blackmailed and manipulated and they used your family against you. Trust me, I know how that feels."

"I didn't have a choice." Steve said walking over and dropping back into the seat in front of Katie.

Katie nodded. "You didn't have a choice Steve, but now you do. Let me help you. Let me get you and your family into witness protection. We can keep you and your family safe." he shook his head before standing to his feet.

"It won't work." he said. "They're everywhere. They will find us and they will kill us if we run."

"I won't let that happen Steve. Just look—" he continued to pace and Katie grew frustrated. "Look at me Steve!" he stopped and turned to her. "Trust me. I know people who are not the SCPD. People above the SCPD who can get to your family quickly right now if I made the call." he looked at her unsure. "You said that you were a loose end. You are, but so is your family. Because if you're killed, they wouldn't want people out there trying to find out the truth. They won't want people out there asking questions." Steve turned away thinking on her words. He knew she was right. Knew that there was a chance that his family could still be in danger even if he was killed. "Steve I know what it's like to have your family put into the middle of the shit storm you created. You tried to keep them out of it, tried to distance yourself from them, but in the end they were still pulled in." he turned back to her. "Untie me, and I will make the call right now. You have my word." he stood there and she could see the internal battle happening inside of him.

"Ok," he said suddenly before taking a step toward her to untie her. "I will-" he reached forward to untie her, and in the blink of an eye, a bullet shattered the window behind them. Katie jumped slightly watching as that bullet went straight through Steve's head. His body went falling back. Without a second thought, Katie jerked up her arms with as much force as she could, tearing the tape on her arms. There was another shot to her right. She quickly threw herself down with her legs still attached to the chair. She dragged herself across the floor, gun shots still ringing through the room. She felt a slight sting on her arm, but she didn't focus on it as she continued moving.

"Twinkie!" she heard Thea's voice and her eyes widen. "Where-"

"Thea get back, there's a sniper!" Katie called as she dragged herself to take cover behind a cement support beam. She bent forward to tear the tape from her now bruised ankles. Once she was free she stood to her feet.

"What do we do?!" Thea called over to Katie as she and Lyla hid behind a wall. Suddenly the bullets stopped. "Twinkie!"

"Don't move!" Katie called back. She moved to the other side of the support beam hoping to catch a glimpse of the window. The moment her head peeked, she saw the red laser, and quickly pulled her head back when another shot tore a piece the that cement beam away.

"Katie, on the count of three, make a run for it and I will cover you!" Lyla called.

"You have no idea what you're shooting at or where. There could be multiple shooters. " Katie said with a shake of her head. "It's too dangerous." the shooting once again stopped. "They're messing with us!"

"Who exactly are they?" Thea called.

"No idea, but Steve knew they were coming and he knew they wanted to kill him." she said as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back to think. "You two should get out of here."

"We're not leaving this building without you!" Thea called. "We just have to-" Thea's words were suddenly cut off by an explosion. Thea and Lyla shared a look before they carefully peeked around the corner of the wall to see the building across the street on fire. They looked over to see Katie who walked over to the window, her eyes on the flames. "Was that ARGUS?" Thea asked over to Lyla who shook her head.

"No, they're ten minutes out." Lyla said. "I have no idea who-" they heard footsteps, and both Thea and Lyla spun around their guns raised. They let out a relieved sigh as Bruce walked into view. "Let me guess, the explosives were you."

Bruce shook his head before looking between the women, his eyes settling on Katie who still stood staring out the window, her eyes on the flames of the burning building across from them. Thea and Lyla followed his eyes before Thea rushed over to Katie only now noticing the blood covering her clothes.

"Twinkie, we need to get you out of here." Thea said and Katie turned to her before dropping her eyes to Steve's body still laying on the ground. "Twinkie-" Katie looked over to Lyla.

"He has a wife and two kids who could possibly be targets by the people who did this." she said and Lyla nodded.

"I'll get them rounded up tonight and put into protective custody." she said already pulling out her phone. Katie looked back down to the man, still replaying the moment of him standing in front of her to the moment he was killed.

"Katie, you've been shot." Thea said grabbing Katie's arm and looking it over. Katie looked over to the blood that covered her arm, barely able to see a wound. She didn't feel it yet, but she knew once the adrenaline died down she would. "We need to get you out of here." Thea brought an arm around Katie, leading her toward the door.

Oliver looked down to his cell phone after the odd conversation with Felicity. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the call. He slipped his phone back into his pocket before heading down the hall and knocking on Ari's door. She pulled the door open and he handed her the bag. He watched as she looked inside of the bag before looking back up to him. He didn't say anything before shaking his head about to head back down the hall.

"Wait," she said and Oliver stopped and turned back to her. "I'm sorry." he gave a quirked brow not expecting her to apologize so soon. She was stubborn like her cousin who usually never admitted to being wrong for as long as possible. "Look I get it, I should not have hid the fact that I bumped the car, and when you found out about it, I shouldn't have lied." she shook her head. "I just knew you'd make a big deal out of it."

Oliver let out a sigh. "Ari, sit down for a sec." Oliver came into the room and took a seat at the chair in front of her desk, and she took a seat on the edge of her bed in front of him. He looked at her for a moment as he sat back in the chair. "Ari, I've faced some pretty dangerous people. People who called themselves demons, people who could do things way beyond my imagination, and sure there was a certain degree of fear, but I found it in myself to push through, to keep going, to find some kind of control of the situation. Some times it worked, sometimes it didn't." Ari looked over to him unsure where he was going with this story. "Ari the moment I put those keys in your hand, I felt every bit of fear, maybe more than I have going against some of my toughest opponents. Do you want to know why?" she just shrugged her shoulders. "It's because when you're out there, when you're behind that wheel, and I'm not around, or Katie's not around and it's just you, we're completely helpless in protecting you against whatever you may come your way." he shook his head. "When I handed you those keys, I kept replaying every possible car accident in my head. Whenever I was at city hall, and heard on the radio about another wreck, I didn't breathe until I knew you were safe." Ari let out a sigh. "And then I saw that barely noticeable scratch on your car from a stupid sign and I guess I just felt all of those nerves and fear."

"I'm sorry." she said again, and this time Oliver shook his head.

"I'm sorry too, because I let those fears make this whole thing bigger than it really was. I didn't help the situation and neither did your ridiculous lie about a moving sign." the girl chuckled but he gave her a unamused look and she stopped. "I just need you to be honest with me, with Katie, even if you think we're going to be upset. Believe it or not, we will find out the truth, and we will more than likely be upset, but we will be more upset if we don't find out the truth from you, do you understand."

Ari nods. "Yeah, I got it. I know it was stupid, and it shouldn't have happened. I know I should pay attention and I will, I promise nothing like this will happen again."

"I hope not. I also hope you don't let a guy distract you from what's important. Whether that's school, or driving your car." Oliver shook his head before standing to his feet. "Ari, you're too smart to put yourself in situations like that. Heck, you're smarter than me. But I know you're a teenager and you're going to make mistakes, I just need you never make excuses for yourself." he shook his head. "I used to make excuses for every dumb thing I did and my parents let me get away with it. Ari I just want you to see your mistakes and learn from them. And when you don't, it's my job to help you which I will always do." Ari stood to her feet before bringing her arms around Oliver in a hug. He smiled as he brought his arm around her and placed a kiss to the top of her head.

"So am I still grounded?" Ari asked still in the hug.

"Absolutely." Oliver replied with a chuckle. He placed another kiss to her head before pulling away and heading for the door. He stopped and turned back to her. "You got a week. That should be enough time for you to come up with a plan."

"A plan for what?"

"To figure out how you're going to get your car fixed." he said and Ari just shook her head as Oliver closed her door as he left.

Oliver took out his phone to once again dial Katie's number as he headed back downstairs. He'd only stepped foot in the kitchen when he heard John's voice.

"Robyn?!" the man called and Oliver closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Robyn, I got cookies!" Oliver laughed.

"That's not going to work." he muttered before going to once again search for his disappearing daughter.

It was a mutually understood fact that their fun Vegas bachelorette trip was over after a kidnapping, a shooting and an explosion. It was a fact Bruce made abundantly clear as he rounded everyone up and announced that they were all headed back home on his plane the moment they got back to their hotel. The plane ride back to Star City wasn't as fun and free as the ride to Vegas. No one really said anything as they all took in the craziness none of them expected.

Once they landed back in Star City, Bruce already had cars waiting to take them home.

"I'm going to ride home with Katie." Thea announced.

"Thea, it's late, you should get home." Katie said and Thea turned to her and shook her head. "You need to get some sleep."

"I'm also pretty sure I have some explaining to do to my brother when he finds out about all of this." Thea let out a sigh. "He's going to freak."

"I will talk to Oliver." Katie says walking over and bringing her arms around Thea. "Thanks for coming to save me."

"You never have to thank me." Thea said tightening her grasp around Katie as well. "You're my sister. I always have your back. No matter what." Katie pressed a kiss to Thea's cheek before turning to Lyla who came over and hugged the woman as well.

"You know I forgot you need your own protective detail." Lyla laughed. "I won't forget next time."

"Oh there won't be a next time." Bruce said standing across from the women, an arm around Felicity. They all turned to him. "The four of you can't be trusted to travel alone. The next time the three of you try to kidnap my wife, I will definitely put my foot down."

"Put your foot down where?" Felicity asked and Bruce looked over to her, seeing the look that once again scared the crap out of him.

"I was just saying that, I-" the man cleared his throat. "Maybe we should talk about this at home."

"Maybe we should because I'm really interested in how your foot is going to determine when I hang out with my friends." Felicity said before turning back to Katie, Lyla and Thea. "Well it was fun, you know besides—you know all the non fun parts. I say we remember the good parts and let everything that happened in Vegas stay in Vegas."

"I'm not deleting the video Felicity." Thea said with a shake of her head as she headed over to get in the backseat of her car.

"Thea!" Felicity called after her. "Thea Queen!"

"What video?" Bruce asked and Felicity turned to him with a nervous look. She definitely didn't know how to explain her drunken dance routine on top of a bar. "You know I think I would like to know more about what happened on this trip." Bruce pulled open the door and Felicity groaned giving one final wave before stepping inside. Katie and Lyla stood there and watched as they all drove away.

"I was able to round up all of Steve's family." Lyla said and Katie turned to her. "They had questions."

"Do they know about Steve?" Katie asked and Lyla nodded. Katie shook her head.

"Did he tell you who he was working for?"

"He didn't know. It was just this no-name voice or face pulling his strings by threatening the lives of his family." Katie shook her head. "And I don't even know why." she turned back to Lyla. "I need to get home, talk to Oliver. Whoever this is went through a lot of trouble to get close to us. I doubt they just give up." Lyla gave a nod before placing a hand on Katie's shoulder. "You have a goodnight."

"You too." Lyla said before they both got into their cars and headed home.

The house was finally quiet. After John and Oliver found Robyn in her new hiding spot beneath all of her stuffed animals, John and JJ headed home before Oliver cooked dinner. After dinner and her bath, and an apparently exciting day of hide and seek, Robyn was out like a light. Oliver moved through the house, picking up Robyn's toys and bringing them back to her playroom before heading back in to the living room and dropping to sit on the couch with a tired sigh. He closed his eyes, immediately struck with the image of his wife. He pulled his phone from his pocket remembering he was supposed to call her again. He'd only pressed one button before he heard the sound of the front door unlocking. Oliver turned with a furrowed brow before quickly jumping to his feet. He'd only stepped in front of the door before it was opening and in was walking his wife.

"Twinkie?" he said walking over to her. "I thought you guys were coming back tomorrow."

"We were." Katie says stepping inside and closing the door behind her. She walked over to Oliver's opened arms, and dropped her head to his chest. She was holding on to him tight and Oliver just knew something had happened.

"Hey," he pulled back slightly, still keeping his arms around her as he looked down to her eyes. "What happened?"

"So maybe the Vegas trip was kind of too wild and crazy." Katie says pulling out of his grasp and slipping out of her jacket with a slight hiss. Oliver looked over to her in confusion, but the moment she pulled off her jacket and he saw the bandage around her arm, he brought his eyes back to hers.

"Tell me." Oliver folded his arms over his chest and Katie held his gaze.

"Fine, but I'm telling this story over ice cream." she said before grabbing his hand and pulling him with her into the kitchen.

---

Author's Note:

Hello...it's me. I'm sorry y'all...it has been a very tough case of writer's block. I'm moving slow, but I promise I'm moving. Hoped you liked the new chapter!

Review Replies:

EchoMoment: Long reviews are welcome! Hopefully respond to everything...so Adrien being the reason for Katie fainting...that is a plausible possibility one I won't confirm to keep the suspense just know we will definitely find out more about why she fainted...I like see Oliver excited about the baby and always letting katie know that he is there for her, but yeah definitely not the right time for another kid...but there will be and I already know when it will happen, but once again gotta keep the suspense...ok so following canon will happen at times but there will also be times where I veer totally off course. I agree there were some things I wish happened differently on the show, Oliver dying was definitely one of them! That's all I'll say on the matter lol ...Bruce and Felicity...I like them. They weren't a plan when I started the story, but they happened. Their story will get a bit more interesting though thanks to a face from the past. That whole not knowing how many times they've been married thing was just me imagining them traveling the world and ending up engaging in every marital ceremony and in their little love bubble I doubt Bruce was counting. Part 2 of your review- yes! We will venture back to the Katie/Damien whose the daddy storyline. I think they're still avoiding a few topics but we all know sometimes sleeping dog can get kicked awake!

Guest: I appreciate your opinion! I guess this is my version of Thea who might not align with the version of the character on the show. Thea's young and I wanted her to be the little sister who was sometimes annoying, and sometimes serious, and sometimes brave and kick ass, and sometimes the girl who orchestrates an impromptu Vegas bachelorette party. I mean in season 5 she was in her very early 20s. Maybe I took some creative liberties with the characters. I hope it doesn't turn you off completely from the story!

BlueBloodsSVUOrder: Thank you!!! Girls Vegas weekend was some wild and crazy shenanigans! Love my Twiver moments as well and yes loved Oliver offering the metaphorical olive branch to Bruce, but it seems he and Katie haven't gotten there...not yet anyway. Appreciate the review!

Adela: Thank you!!!

Once again I'm sorry for totally disappearing! A lot has been happening and sometimes it's tough to get my head into a place to let the creative juices flow and actually just write. The world doesn't offer much in inspiration nowadays. I appreciate everyone that's hanging in there with me and I promise we will get to the end.

Sneak Peek

Katie pulled the girl to her chest, placing a kiss to her head not expecting the sudden sound of an explosion followed by machine gun fire. She grasped Robyn to her chest before quickly standing to her feet as she listened to screaming. She looked around the room before quickly walking over and locking the door and flicking off the lights.

Robyn became fussy at the sudden darkness. "It's ok." Katie whispered as she hurried over to hide behind the desk. Soon Robyn's whines turned into a loud cry and Katie tried her best to calm the baby. But sitting in the dark, gun fire just outside of the door, and nothing was working. "It's ok, mommy's here."

Katie closed her eyes, as she continued rocking the child in her arms. That door couldn't open. That's what she kept thinking. That door just couldn't open. If that door opened then things would happen. Bad things. Mostly to whoever walked through that door who even posed even the slightest threat to her daughter.