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.

26. Stuck

Chapter 26

Stuck

"Fear is often our immediate response to uncertainty. There's nothing wrong with experiencing fear. They key is not to get stuck in it."

-Gabrielle Bernstein

---

Ari was stuck. She'd heard stories about people just not being able to move and she never thought she would experience it. Yet in this moment, Ari sat on the damp, cold blades of grass, her eyes wide and locked on the scene in front of her. Soon the cries of Robyn cracked through the wall of shock, and Ari turned to the child, reaching forward and placing her hand on the child's stomach, but turning back to the scene once again. The nervousness, and fear seemed to rumble in her gut and she felt her heart racing, suddenly glancing around for life other than the baby next to her. Ari stood to her feet and did the only thing she could do.

With every bit of strength, the teen screamed, "HELP!"

Earlier that day...

Ari let out a sigh as she stepped into the large kitchen of the Queen mansion. Thea turned from pouring her coffee to see what she thinks is relief on the girl's face.

"You got lost again?" Thea asked and Ari looked over to her with a nod. "Where's the map I gave you?"

"You mean the paper you drew a bunch of lines and squiggles on and called it a map?" Ari asked as she headed over to the refrigerator. "That is as useful as a blind seeing eye dog." she grabbed the pitcher of orange juice and sat it on the counter, a stray thought suddenly hit her and she turned a sweet smile to Thea who turned meeting her eyes.

"Oh, I know that look. Whatever it is you want to sucker me into, the answer is no." Thea grabbed her mug, and picked up her phone and headed into the dining room. Ari let out a huff before following after the woman who took a seat at a large table in front of a plate with fruit and toast. Ari took a seat in the chair beside the woman.

"Ok, so there's this party tonight and-" Ari said, before Thea just burst out laughing.

"You're kidding right?" Thea asked turning to the teen. "We literally had to move into the mansion because there's a psycho trying to hurt Oliver, and you think going to a party now is going to happen."

"Just hear me out. The debate team won the junior finals, and they're having a celebratory party tonight and Jamie asked me to go with him." Thea just shook her head before looking back over to her phone. "It's just going to be this small gathering with a bunch of debate nerds. It's going to be totally chill." Thea didn't say anything. "And I have to go, because if I don't Darcy Hunter is going to be hanging over him all night, I just know it."

"And Darcy is..."

"She's on the debate team with him, and she's always around and it's super annoying. Jamie says their just friends, but he doesn't see that she's being too friendly. He's just so oblivious." Ari let out a huff before turning back to Thea. "I really need to be at this party."

"I'm just going to circle back to the fact that a dangerous person is out there targeting people close to Oliver. Look I get it, this party is important, but it's not worth the risk."

"And how is that fair?" Ari shook her head. "My life has to be put on hold because some lunatic might hurt me." she turned back to Thea. "I just need you to cover for me with Oliver and Katie." Thea looked up from her phone and looked over to the teen.

"Are you insane? They will kill me, and I could've sworn I already said no. Just give it up?" Thea said turning back to her phone as she continued eating her breakfast.

Just then Oliver walked into the dining room, Robyn in his arms trying to wiggle out of his grasp.

"Dah Daaah," she whined, but Oliver just placed a kiss to her cheek.

"Sorry sweetie, I know the moment I put you down you're going to disappear and that just can't happen here." Oliver walked over and clasped the child into her high chair, her feet swinging as she fusses to get out. Thea takes some of the berries from her plate and put them in front of the child who instantly paused her antics to eat. "Thanks Thea." Oliver sighed before looking over to Ari who didn't look too happy. "Hey, what's wrong?" Ari turned to him and just shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied before grabbing a berry from Thea's plate, ignoring the look she gave.

Oliver looked at her for a moment, certain that wasn't the truth, but he also figured that maybe she was just unhappy with having to stay here. He asked her about it last night, but she told him she was fine, so he's not going to push.

"I was going to make breakfast, any requests?" he asked hoping to get her into a better mood which food always did.

"No, I'm not hungry." she said standing. "I'm going to get ready for school." she began walking out of the room, but stopped as she began looking down both ends of the hallway.

"Left." Oliver said and the teen just sighed before turning left and heading for the stairs. Once she was gone, Oliver turned to Thea. "Is there anything I need to worry about there?"

"Just that she's not happy about this whole life in witness protection." Thea said looking over to him. "I mean teenagers sort of rely on their social lives and in Ari's case she also has a boyfriend she'd like to see." Oliver rolled his eyes.

"She'll see him at school. That should be enough." he replied turning and heading into the kitchen. Thea laughed before emptying the rest of her fruit in front of Robyn before standing to her feet and heading into the kitchen as well. Oliver headed over, grabbing the ingredients for pancakes.

"How's Twinkie?" Thea asked and Oliver paused, his back to her.

"She's still sleeping." Oliver replied turning to his sister. "She was tossing and turning last night, and finally got to sleep a few hours ago, so we're going to let her sleep."

"She talk to you?" Thea asked. "About Michael? About how she's feeling?" Thea sighed.

Oliver shook his head. "I'm just going to give her some time." Oliver turned to grab some milk from the refrigerator when his phone suddenly rang. He turned, pulling it from his pocket to see Felicity's number, before he answered. "Felicity, hey, what-" Oliver straightened his stance as he turned to Thea. "When?" Oliver turned away and listened before letting out a sigh. "Right, thanks, I'm going." Oliver ended the call and turned back to Thea. "John's been arrested."

"What? How?"

"Some sort of trick. They made him believe that JJ was in trouble and without any hesitation he went to their safehouse where a team was already there waiting." Oliver let out a sigh. "I'm going to head down to see him now to see what the next move is." he glanced over to Thea. "Are you ok to watch Robyn for a bit?"

"Yeah, of course. Are you going to tell Katie?"

Oliver gave a nod. "Yeah," he let out a sigh. "Kind of wish I didn't have to, but I'm going to."

Oliver walked into their bedroom, the curtains drawn keeping the room covered in darkness. He navigated his way over to the bed, sliding beside Katie who laid curled on her side facing him. He placed a hand on her cheek and she instantly stirred. He hated waking her up knowing she really did need to sleep. She cracked open her eyes , and lifted her head using the sparce specks of light to look at Oliver.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she stretched as she sat up a bit and glanced around the room. "What time is it? "

"Almost eight." Oliver said and the woman sat up more, but he brought a hand to his waist. "Ari is up and getting ready for school and Robyn is downstairs with Thea."

"Still, I should get up." she said once again making to get back of bed, but Oliver's grasp kept her in place beside him. "Liver-"

"You were tossing and turning all last night. You should sleep a little bit longer."

"Then why did you wake me up?" she sighed dropping her head to lay on his chest and curl her body around his. Oliver tightened his grasp around her, placing a kiss to her forehead.

"I just got a call from Felicity." Oliver said, actually dreading this conversation. He's almost positive she won't go back to sleep after it.

Just as he thought, as soon as Oliver told Katie about what happened to John, she opened her eyes and stood from the bed.

"Look Twinkie, we're going to figure this out. I'm going to go see him and see how he's doing and try to figure out what to do next." Oliver stood to his feet. "Right now, there's nothing for you to do, so please just get some rest."

"My friend is in prison for a crime he didn't comit, I'm not just going to take a nap. And there's always something I can do." she said before turning walking over to push the curtains open to bring light into the room. "I can give a call to our lawyers. See what his options are." she turned to Oliver. "Oh, maybe we can get the media involved. Tell John's side of the story and about the frame up job." she turned away and began pacing. "I could give an interview and-"

"Twinkie, stop." Oliver suddenly said and Katie stopped walking and turned to him. "First, let me talk to John and see how he wants to proceed with this." he walked over to her, placing his hands on her waist. "Please just get some rest." there was a beep from the otherside of the room and Katie turned. She pulled from Oliver's grasp to grab her phone.

"It's Claire. There's going to be a meeting today at RI. They're introducing the new COO." Katie frowned as she looked up from her phone with a shake of her head. "Michael hasn't even been-" she dropped her eyes back to her phone. "His body isn't even cold yet and their pulling this."

"Twinkie, just-"

"I'm going." she said before stalking over to the closet. Their closet wasn't fully unpacked so there were things both hanging up and still folded in her suit case.

Oliver walked over to stand in front of the closet as he watched her search through her clothes. "You're angry, and you're sad, and you haven't let yourself really feel those things." she stopped and looked over to him. "Maybe you shouldn't go. I mean, right now, with everything that's going on, it's safer for you to stay here in the mansion.

"Michael worked his ass of for this company, and I will not let them disrespect him by doing this today." she said with a shake of her head. "I'm going straight to RI and then I'm coming back."

"Yeah, you say that, but then something happens and that plan just falls a part and if that happens I need to know where you are." Oliver said. "I just—Prometheus is intent on hurting me. He has my face and he knows my weaknesses. You—those kids—that's how he beats me. I just don't want to give him the opportunity."

"And I can't sit here and hide away while my family's company crash and burns." Katie walked over to stand in front of Oliver. "I will be careful. To RI and then back to the mansion." Oliver lifted his eyes and let out a sigh. He didn't like this. He didn't like his family all venturing out into this city with the threat of Promethus looming over them while they weren't together.

"Fine, but you're not going alone." he said looking back down to her. "I'll call Hank, have him get some guys to go with you."

"Or, how about I choose my own protection detail?" Katie said with a slight smile that just made Oliver nervous.

Soon Katie found herself standing in the elevator of RI, her eyes closed as she tried to mentally prepare for what she was about to do.

"I feel completely underdressed." came the voice of the man standing beside her. Katie let out a chuckle before looking over to Rene who looked over to her.

"You look fine."

"I still can't believe you requested me to be your back up for all of this." Rene shook his head before turning back to the doors. "Corporate America is definitely not in my wheelhouse."

"But looking scary and kicking ass is." Katie said with a smile. "Honestly you're here to make sure I don't burn this place down, Rami." she said turning back to the doors as they opened. She pulled on a smile before walking from the elevator and Rene moved to follow her. Rene watched as Katie walked through the hall, smiling and waving at the people who passed her. They all seemed ginuienely happy to see her there.

"So what happened?" Rene whispered over to her. "They seem to love you here, and from what I heard about the work you did here, you were actually pretty great. Why did you leave?"

"The board asked me to." Katie said glancing over to him. "They questioned my decision to back Oliver in the mayoral race against Ruve Adams, and when Oliver backed out they thought it would reflect badly on the company."

"Then the world found out Ruve was married to a psycho. They should be thanking you." Rene said with a shake of his head. Katie paused outside of a pair of double doors and turned to the man.

"You're going to wait out here. You hear yelling, come in. More than likely I'm about to kill someone and you're going to have to stop it. Got it?"

"You're kidding right?" he asked and Katie sighed as she turned back to the doors.

"Just keep your ears open." she said before grabbing the doorknob and walking inside. She paused at the door to see the board all standing around, flutes of champagne in their hands. They all stopped and turned to her.

Katie pulled on a smile as she took a step forward, closing the door behind her.

"You know, I think my invitation to this celebration got lost in the mail or something."

"No, you just weren't invited." spoke the familiar voice of Annabelle Grey as she appeared from the group, a glass in her hand as well. "Given the news of Mr. Carroll's passing, I just figured you wouldn't be in the celebrating mood. I know how close you two were." the woman brought the glass to her lips. "I mean we've seen the pictures, so we know just how close that really was." she took a sip and turned back to Katie who just looked to the woman with a smile. "But since you're here, I would like for you to meet someone." Anna turned as a man, medium build, dark hair, came walking over to stand beside her. "Mrs. Queen, I would like for you to meet Robins Incorporated's new COO Mark Rochester." the man smiled over to Katie, taking a step forward and holding out a hand to her, but Katie simply looked at his hand before shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm not going to shake your hand." she said before turning to the rest of the board member. "It was annouced early this morning that Michael had been murdered, and you're all in here drinking champaign and celebrating as if that man didn't give his blood, sweat and tears for this company." she shook her head. "You all should be ashamed." she turned to Annabelle. "You're not announcing a new COO today. You're going to send out a press release acknowledging the hard work and dedication of Michael. You're going to donate money to one of the many charities that he sponsored. You're going to send flowers to his family and you're going to send the staff home for the rest of the day to allow them to mourn for a person they all cared for."

Annabelle looked over to her, and just let out a snort. "No." she said before taking another sip of her champagne, and turning to the board members. "Someone turn the music back up, this is a celebration after all."

"How do you explain the recent decrease in revenue and profit over the last year Ms. Grey?" Katie asked and the woman turned to her. "You want to celebrate, well I want to know why this company is losing money instead of making it." she turned to the other members of the board. "Have you all had the conversation yet?" she glanced over to the familiar face of Joshua Campbell. "Or has Mr. Campbell already reassured you that this is just a rough patch, it'll all get better next quarter, and then next quarter comes and it doesn't get better." she turned back to Annabelle, who cockiness seemed to transform into a look of annoyance. "Your whole business plan banked on your promise that you were going to make RI bigger and better than ever and yet you've done the complete opposite."

"Mrs. Queen, I think it would be best if you left." Joshua said. "Like Ms. Grey said, you weren't invited. This isn't a board meeting. If you want to hold a board meeting, there are proper channels you can go through." the man took a step forward and Katie looked at him before looking to the rest of the board.

"You know what's funny is that Michael brought up all of these questions and concerns, but before he could actually prove them, suddenly pictures were sent in with a threat that they would be released if he wasn't fired."

"That's right. Pictures that show you and Mr. Carroll in what the world will assume were more than just friends. Obviously, Michael got on someone's bad side with whatever he was doing in his free time. And since you two were so close, I wouldn't want them to assume that you were helping him. In that case, they could still release those pictures, and that kind of bad publicity does not need to blow back on the company."

"Michael told me about the pictures. Told me how you all assumed that they would create some kind of scandal and that's why you asked him to step down." Katie said as she looked over to the other members of the board. "I had the pictures released just a few minues ago actually with a statement. That yes, Michael and I did have a prior relationship, but that we decided that we weren't a perfect match and so we broke up and still remained friends. A friend that I trusted enough to take care of this company when I couldn't." she turned back to Annabelle. "No scandal, no bad publicity blow back." Katie took a step around the woman to look to the rest of the board. "Joshua was right, this isn't a board meeting, but I will be requesting one soon. I will be submitting a request for the board to vote Annabelle Grey from the seat of CEO." Katie turned back to the woman. "You have been given ample time to make this company bigger and better as promised in your ridiculous business proposal that doesn't even—" she sighed. "You have done the absolute opposite." Katie walked around the woman to leave, but stopped and turned back to them. "This company will be seen as cold and heartless if you annouce Michael's replacement today. This company has a heart, and Michael was apart of it, and right now the people of this city, and the people who work for this company need to see how much you care about them. Michael loved this company. Just—Just give him the respect he deserves." Katie cast one final look to Annabelle who was visibly seething. "Ms. Grey." Katie turned to leave.

Annabelle felt every twinge of anger as she watched the woman leave. Katie opened the door. Anna couldn't help it, and she didn't think about it as she shot the flute of champagne right at the woman's back. She didn't expect the woman to swiftly move to the side, missing the glass that shattered against the wall in the hallway.

Katie stood there, looking at the glass before turning to Rene who met her eyes. He just held up his hands as he backed out, back into the hallway closing the door. Katie turned around to see Annabelle still standing there.

"You bitch! This is my company, and I will not let you steal it!" Annabelle snapped angrily. "You think you can just walk in here and take my company. " The woman stalked over, but it was Joshua who caught her arm. She glared over to him and he just shook his head. Anna turned back to Katie who kept her eyes locked on the woman. "You've been handed everything you've ever wanted, and you squandered it away. This company is mine."

Katie gave a nod before walking over to the woman who was still being restrained by Joshua.

"Ms. Grey, you just threw a glass at me and I didn't immediately make it the biggest regret of your life. You see my friend died and I don't want to spend the rest of my day in jail for beating the shit out of you." Katie smiled at the woman. "You should've made that throw count because that was the first and last time you attempt to assault me. You have a good day Ms. Grey." Katie turned and stalked out of the room, not even stopping for Rene.

Rene hurried to catch up. "Please tell me you beat her ass." Katie turned to him with a quirked brow.

"You know it was your job to prevent from beating anyone's ass."

"Anyone that didn't deserve it. And that was one ass whooping that would've been deserved. Did you see how hard she threw that glass. She could've seriously hurt you. Like that was her intention. What did you even say to her."

They stepped into the elevator and Katie turned as the doors closed. "I blew down her house of cards."

Felicity stood leaning against the big tree in their large backyard, her mug of coffee in her hand. She was waiting on Oliver to give her call to let her know how his visit with John went. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Bruce's arms came around her from behind.

"Don't sneak up on me." she said glancing over her shoulder to the man who placed a kiss to her lips.

"Any word on John?"

"Not yet. Oliver should be meeting him now." she shook her head. "I still can't believe this is happening."

"Don't worry, we're going to get John out of this." Bruce said and Felicity smiled as she turned in his arms.

"So, any luck on finding Talia?"

"No, it's like she's just disappeared." Bruce said with a shake of his head. "I have one more option that I really don't want to take."

"Nyssa?" she asked and the man let out a sigh. "You think she knows where her sister is?"

"I think if anyone could find Talia, it would be Nyssa. I just don't know how I would even approach her."

"Especially since the last time you spoke to her, you yelled at her." Felicity said and Bruce just gave her a look as if he didn't need a reminder of how difficult this was going to be. "I think we also need to talk about what happens if you don't find her." Bruce turned away. "He's your son. If you can't find Talia then we need to figure out how to make this work." he looked back down to the woman. "I mean, we need a birth certificate, social security card, health insurance." she turned away. "He needs to be enrolled school. I wonder what are some good schools in the area. I should look into that. Maybe-" the woman's ramble was cut off by Bruce's lips against hers.

He pulled back after a moment. "Let's just take this one step at a time, ok?" she just smiled but gave a nod with a peck on his lips before pulling from his grasp. "I should maybe head to the bunker." She headed back inside of the house, stopping at the sight of Damian standing in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi, uh-" she smiled at the boy who stared back at her. "Were you hungry?" she moved over to the cabinet. "We have cereal. Bruce likes the bland, flavorless, healthy for you cereal, where as I enjoy the sweet, tastes good for you cereal." the woman placed the containers on the counter as Bruce stepped inside. He looked over to the child who looked back over to Bruce before turning to Felicity. He walked closer to the cereal, anaylzing them closer, a slight curl at his lip as he looked at them. "Or maybe I could cook you something? My scrambled eggs aren't bad."

Damian just gave the woman a smile before turning and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. "No thank you. This should be fine." with that he turned and headed out of the room. Bruce looked over to Felicity who visibly deflated.

"Hey, he's just still getting use to this place." he said walking around to her. "Just give him some time." Felicity just gave a nod. "And there's nothing wrong with my choice of cereal."

"Sure Mr. Bran Flakes." she chuckled as she put the containers of cereal away.

Ari decided to spend lunch in the auditorium where the debate team was having a pizza party to celebrate their win. When she stepped through the doors, she looked out to see the team all over the place, but her eyes searched for Jamie. When she found him, her shoulder's slumped at the sight of one Darcy Hunter sitting next him, laughing at something, practically in his lap. He did seem to give her a bit of a shove which made Ari feel a little bit better. When he turned and spotted Ari, he smiled wider as he jumped to his feet and hurried over to her.

"You made it." he said, bringing his arms around her. "Being without my cell phone has been the cruelest torture ever."

"Well a note slipped into my locker, seems like a classic, romantic high school romance kind of thing." Ari said.

"Yeah, 'Pizza party in the auditorium for lunch' is what love stories are made of." Jamie laughed before placing a kiss to her cheek. He brought an arm around her and tugged her over to sit with the rest of his friends on the team.

Ari didn't really know the debate team that well. So as they talked, she merely just ate her pizza.

"So Ari, you coming to the real party tonight?" Ari lifted her eyes across to Darcy who'd asked the question. "We asked Jamie, but he said he wasn't sure with all that craziness happening with your family. I mean that guy that got killed was friends with your cousin, right?"

"Uh, yeah-" Ari said with a shake of her head. "It's really sad. I didn't really know him all that well though."

"Aw, it's cool if you can't come. Jamie has his prison break already planned, so he says he'll be there, and we'll keep him company." Darcy said looking over to Jamie with a smile. Ari looked over to the girl before glancing over to Jamie who just nervously laughed before taking a sip of his juice.

"Actually, I've planned my own prison break." Ari suddenly said and they all turned to her. "I'm definitely going to be there." she turned to Jamie with a smile. "So I'll be there to keep my guy company." she glanced over to Darcy whose smile seemed to drop.

After school, Jamie walked Ari to her car, glancing over to the dark SUV parked not to far that held her security detail.

"Are you sure about coming to the party tonight?" Jamie asked and Ari looked over to him with a quirked brow. "I mean there are more of these security guys since the last time you were here."

"Oliver and Katie are just being cautious, but it's fine. I can take care of myself." she said turning and placing her hands on his chest. "I'm coming to the party. There's no way I'm going to leave you alone with Darcy."

Jamie rolled his eyes. "So that's what this is about. I told you there's nothing going on with Darcy."

"I know that, but I'm also not blind. She is flirting with you like you don't have a girlfriend, so I'm pretty sure that if I'm not there, she's going to try something." she placed a kiss to his lips. "It's fine, I'll see you at the party. I got to go." she turned and got into her car. Jamie stood there for a moment as she drove away, and the SUV behind her followed. He let out a sigh before turning and heading over to his moped.

Katie returned back to the mansion, while Rene headed back to the bunker. Katie still found it strange as she walked inside. So many years, the Queen Mansion just felt like this fantasy. This life she always dreamed she'd be a part of, and now it seemed that fantasy has become a screwed up reality.

She smiled at the sound of Robyn's laughter that echoed through the house. She found Robyn and Thea playing in the sitting room where Robyn's toys seemed to be tossed around.

"You two seem to be having fun." Katie says walking in and pulling off her jacket. Robyn turned to her mother with a smile before her little legs went running to her. "Oh-" Katie dropped to catch the girl in her arm. "You haven't even been walking that long baby, and now you want to run." Katie caught the girl in her arms before placing a kiss to her head. She looked over to Thea who laughed before standing to her feet.

"How did it go?" Thea asked.

"Well I came, I spoke my peace, Annabelle threw a glass at me, and I didn't kill her." Katie said and Thea looked over to her with a quirked brow. "All in all, I think it went well. I have a feeling the board will see how off the rails this woman is and get her unseated."

"Hopefully you're right." Thea said before looking over to the clock. "I have to go into the office for a bit." she turned back to Katie. "You're going to be alright here by yourself?"

"We're going to be fine. I think Oliver should be coming back soon and Ari should be walking through the door. If we get lost, I'm sure one of them will find us." Katie said.

"Ok, well I will have my cell." Thea said before turning and heading upstairs to get ready.

Ari walked through the door not to long after Thea had left. She glanced around looking for sign of life anywhere.

"Anybody here?" she called, her voice echoing around her.

"In the kitchen!" she heard Katie call and so she went to find her. When Ari walked into the kitchen she spotted Katie with the phone pressed to her ear. "You think that will work?" Ari dropped her bag on the floor and with to grab a seat at the counter. "Ok, I'm just not sure he's the best choice." Katie glanced over to Ari and let out a sigh. "I know, I'm just not sure that person is Chase." Katie rolled her eyes. "There's just something about him and I—I get that you trust him and he hasn't given you a reason not to, I just-" she let out a heavy sigh. "You know what, fine. Do what you feel is right." she shook her head. "That's not being passive aggressive, that's me not wanting to keep going in circles with this conversation. Look Ari's here, so I'm going to give her my full attention now." she turned with a smile. "I love you too." she hung up the phone and walked over to the other side of the counter.

"Oliver?"

"Yep."

"Everything alright?"

"John was caught. He's back in military prison." Katie said and Ari's eyes went wide. "Oliver is going to reach out to Adrian Chase for help."

"He's not a miliary lawyer."

"A fact Oliver doesn't seem to think is important." Katie said with a shake of her head. "Right now, I'm all for any idea to get John out of that prison."

"But Adrian Chase? That guy is just-" Ari shook her head. "He's seems so skeevy to me." Katie looked over to her with a quirked brow. "He looks at you weird, and he flirts with you, but really low key that no one even notices." Katie turned away, as she remembers certain moments with the man she felt may have been a bit inappropriate. "Maybe, I'm just seeing things. But if he can help John, he'll be my new best friend." Ari stood from her seat and went to grab her back. "I'm going to go do my homework.

"Any thoughts on dinner?" Katie asked and Ari paused and looked over to her.

"Oh, I was actually going to ask." Ari stopped and turned back to Katie. "My friend Lexie is having a sleepover and she asked me to come." Katie quirked a brow. "You met Lexie at my birthday party, and you even met her parents when they dropped her off. She's in my math class, and she's one of the the after school tutors like I am."

"Ari, I don't know. With this Prometheus thing, I just think-"

"I seriously need this. It just feels like our lives are being unended by this monster. I just need one thing to not change." Ari said. "Plus you and Oliver are always on me about a life outside of our crazy hero/villain lifestyle. Well a nice normal sleepover with my friends from school does that."

"Fine, you can go, but Hank and a couple of guys will be posted outside of your friend's house-"

"But-"

"That's my condition." Katie said and Ari just gave a nod. "Good, now, I have to call Oliver and let him know about this little sleepover."

"Thank you, thank you!" Ari said rushing over to bring her arms around Katie in a hug. "You're the best."

"And you're a pain in my tush, but I love you." Katie pressed a kiss to the girl's head. Ari seemed to linger in the hug a little bit longer and Katie smiled as she held on as well. Ari found herself in a fantasy of her own. Another life actually. Where Katie was her mother and Oliver was her father, and everything wasn't perfect, but at the same time everything didn't feel like it needed to be perfect. That's what she always felt with her actual parents. That she needed to always be perfect and it was so draining. "Hey-" Ari got pulled from the random thoughts and pulled back to look at Katie. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just-" Ari smiled. "I know I can be a pain, but I'm glad I'm your pain." Katie just laughed before placing another kiss to the girl's head.

Later that evening, Katie found herself mulling about the halls of the Queen Mansion. Ari was gone to her sleepover. Thea and Oliver was still at the Mayor's office. And Robyn had eaten dinner and had her bath and was currently sleeping. Right now Katie had no idea what to do with herself. She pulled her phone from her pocket, deciding to call Oliver.

"Hey, everything ok?" he answered and Katie let out a sigh. "I mean, hi Twinkie."

"Better, and yes, everything is fine. I'm just calling to call. I just put Robyn down and now I'm walking around the big ole house hoping I don't get lost."

Oliver laughed. "I should be home soon. I'm just about to head into my meeting with Adrian." Katie just silently rolled her eyes. " I think I just heard you roll your eyes. I really think he can help John."

"I didn't say anything." she sighed. "I've kind of been debating on calling Michael's sister, but I keep chickening out. I don't even know what I would say. I haven't spoken to her in years, plus she really didn't like me that much. I just feel like there's something I should be doing for him. I mean dealing with the company, releasing those pictures—I feel like I should do something more."

"Like what?"

"Well first find the bastard who put that suit on him. Find this Timothy Grant guy, see if he really sent that email, see if he really did find something on Annabelle. It just seems too random of a coincidence that Michael digging into Annabelle lead him to get tangled up with Prometheus. I just don't want him dying to be for nothing." Oliver didn't say anything, and Katie sighed knowing that his guilt was still weighing on him and so she figured she should change the subject. "Crap, I think I'm lost now."

Oliver laughed. "What do you see?"

"I see a hallway that looks like every other hallway." she said as she spun around."Oh, there's a door with a different door knob. It looks old and fancy." she said walking over to the door and opening it to the room.

"Ok, that's my mom's office. Just keep walking to the left, and then turning right and you should get to the stairs to the kitchen." Oliver said.

Katie just continued looking around the empty room, the sudden thoughts of Moira Queen hitting her.

"You know I don't think I asked this, but I think I should. Are you ok with staying here?"

The line was silent for a moment. "You know after that whole Dominator thing, and then moving back into the mansion, it has been tough. I think for a long time, I've tried to just forget, because if I forget-"

"It can't hurt as much."

"Right. And there are a lot of emotions, but it's not all bad. There were so many happy memories in that house too and it's good that I remember them."

Katie smiled as she closed the door and began walking down the hall. "So you want to make some more happy memories in this house?"

"I do, but I also don't want to be used as your distraction from dealing with how you're really feeling right now." Oliver said and Katie didn't say anything. "Twinkie?"

Katie's phone beeped and she looked down to see she was getting another call. "Someone's calling me."

"Who?"

"No idea. I'm going to take this, and I'll see you when you get here."

"Right, ok I love you. We'll talk later."

"Sure." she said before ending the call and answering the next. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Carolyn Presscott, Jamie's mother."

"Oh, hi Mrs. Presscott, is everything alright?"

"Well, that's what I'm not sure about. Jamie told me that he was staying after school for debate team. I was going to have his brother pick him up, but I didn't know what time it's going to be over, so I gave a call to the school and the receptionist told me that there were no groups meeting in the school tonight. I was just wondering if maybe Arianna knew where Jamie was."

Katie shook her head as she slid a hand over her face. "Ari isn't here. She asked to got to a sleepover with a friend."

"I swear this boy-" Carolyn sighed.

"You know I didn't realize how much teenagers just suck." Katie said and Carolyn couldn't help but to laugh. "I'm going to figure out where they are and I'll give you a call back."

"Thank you. I'll let you know if I find out anything."

Katie hung up the call, and looked down to her phone. She knows she should call Oliver, but she also knows that he would totally freak out. Right now she just needed to figure out where Ari was, because she's pretty sure the teen isn't at some sleepover. Katie dialed another number and brought it to her ear.

"Hey Smoaks, I need a favor."

Ari and Lexie stood outside of the house filled with teens as the loud music carried outside.

"You sure your mom isn't going to check in?" Ari asked lookng over to Alexis who just shook her head.

"I told you, once my mom takes her Valium, she's completely dead to the world until the next morning. It's my dad we need to worry about. He gets off work a little after midnight, so we have to be back before then."

"Got it." Ari said looking down and sliding a hand over her pink spaghettie strap dress. She tugged a bit at the skirt. "I told you this dress was too short."

"Well I'm sure it will have Jamie looking at no one else but you for the entire night." Alexis said before nudging her head. "C'mon, let's go in."

Ari didn't have a lot of experience with parties. She really never really got into them. The parties thrown by her friends back at Havenwood were always so extreme with the drugs and the alcohol and she just couldn't get into it which is why she always came up with an excuse for why she wouldn't go. This party didn't seem that bad. There were definitely a lot of people. Most of the people here weren't even on the debate team, but she's sure once they heard of a party, they just flocked. Ari found Jamie in the back yard with some of his friends from the debate team, and of course Darcy wasn't far behind. When he turned his head and spotted Ari, his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her and that dress. He just walked away from his friend, instantly pulling an arm around Ari when he got close enough.

"Hey," he placed a kiss to her lips. "Uh, that's a dress."

"Do you like it?" she asked, expecting a different reaction.

"Yeah, I mean, yes I like it, I just-" he cleared the nervousness from his throat. "You look beautiful." Ari just smiled as Jamie took her hand and they walked back over to his friends.

Soon they were all sitting inside the house. Ari found herself squished on a couch next to Jamie who was talking to one of his friends from the team. She glanced down to her empty solo cup and sighed before she lifted her hand and fanned herself.

"You ok?" Jamie asked and she turned to him with a smile.

"Yeah, it's just kind of hot and stuffy in here." she said as she continued to fan herself. "Do you know where the bathroom is?"

He gave a nod before taking her hand and leading her through the party. When they found the downstairs bathroom, they saw a line of people waiting.

"There's one upstairs." he whispered over to her. Ari just gave a nod before letting him lead her upstairs. Soon they were walking into a bedroom. "This is Greg's room, he has his own bathroom." Ari gave a nod before hurrying inside the bathroom. Jamie just walked over and took a seat on the bed, pulling out his phone as he waited. He looked up when he heard the sound of the toilet flushing, and then the running water of the sink. When the door opened, he smiled as he stood to his feet.

"Actually, could we maybe wait before going back down there." Ari said walking over to take a seat on the bed. Jamie took a seat beside her.

"Are you having fun?"

"Sure, it's cool." Ari said with a shrug. Jamie looked over to her with a quirked brow. "Fine, no, I kind of hate it. It's loud and there's too many people, and I'd rather be somewhere else." Jamie just laughed. "What?"

"I hate parties too, but Greg wouldn't let it go, so I just came."

"You're not afraid of your mother finding out and killing you?"

"Definitely, but my after school excuse is solid. I should be good as long as I'm back in like an hour." he said. "What about you?"

"I told Katie I was going to a sleepover." Ari said dropping her hands to her face. "I hate that I lied."

"Why did you?" Jamie asked and Ari looked over to him. "I mean you don't like parties, so why did you come?" she just shook her head before turning away. "This is about Darcy."

"You don't see it."

"I do see it and I actuallly talked to her." Jamie said and Ari turned to him. "I told her that I had a girlfriend that I really like and that maybe she could maybe back off a bit with her "friendliness"."

Ari smiled. "You told her that?"

"I did and she just said ok. It really wasn't a big deal." Jamie said and Ari just smiled even more before leaning over and brining her lips to his. Jamie brought his arms around her and soon they just got lost in the kiss.

When Katie pulled up outside of the party she let out a heavy sigh. She glanced back to see Robyn who'd fallen back to sleep after being woken up. She stepped out of her car and looked over to Hank who she'd called to meet her here.

"Mrs. Queen, I'm so sorry. I don't know how she got past us." he said.

"I do." they both turned as two woman walked over. One was Mrs. Prescott, and the other Lexie's mom. "I'm Trish, Alexis's mom." the woman smiled over to Katie. "We live in this old house that was built forever ago, there was this tunnel in the basement we think was used during prohibition for bootlegging. I think that's how they snuck out."

"Alright, I will-" Hank made to go into the party, but Katie grabbed his arm.

"No, allow me." Katie said before glancing over to her car. "Stay with Robyn." Hank just gave a nod before turning to Trish and Carolyn. "These kids have turned us into those uncool parents who show up to parties and I for one plan on making them regret it, care to join me?"

"Absolutely." Carolyn said before looking over to Trish who gave a nod as well.

As the three women walked toward the house, they noticed the looks from the teens mulling about outside.

"If I were you, I would get home." Katie said looking over to them. "The police are on their way." the teens eyes widened before they all ran off.

"You called the police?" Trish asked.

"No," Katie chuckled as the walked up the steps and inside of the house. They were instantly hit with the sound of loud music and saw dozens of teens all about. They stood out as they walked further inside. Katie was the one the teens recognized and they all looked completely freaked out. Soon the music stopped playing and all the eyes turned to the three women in the middle of the party. Katie stepped forward and took a cup that was in a teenage boy's hand and sniffed it. "So this teenage party, that's serving alcohol to minors-" she glanced around. "With no adults. If you haven't guessed, this party is over, and you all should be leaving." no one moved as they all seemed too shocked to move. "Now! Go home, right now!" that seemed to spur movement, as the three women looked around for their kids.

"Lexie!" Trish called and the teen seemed to stop with wide eyes on her mother.

"Mom, what—how-" Trish walked over to Lexie. "I thought you were asleep."

"I know you did. I also knew you were up to something with this spur of the moment sleepover. Now where is Ari?"

Lexie shook her head as she looked over to Katie. "I don't know. She was with Jamie and I was hanging out with Carlos."

"Oh, Carlos who I specifically told you not to hang out with after that little incident at the mall!" Trish snapped with a shake of her head. "Get your butt to my car, now!" Lexie just let out a sigh before turning and heading out with the rest of the teens. Trish turned back to Carolyn and Katie. "I'm going to get her home. Thanks for calling me." they gave the woman a nod before she turned and followed after her daughter. Katie and Carolyn both continued looking around as the kids headed out, but they didn't see Jamie and Ari.

"Where are they?" Carolyn asked and Katie sighed, her eyes still looking over the faces. Carolyn spots a familiar face. "Hey, Greg!" the teen had his head down in hopes of blending in with the others so he wouldn't get caught. His shoulder's slumped when he realized that plan didn't work and he turned to Carolyn with a smile.

"Hey Mrs. P." he said before turning to Katie. "Mrs. Queen."

"Cut the crap Greg, I've already called your parents and they're on their way here." Carolyn said and Greg turned to her with a frown. "Now where is Jamie?" the teen swallowed the nervousness in his throat. He'd seen Jamie and Ari earlier head upstairs.

"I uh-" he scratched the back of his head. "I uh, don't-" he began looking around. "He didn't come to the party. He said he was grounded." he turned back to her.

It was Katie who moved to stand in front of the teen, and he actually stumbled back a bit when he saw the scary look in her eyes.

"I know you don't really know me Greg, but you should know that I've had a really bad day, and you lying to us is just going to make it worse and you don't want to make our day worse, do you Greg." the boy shook his head. "That's right, so how about you tell us the truth. Where are Jamie and Ari?"

The boy closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I saw them go upstairs. They were looking for the bathroom." Katie just gave a nod before she and Carolyn headed for the stairs.

"I think I'm going to kill him." Carolyn suddenly said as she walked along side Katie. The women began looking around the second floor hallway. Katie turned when she heard a sound. "Where do you think they could be?"

"Down here." Katie said walking down the hall. She stopped in front of a door and glanced over to Carolyn before reaching forward and pushing open the door. That's when they finally found the two teenagers, lying on the bed kissing. The moment the door opened, the teens pulled apart and their eyes widened at the sight of Katie and Carolyn standing there.

"Mom?" Jamie said looking at his mother.

"Katie!" Ari said, as he and Jamie jumped to their feet. "I know what this looks like, but nothing happened, we were just-" she looked over to Jamie who just stared at the dark look in his mother's eyes and knew he was dead.

"James Harvey Prescott, you have ten seconds to get your butt to my car." Carolyn said and Jamie didn't hesitate. He turned to Ari and gave her an apologetic look before hurrying out of the room. Carolyn turned to Katie and just gave the woman a nod before turning and following after her son.

Katie turned back to Ari looking over the girl and what she was wearing and just shook her head before turning and leaving the room. Ari let out a sigh before grabbing her purse and following after her.

In the car home, Ari couldn't stop trying to plead her case. She knew she was in for a next level grounding and she felt the need to try to explain herself. She'd went on about Jamie and Darcy and the whole crazy story.

"I just had to go." Ari said looking over to Katie who had remained quiet for the entire drive. Ari shook her head as she turned away and just decided to go an entire different route with her argument. "You know it's all your fault." Katie glanced over to her with a quirked brow before turning back to the road. "You and Oliver. It's your fault that we're being targeted by this monster. It's your fault we have to live in this ridiculous life of seclusion. I should be able to hang out with my boyfriend without having to come up with some lie to do it." she shook her head. She was digging herself deeper and she knew she just shut up, but her brain and mouth were on two different channels.

"Have you been drinking?" Katie suddenly asked lookng over to Ari. Ari turned away, figuring maybe that beer probably was contributing to her poor argument. "Ari, I just-" Katie just shook her head. "I don't know what to do." Katie turned back to the road. "Like I'm so out of my depth with this one. I absolutely have no idea how to handle this situation. I never thought I would have to. You're smarter than this. Lying, sneaking out to parties, drinking, and whatever the hell was happening in that bedroom." she once again glanced over to Ari whose eyes were closed. Katie just shook her head before turning back to the road. She pulled to a stop at a red light and dropped her head back against the seat. She was honest when she said she didn't know what to do. Hopefully when Oliver came home they could figure out how to deal with this. Probably after she calmed him down after he heard the story of Ari's antics. Katie opened her eyes as the light changed to green.

"Look Katie, I know-" Ari turned, and the next few moments happened in slow motion. Her eyes saw the bright lights of the car speeding toward them. She saw as Katie turned to see the car before she turned meeting Ari's eyes. Katie let go of the steering wheel and quickly lifted her hands. The next thing Ari remembers is a bright light that seemed to swallow up the world and then she hears the sudden sound of crashing metal and shattering glass.

And then it happened. Ari was stuck. She'd heard stories about people just not being able to move and she never thought she would experience it. Yet in this moment, Ari sat on the damp, cold blades of grass, her eyes wide and locked on the scene in front of her. Soon the cries of Robyn cracked through the wall of shock, and Ari turned to the child, reaching forward and placing her hand on the child's stomach, but turning back to the scene once again. The nervousness, and fear seemed to rumble in her gut and she felt her heart racing, suddenly glancing around for life other than the baby next to her. Ari stood to her feet and did the only thing she could do.

With every bit of strenghth, the teen screamed, "HELP!" Ari couldn't take her eyes off of Katie's car that was now flipped over. "Katie!" she turned as the SUV came to a screeching stop and Hank and his team all exitied and ran to Katie's car. Two of his men ran over to Ari, and Robyn. One of them grabbed the handle of Robyn's carseat and Ari turned and pushed him away. "Stop, don't touch her!" she grabbed Robyn and turned back to Katie's car. She began shaking as she heard the distant sounds of sirens.

Oliver waited as he looked over to Adrian. He'd just explained to the man John's situation.

"Getting the Judge Advocates to even authorize me to pro hoc in would be a miracle." Adrian said, and Oliver gave a hopeful look.

"Sounds like a yes? "

Adrian chuckled. "Eh, more like a "God help me" and your friend." Oliver stood to his feet and held out his hand to the man.

"Hey. I will owe you one." Oliver said as Adrian shook his head.

"This is worth more than one." Adrian said as Oliver walked around his desk. "Um, actually, uh, hey. Uh, as if we don't have enough on our plate, have you heard about the circumstances surrounding the death of Michael Carroll?"

Oliver found himself stuck for a moment with the question. He suddenly found himself back to that moment, after shooting the arrows and then pulling the mask from the man's face.

Oliver shook his head. "No."

"He was wearing Prometheus' outfit when he was killed. His mouth was taped shut, a sword taped into his hand. There was a wireless speaker found on the scene." Oliver hoped his face wasn't showing what he was feeling.

"Uh... What are you saying?"

"That it looks like Caroll was set up, that it looks like the Green Arrow was manipulated into killing him."

"By Prometheus?"

Adrian nods. "I made sure the cops who caught the scene won't say anything, and I'm handling the coroner. I just wanted to let you know." Oliver looked slightly confused.

"Yeah, that you're gonna... Cover this up." he said, just to confirm that he was hearing this conversation correctly.

"If the city finds out that the COO of the biggest company in this city was Prometheus, there's gonna be panic. If the Green Arrow killed the COO of the biggest company in this city, who was also a close friend of your wife who this city holds dear, whoo-there's gonna be panic. Either way..."

"Got to keep this quiet." Oliver said.

Adrian once again nods. "It's the only way to see justice done." Adrian turns to leave, but stops and glances back to Oliver. "How is she handling it?" Oliver looked over to the man and just sighed with a shake of his head.

"She's not." he replies. "Not yet. I think she's just working through it."

"I saw the pictures that were released of Carroll and your wife. I didn't know they were-" Adrian let the words linger and and Oliver just gave a nod.

"Yeah, they were, but that was a story that ended a long time ago. Then they became friends and now he's gone." Oliver said. For some reason, now that Michael's gone, he seems to realize how his jealousy of the man was just ridiculous. Oliver shook his head before turning back to the man. "I should probably be getting home."

"I'll give you a call with any news on your friend." Adrian said before turning and stepping out of the office. He'd only taken a step before his phone rang. He glanced down to the number and sighed before bringing it to his ear. "How many times do I have to tell you never to call this number. What do you want."

"I finally did it." came the slurred drunken female voice from the other end of the line.

"Did what?"

"I ended it." the words were spoken with a laugh. "I ended her."

Oliver walked around his desk to grab his phone when it suddenly rang. He looked down to see Ari's name, and he frowned. Katie said she was at a sleepover. He asbsolutely hated the idea given what was happening, but Katie convinced him that a sleepover was harmless. Oliver brought the phone to his ear.

"Ari, hey, what's-" he didn't even get the question out before he realized that she was histerically crying. The door to his office opened and in walked Thea who stopped when she noticed him on the phone. "Ari—Ari—" he couldn't get a word in over her crying and it was making him nervous. He let out a huff before turning and walking around his sister out of the door. Thea quickly followed.

"What's wrong?" Thea asked and Oliver just shook his head as he held the phone to his ear while trying to calm the nervousness he felt.

"Ari, please, just calm down and tell me what happened?" he asked before turning to Thea. "Call Felicity, have her give me Ari's location?" Thea nodded before pulling out her phone as they stepped inside of the elevator. Oliver couldn't understand a word Ari was saying and it was becoming completely unnerving and making him anxious. "Was it Jamie? Did he do something to you?" Oliver was going to kill him.

"No!" Ari said, that word completely clear before continuing her unintellible muttering. "You just-" more crying. "You just have to be here!" those words he understood.

"I'm on my way Ari, just stay on the phone." Oliver said when he suddenly heard Robyn's cries. "Is that Robyn?" the doors to the elevator opened and they walked out, heading for the doors, when Oliver stopped. Robyn was with Katie, and now Robyn is with Ari. "Ari, where's Katie?" the girl seemed to erupt into another round of histerical crying and Oliver glanced over to his sister before turning and bolting out of that building.

Oliver didn't wait for his security. Thea told him that Ari was at Starling Memorial and he jumped into his car and didn't stop until he pulled up in front of the hospital. He can't remember if he turned the car off before jumping out and rushing inside. His eyes darted around, phone still pressed to his ear as he continued to hear Ari crying.

"Get away from us!" she screamed at someone.

Oliver heard those words both on and off the phone and he turned his head and ran down the hall. He spotted Hank and two other guys from his team along with a doctor and nurse as they stood in front of Ari who held Robyn in her arms.

"Ari, we just want to make sure you and the baby are alright." the nurse said taking a step forward.

"Just stay away from us!" Ari said once again before looking up and seeing Oliver who hurried over, and dropped to his knees in front of her. "It's all my fault." Ari continued crying, her eyes completely red at this point. Oliver reached forward and grabbed Robyn from her arms, looking over the baby who didn't look hurt. He turned as Thea came over and he handed Robyn to her before he turned back to Ari who threw herself into his arms. "It's all my fault, dad. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry dad." Oliver's not sure how it happened, but hearing her call him dad, flipped a switch within himself. His arms tighted around her, and his protective mode seemed go on high alert. He lifted her from the floor to a nearby chair. He pulled back, his eyes going to her before he wiped the tears from her eyes.

"It's alright, I'm here now." Oliver said, keeping his voice at a calming level even though those raging emotions were still bouncing around inside of him. He looked over his shoulder to see the nurses and doctor still watching them. He glanced over to see the familiar faces of a few of Hank's security team. "Right now, everyone needs to go away." his voice still held that calming tone, but he hoped they saw how his words were not a request. It was the doctor, who decided to walk forward.

"Mayor Queen, my name is Dr. Harlow. We should probably talk about what happened tonight." the doctor said and Oliver looked at the woman for a moment before giving a nod. "I'll be around at the nursing station." the woman turned and the area finally cleared leaving Oliver, Ari and Thea who stood with Robyn to her chest. Oliver turned to Thea who came over to sit beside Ari. Oliver turned to the teen who'd dropped her face into her hands.

"Hey Ari, can you tell me what happened?"

Ari lifted her eyes to Oliver, and the question seemed to cause more tears. "It's my fault." Ari dropped her face once again and Oliver let out a sigh before turning to Thea.

"Ari, where's Katie?" Oliver asked.

"She's upstairs." came the voice behind him. Oliver turned to see Christian standing beside Dr. Harlow. "Oliver we really need to talk now."

Oliver soon found himself in a family waiting room, his eyes out the window where he watched Ari, still sitting beside his sister. The doctors had just recounted the events of the night that included a car accident that flipped his wife's car over. He hasn't given a reaction just yet. A part of him is still figuring out how to react.

"Luckily, both Arianna and Robyn seem to have come out of this accident without any injury, but we would still like to look them both over." Christian said looking over to Oliver who'd turned away from them. He turned to Dr. Harlow who stood to her feet and went to sit beside Oliver, his attention turned to her.

"Mr. Mayor-"

"Oliver." he said. "Right now, I'm not the mayor. I'm a father and husband. Call me Oliver."

"Ok, Oliver." she said. "Your wife is in surgery." Oliver turned in his seat, and dropped his head to his hands. His world spun because of Katie and his kids and right now he felt his world tilting. "Your wife came in tonight with cracked ribs, and it has caused internal bleeding. Right now surgeons are having a hard time finding the source of the bleeding."

Oliver couldn't listen anymore. He stood to his feet and walked out of that room. Thea lifted her eyes to her brother.

"Ollie?"

"I just-" Oliver shook his head. "I need some air. I'll be back. Just stay with them." Thea watched as Oliver stalked down the hall. Oliver wasn't sure where he was going, but he felt himself suffocating as reality seemed to suck all the air from the room. Oliver stalked outside, letting the cold air rush to his lungs.

"Sir-" Oliver glanced over his shoulder to see a member of his security team. "It's safer if you stayed inside the hospital." Oliver turned and took in another deep breath.

"How did this happen?" Oliver said turning to the man. "Where's Hank?"

"He's inside sir, keeping an eye on the other driver."

Oliver's gaze darkened as he walked over to the man. "The driver who hit them is in there?" the man gave a nod. "Show me."

Oliver stood in an elevator next to Sean, Hank's second in command on his team. In his head, he kept telling himself that this was a bad idea, that he should just go back up stairs and wait for a status update on his wife. Yet knowing that the bastard who hurt his family was just a few floors away seemed to drown out that voice of reason. When the doors opened, Oliver followed Sean down a hall before he spotted Hank and two other officers standing outside of a room. When Hank spotted Oliver, he quickly went over.

"Sir, I was just about to head back up, but I wanted-" Hank stopped when he noticed Oliver's eyes looking into the room. Hank let out a sigh. "His name is Franklin Burrow. He recently lost his job as a maintenance worker over at the airport. The cops think he'd been drinking and didn't realize the light had turned red."

"So he was drunk?" Oliver asked, his eyes still glaring over to the man that was in the room, his wrist handcuffed to the bed as an officer stood near.

"That's what they said." Hank said and Oliver turned to him. "After—after the accident, he attempted to flee on foot, but me and my guys were there. I tackled him to the ground, and he was lucid, and I didn't smell alcohol. He kept saying he didn't have a choice. I asked him what he meant, but he just kept saying those three words until the cops came and brought him here. I've been hanging around hoping to get more out of him."

Oliver just gave a nod before walking around the man to the officer guarding the door. "I need to talk to him."

"That's not going to happen." spoke a voice from behind him. Oliver turned to see Adrian Chase, who seemed to be out of breath as if he'd ran here. "With all due respect sir, I think the last place you should be is in that room."

"That man almost killed my family." Oliver grit through clenched teeth. "I need to know why."

"And how do you see that conversation ending?" Adrian asked. "Look I can't imagine what you're feeling right now, but I know what you intend to do if you go into that room, and I can't let that happen. This city can't afford it and neither can your family." Oliver shook his head as he turned back to look at the man still lying there. "Right now, just go be there for your family. I'll take care of him." Oliver turned back to him. "Don't worry. He's going to have a long night."

Oliver let out a huff before stalking off, Sean on his tails. Adrian turned, seeing Hank standing there.

"Are you going to go with your boss?" he asked.

"There's something not right about his story. I was hoping you'd let me ask him a few questions." Hank said and Adrian shook his head.

"Not sure where you're from, but we don't let personal security guards question suspects. Right now I don't want anything standing in the way of me putting this guy away for as long as possible." Adrian replied. "I'm going to make an example out of this piece of shit and let the people of this city know they should think twice before getting behind the wheel after drinking." Adrian moved toward the man's room.

"So you're deeming this just another drunk driving accident?" Hank asked and Adrian stopped and looked over to him. "You're not even going to investigate?"

"What's there to investigate?" Adrian asked. "The guy was wasted and decided to get behind the wheel almost killing the Mayor's wife and children. Hell, I hear his wife is still in surgery, so there's still a possible homicide I can tack on if she doesn't make it. You should probably let me do my job and you should go upstairs to protect the mayor."

Hank looked at the man, and just gave a nod before turning and walking down the hall.

Oliver soon found himself forced to wait. They'd moved to a room where the doctor finally examined Ari and Robyn. Neither had a scratch. Oliver stood near the door as he looked over to the bed where Ari had fallen asleep. Robyn was currently asleep in his arms. She'd been waking up and falling asleep over the last hour. He turned when the door opened and in came his sister with two cups of coffee. She held one out to him and he just shook his head.

"Anything?" Thea asked putting his cup down and taking a sip from her own. "This surgery is taking too long. It shouldn't take this long." Thea turned to her brother who didn't say anything as he continued to gently rock Robyn in his arms. "I'm sorry Ollie-"

"Thea it's fine." Oliver said as he moved around the room. Thea let out a sigh as she looked over to Ari.

"I was able to get some more details out of her." Thea said and Oliver looked over to her. "So the sleepover was just a cover story. Her and her friend Lexie snuck out to a party." Oliver let out a sigh as he looked over to the sleeping teen. "Somehow Twinkie, Jamie's mom and Lexie's mom figured it out and decided to show up." Thea looked over to Oliver who wore a slight smile. "I so wish I was a fly on the wall in that room." he looked over to his sister. "I'm sure it was a party to remember." Thea went to take a seat in the chair by the bed. "She called you dad." Thea looked over to Oliver who let out a sigh as he turned back to the girl. "That's kind of big, right?" there was a knock at the door and Oliver took a step forward as it opened and in walked Christian. Thea stood to her feet. "How is she?"

"She's finally out of surgery. We've moved her to recovery." Christian said and he saw as both Oliver and Thea let out heavy sighs.

"So she's going to be ok?" Thea asked and Christian looked over to her.

"Well the cracked ribs and the internal bleeding was the major problem. The surgeons were able to find the bleeder so that's no longer an issue." Christian turned to Oliver. "There was a head injury, but we haven't been able to determine what sort of affects we're looking at until she's conscious and we can run some more tests. There doesn't seem to be any other broken bones, so right now we're going to wait until she wakes up and then we'll perform some cognitive tests."

"Can I see her?" Oliver asked.

"We want to keep her in recovery for a bit longer before we get her moved to a room. Once she's moved, then you can see her." Christian said and Oliver just gave a nod. "She's a fighter." Oliver looked over to the man. "The one thing that I know about that woman and everything she's been through, she's a fighter. Remember that." Christian gave a nod before leaving the room.

Thea turned a relieved smile to her brother expecting to see the same look but there was a different look on his face. "Ollie?" he looked over to her before walking over.

"Can you take her?" Oliver asked and Thea nods before sitting her cup down and pulling the child into her arms. "I just need a minute." Oliver stalked out the door, glancing over to see Hank and two other men from his team.

"Sir?" Hank said walking over.

"I just need a minute. Make sure you have guys posted outside of this door at all times." Oliver said and Hank nods. Oliver walks past the man down the hall.

"Should one of us go with him?" Sean asked and Hank shook his head.

Oliver was once again walking aimlessly. Each hallway he turned down, just looked like the other. He felt his heart racing as he walked. Those raging emotions hadn't calmed down yet and he felt them rising to the surface and he needed to just let it out. He finally stopped and pushed into a room, coming to a stop when he realized where he was. It was the hospital chapel. He turned to leave, but stopped himself. The chapel was currently empty, and right now he just needed to let out his frustrations. He turned around to the stained glass windows that stood behind a row of candles and a large crucifix. Oliver felt his fists clenched at his side. Logic and reason just went out the window as he prepared to make this room look exactly how he felt.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone was in here." came the voice of the hospital's Chaplin. The Chaplin looked over to Oliver who didn't seem to move. "Are you alright?" he moved around Oliver to see his eyes stuck on the crucifix. "Sir-" Oliver dropped his eyes to the man. "Maybe it would help to talk about it?"

"It won't." Oliver said as he turned, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I was sitting in my office not even aware that my wife and kids had been in an accident." he shook his head. "I just—I keep thinking about it. How in the blink of an eye my family could've been gone."

"Could've been." the Chaplin said. "Does that mean that they're alright?" Oliver turned away, but gave a nod. "Son, could've beens can lead you down a dark, endless path of anger and fear. "

"Right now I can't find my way out of it." Oliver said as he lowered himself to sit. "Right now fear and anger is all I have and I don't think I'll find my way out until I see her face." the Chaplin moved to sit in the seat in front of Oliver. "My wife just spent the last couple of hours fighting for her life." he shook his head. "She's a fighter. I know she's a fighter. I know she's strong and I know she can usually find her way out of any situation she gets herself into." he looked over to the Chaplin. "But one day she won't. And I'm afraid of that day." Oliver dropped his head and closed his eyes. "I thought today was that day."

"But it's not." the Chaplin said placing a hand on Oliver shoulder. "Today your wife lives." Oliver opened his eyes to the man. "She lives."

When Oliver walked back toward the kids room, he noticed Rory, Rene, and Curtis standing in the waiting area. They noticed Oliver and hurried over.

"Felicity called and told us what happened." Curtis said. "Are they alright?"

Oliver looked between their faces. "Ari and Robyn are fine. Neither were injured in the accident."

"What about the Doc?" Rene asked. Oliver turned to the man and Rene shook his head.

"She's up in recovery and I have to wait until she's moved until I can see her." Oliver replied and Rene just continued to look at him. "Right now they have to wait until she wakes up to determine if there's any neurological damage."

"I mean I'm going to ask, just to ask, but was this really an accident?" Rory said and Oliver turned to him. "Given everything we know about Prometheus, him wanting to hurt you in the worse way possible, wouldn't this do that?" Oliver turned away and slid a hand over his face. He kept thinking about what Hank told him. The drunk driver that may not have been drunk.

"Franklin Burrow." Oliver said turning back to the men. "That's the name of the driver that hit them. The police are thinking it was just a drunk driver, but Hank isn't convinced, and I trust his instincts. Where's Felicity, maybe she can look into this guy, see if there are any ties to Prometheus."

"She's in there with Thea, and Ari." Curtis said nudging his head over to the hospital room. Oliver gave a nod before turning, but stopped and turned back to the three men.

"Thanks—thanks for coming here and-" Oliver shook his head. "I appreciate you guys. This is all just-"

Curtis placed a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Hey, your family is our family. We'll always be here."

Oliver gave the man a nod before turning and heading inside of the room where he found Felicity and Thea standing in front of Ari who was now awake. She turned to him, and though she wasn't crying, he still saw the sadness in her eyes. He walked over, and brought his arms around her and she returned the embrace.

"I'm sorry." Ari whispered, and Oliver pulled back to look at her. "This is my fault. If she didn't have to pick me up then-"

"Ari, this isn't your fault." Oliver said letting out a sigh as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. "At some point we will talk about you sneaking out to a party, but right now, I'm just glad you and Robyn came out of this accident alright." Ari turned away from him, closing her eyes as she remembered that moment in the car. "Ari?" she opened her eyes and turned to him.

"Something happened." Ari said and Oliver looked at her with a furrowed brow. "We were driving, on our way home. I was in the passenger seat, and Robyn was in the backseat. It just happened so fast." Ari shook her head as she turned away. "I saw the lights of the car as it was driving toward us, and then Katie turned and looked as well before she turned back to me." Ari closed her eyes once again finding herself in that moment that didn't make much sense. "She held up her hands and then all I saw was light." Ari opened her eyes and looked over to Thea and Felicity before turning to Oliver. "And then me and Robyn were sitting in the grass before the car is hit."

"She used her powers." Felicity said and Ari turned to her in confusion.

"I thought they were gone." Ari said looking from the blonde to Oliver who stood to his feet and turned away. "I thought they were gone when the darkness left." Oliver didn't say anything as he realized what Ari just said. If it's true and he'd bet his life that it is, Katie did use her powers to save those girls. "Oliver?"

"They're not gone." Oliver said turning back to her. "She was just figuring out how to use them, but they-" he turned away.

"They were hurting her." Thea said turning to her brother who turned to her. "She'd never done anything like this, right. Teleport two people from one place to another. That probably took a lot of power."

Oliver let out a sigh. "I need to call Constantine and Zatanna." he pulled out his phone and just paused for a moment. That fear and nervousness were still there, still raging inside of him and he couldn't help the need to just let it all out.

Felicity walked over to stand in front of Oliver and took the phone from his hand and met his eyes.

"Why don't I have Bruce call them. You need to sit down." he looked at her for a moment, but shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. I have to-"

"You have to sit down, and just breathe." Felicity said placing a hand on his arm. He looked at her for a moment before giving a nod and walking over to sit in the chair beside Ari's bed. Ari rolled over onto her side and looked over to the man before reaching out and taking his hand. He turned to her and gave her hand a squeeze.

"She's going to be alright." Oliver said the words that had been the only thing keeping his feet on the ground. "You should get some sleep." Ari gave a nod before closing her eyes. Oliver held onto her hand a little while longer before placing it on the bed beside her.

Felicity walked over to Thea who still held a sleeping Robyn in her arms.

"Did you want a break?" Felicity asked nudging her head to the child and Thea shook her head.

"No, this kid is my saving grace right now." Thea said looking over to her brother and letting out a sigh. "Plus I think Ollie could use some of the baby calm right now anyway." she turned to Felicity. "You talk to Bruce?"

Felicity gave a nod. "He's—He's not happy right now." Felicity shook her head as she remembered the profanity filled call with her husband. "He's calling Constantine and Zatanna to get them here."

There was a knock at the door and Oliver jumped to his feet in hopes it was someone to tell him that he could finally see his wife. The door opened and in walked someone Oliver didn't expect.

"Ethan?" Felicity said as she and Thea walked a bit close. "What—What are you doing here?"

Ethan turned to Oliver. "Christian called. Told me what happened and I jumped on the first flight out. I was just about to find him to get caught up. How you doing?" Oliver didn't have an answer to that question and so he just shook his head. "I'm going to head up to check on her." Ethan turned to Felicity and Thea. "Uh, Laur is here. She's out in the waiting area. She wasn't sure if she should come in or not." Ethan turned back to Oliver who just gave a silent nod. Ethan then disappeared into the hall before returning with the familiar face of Laurel Lance.

When Laurel appeared, they all seemed to realized just how long it's been since they last saw her. They all took in the subtle changes to her appearance. Her hair was shorter, just a bit below her ears. There was a glow about her. They could see it even as she stood there. Laurel turned to Oliver who looked at her wordlessly. She took a step forward and brought her arms around him in a hug that he didn't hesitate to return.

A while later, Oliver stood near a window down the hall from Ari's room. He didn't turn at the sound of footsteps, but he smelled noticeable scent of coffee.

"Ethan warned me that this coffee is awful, but I figured-" Laurel sighed as she handed a cup to Oliver. "It could provide the pick me up you need." Oliver looked over to her with a slight smile as he grabbed the cup and took a sip of the coffee and grimaced at the taste.

"Thanks." he said before turning back to look at the window.

"You're welcome Mayor Queen." Laurel said and Oliver let out a chuckle. "You know I've been keeping tabs on you and all you've been doing." Oliver glanced over to her. "It's been very impressive."

"At least one part of my life isn't a total disaster." he said with a shake of his head. "You know I've been trying my hardest to be the mayor this city needs, and the hero this city needs, and the best father I can be to Robyn and Ari-" he looked back over to Laurel. "And I try my hardest to be the man deserving of Katie's heart." he dropped his head. "But I'm realizing that no matter how hard I try-"

"Oliver this accident wasn't your fault." Laurel said. "An idiot got drunk and decided to get behind the wheel." Oliver turned away to once again to look out the window. "You didn't do this." Oliver didn't say anything, the swarm of emotions still raging inside of him just needed an outlet.

"So you and Ethan-" Oliver changed the subject as he turned to her. "I know you texted and sent emails, but you were missed around here. You look happy."

Laurel smiled as she gave a nod. "I am. I really am. Ethan, he's, he's doing great at MetGen, and I've been volunteering at legal aid." she shrugged. "I mean Metropolis has it's crazy, but it has Superman and he seems to be handling it." she glanced down to her cup. "It was weird at first, you know?" she looked back up to Oliver. "For so long I thought the Black Canary was my purpose, but then I realized that she wasn't. I realized that there was more out there for me."

"I'm happy for you Laurel." Oliver smiled. "I really am. I'm glad you were able to find a life outside of the mask." he dropped his eyes once again. It was those emotions again. That voice in his head telling him that if he'd just stepped away from the mask, if he just focused on his wife and kids, none of this would've happened.

"I did, but the Black Canary is still apart of me. She's still inside of me, and I will never forget what she stood for and the good she did." Laurel let out a sigh. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." Oliver looked over to her and shook his head. "No, I really am. When you were here and Twinkie was in the coma, or when she woke up. I should've been here, but I-" she looked up to meet his eyes. "I was scared. I was trying my hand at this new life and I was afraid-"

"If you came back, you'd never get that chance again?" Oliver said and Laurel nodded. "I get it Laurel, and you don't have to be sorry. Never feel sorry for seeking happiness." Laurel gave the man a smile before turning when she caught sight of Christian down the hall walking toward them. She placed a hand on Oliver's arm and nudged her head and Oliver turned to see the man.

Christian gave the man a slight smile as he neared. "So, you ready?" Oliver nodded. Christian just gestured for him to follow and Oliver didn't hesitate. He glanced back to Laurel who gave him another smile as he walked away.

It was in the elevator did Christian finally take notice of the man's nervousness.

"Oliver-" Christian spoke and Oliver turned to him. "Breathe." Oliver let out a shaky breath through lips before turning when the doors opened. He followed Christian down a hall before they finally stopped. "This is it." Christian glanced over to the door before turning to Oliver. "Before you go in, I just want to warn you. There was some scaring sustained during the crash. All minor and will heal over time. When you go in there, you will see the bandages and it's going to look scary, but know that it's all minor. She's been coming in and out, but she's still a bit disoriented from the anesthesia. But talk to her. She's called out your name a couple of times, so I'm pretty sure she'll be happy to see you." Christian gave the man a pat on the arm. "You can go in when you're ready." the doctor walked away leaving Oliver outside of the door.

Oliver looked at the door for a moment. He was ready to walk inside. Actually he was more than ready to walk into this room and just look at this wife and finally see for himself that she was here and alright. And yet his feet didn't move. Those emotions were still ravaging his insides, and that voice was still in his head, condemning him, blaming him for the danger he brought against his family. Oliver reached forward and grabbed the handle and just dropped his head against the door.

With one final deep breath, Oliver push opens the door, and stops. Despite the doctor's warning, he doesn't think he was prepared for this moment. His eyes looked over his wife, her arms and legs wrapped in bandages. He steps closer, his eyes going to her face, noticing the bandage wrapped around her head, and the slight bruising and cuts along her cheeks and chin. He thinks this is the moment it finally happened. The moment he realized that his wife almost died and he feels a new emotion get tangled up in the fear and anger. He reaches forward, taking her hand in his and leaning forward to place a kiss to her forehead. Once he finally sits, he keeps his eyes on her, hoping for that miracle that only she can create. Just the sight of her, knowing she is here and safe is usually what calms the emotions tearing away at him. Right now that's not happening. Right now as he looks at her, he just can't stop thinking about how close he was to losing her.

Felicity let out a yawn as she stood in front of the coffee machine waiting for her coffee to finish. She felt her phone vibrate, and pulled it from her pocket. She frowned slightly. She received a notification from her computer. She glanced over to the waiting area where Curtis was sitting with Rory after Rene stepped into the Ari's room.

"Curtis?" she called, and both Curtis and Rory turned to her. "Are you running a facial recon on the guy who hit Katie's car?"

Curtis stood to his feet and walked over. "Well no, not technically. I've already done a deep dive on this guy, and drunk driver he is not. He's a working man who lost his job, married, has a son. I just figured something else was going on, so I used that program you told me not to use since you said it might kind of be illegal, but given the situation, I took the risk." Curtis and Rory moved to look over to Felicity's phone. "I wanted to see if any cameras caught Franklin Burrow before the accident. I figured it was a long shot but—" Curtis paused as Felicity reached forward and played the video. "What the hell?"

They all stood silently as the watched a grainy surveillance video from a junkyard that showed Franklin being pushed out of a van. Seconds later a masked figure steps from the van, and bends down to say something to him. It's when the figure stands up straight does Felicity pause the video and zoom in as best she can. What she can make out is the white mask that only covered the eyes. The lips were painted with lipstick. This was a woman. Her hair was jet black, that seemed to match well with the whole gothic look she had going on. She seemed to be wearing some kind of black leather body suit, with a small artillery strapped to her tactical vest covering. Felicity took a screen shot of the image, hoping to get it cleaned up later before resuming the video. They watched as the woman gave the man another kick before turning and stepped back into the van that sped off. Franklin sat there for a moment before standing to his feet and limping to his car.

When the video ends they all just seemed to be stuck. Rene walked from Ari's room, glanced over to the group with a quirked brow before walking over.

"What's up?" he asked.

Curtis lifted his eyes to Rene and just shook his head. "Well the accident wasn't an accident."

"Prometheus?"

"No." Felicity said and they turned to her. "Not Prometheus. It's someone new." she dropped her eyes back to her phone.

---

Author's Notes:

Apologies for the delay.

Review Replies

Adela: Thank You! I really wanted to bring Damian into the story.

Anon: It's definitely the same but I think we will see it handled differently. I think Felicity was just feeling a bunch of things at once and wanted to blame someone and that person was Bruce. I think she was more upset that this idea she had for their marriage and life she derailed. Now they just have to adjust. The mistake line was a bit harsh, but I think we'll find out more when we learn more about his past with Talia.

Thanks everyone for sticking with this story. I appreciate all the support!

Sneak Peek

Damian?" Felicity looked over to the boy who seemed to be wearing what she thinks is league clothing. She turns to Bruce with a quirk brow. "What's going on?"

"I came to help." Damian said speaking for himself. Felicity and Bruce turned to him. "I thought I would be helping the Batman, not watching some weird woman who talks to fast." he looked between the couple. "So what was that about? What are you working on?"

Bruce just looked at Damian for a moment, before pointing to the car. "Get in the car!"

Damian groan in annoyance before stomping to the car and sliding inside.

"I'm still confused." Felicity said turning back to Bruce. "He's wearing-"

"I should've known." Bruce shook his head. "Talia trained him in the ways of the league."

"So you're saying we've had a mini assassin living under our roof this whole time?" Felicity asked