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.

27. Healing

Chapter 27

Healing

"Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it. "

-Tori Amos

---

Look I know-" Katie listened as Ari began what she imagined was another excuse. A sudden chill crept down her spine, and a tiny voice in her head told her to look to her left. That's when she saw the car. She'd already drove forward, but even if she hit the gas she wasn't going make it out of the impact. She literally had a split second to make a decision with how to proceed. She's heard stories of patients who found themselves in situations like this. How they just froze and stopped thinking and just let the inevitable end just happen. For Katie the moment was different. In that split second only one thing mattered. She quickly turned to the wide eyes of Ari. Katie could feel the sudden rise of power that seemed to just appear and focused every ion of her being on making one thing happen. She wanted Ari and Robyn out of this car, and so she lifted her hands and felt the surge of heat and light.

In the blink of an eye they were gone. Katie let out a quick breath, turning back to the left and in an instant darkness.

It was a strange darkness. Katie seemed to be aware of it. Like she was actually in the darkness. Normally there's darkness and then in the next moment she's back, but this time she was stuck. She couldn't really feel anything, but she could hear. Barely, but there were what sounded like muffled voices. Then she hears what she thinks is Robyn crying and she so badly want to go to her. She wants to find her baby and pull her into her arms, but she's just stuck in the darkness. She's there for what feels like an eternity, but then without warning she finds herself standing in the barren halls of a hospital.

Katie looks around with wide eyes as she stands in the dim lit halls. She turns hoping to see someone, but there's no one there. There's a sound and she whips her head back around. It sounds like a voice and without a thought Katie takes a step only to stop when her path is blocked by the sudden appearance of someone who's not supposed to be there.

"Mom?"

Grace stands there, her eyes sad as she shakes her head and lifts her hands to block Katie from going any further.

"What's happening?" Katie looks around again before a sudden thought hits her and she turns back to her mother. "Am I dead?" A deep throaty laughter echoes around them and Katie looks up and around for the source. "Is someone else here?" Katie turns back to Grace who still hasn't said a word. "What's going on, why aren't you saying anything."

"That's a good question." spoke a voice from behind her. Katie turned with wide eyes to see John Constantine who walked over to stand beside her as he looked over to Grace who met his eyes. He looked over to Katie before turning back to Grace.

"What the hell is happening?" Katie asked looking between the pair.

"You were in an accident." Constantine recounted still looking at Grace who silently looked over to him. "You're not waking up." Constantine leaned in a bit closer to Grace. "What's going on Gracie?" Constantine tilts his head before letting out a sigh and pulling back. "You're not Grace." he looks over to Katie. "This is a dream." the laughter once again carried down the halls. Katie turned her head thinking the source was further down the hall, and so she took a step, only for her mother to take a step to block her.

"What are you doing?" Grace didn't answer.

"That's not really your mother. Just a dream version who doesn't want you to see where that sound is coming from." Constantine said glancing down the hall. "I think she's trying to protect you from something."

Katie took a step back, still searching for a way out of here.

"Are you real?" she asked turning to Constantine. "Or are you a part of the dream too?" she spun around, letting her eyes scan the hall.

"I mean I can say I'm real, but there's no way for me to actually prove it." he said with a shrug, his eyes still on the dream Grace. "What are you trying to protect her from?"

"If she's not real, if she's a part of the dream then it's just me right?" Katie asked and he looked over to her. "A part of me doesn't want to see whoever is on the other side of that hall." Katie shook her head. "Right now I just want to get out of here." Katie stalked over to the woman who looked like her mother. "I know you want to protect me, but whatever it is, I can handle it." Dream Grace's shoulders slumped and she nods before moving aside. Katie glances back to Constantine before turning and heading down the hall.

The laughter continued and got louder with every step she took.

"Why are you here, Constantine?" Katie asked.

"Your husband called." he replied walking along side her. "You used your powers to save your kids. He says your powers have been hurting you when you use them and thinks it's the reason you aren't waking up."

"Is it?"

"I'm not sure yet."

They noticed a door not like the others. It seemed old and rotted with a the numbers barely hanging on.

"Room 120A." Constantine read.

"This was my room." Katie said with a furrowed brow. "Couple months ago, I came to the hospital when I fainted. I remember the room number on my wrist band." Katie turned to Constantine. "The day I was brought in, my blood was drawn, and it was stolen from the lab the same day." she turned back to the door. "Why would I be dreaming about this room. I was unconscious most of the time I was in it."

They heard the laughter once again, followed by a muffled voice that seemed to come from inside the room.

"Only one way to find out." Constantine said before reaching forward to grab the handle and pushing open the door, only for the pair to be blinded by a bright light.

Katie's eyes snapped open with a gasp. She blinked a couple of times, focusing on the ceiling of their bedroom. Katie looked over to see Oliver who was still asleep. She loosened the pillows under her arms. Since the accident, sleeping was different. She found it more comfortable to sleep upright and pillows under her arms to prevent too much movement. The pillows also inadvertently acted as a barrier, which limited contact with Oliver and they both hated it.

Oliver's eyes open when he felt the movement beside him. He turned to see Katie sitting up and he quickly sat up.

"Hey, did you need help?" he asked already standing from the bed and hurrying to her side. "Did you need to go to the bathroom?"

Katie let out a sigh as Oliver's arm braced around her back. She looked over to him, and his tired eyes looked back to her.

"I was trying not to wake you." she said scooting back a bit.

"I don't know why. I told you to wake me up if you needed to get up." Oliver said, his arm still wrapped around her. "Did you need to go to the bathroom?"

"Yeah, but I can-" she didn't finish as he practically lifted her to her feet. She groaned as she grabbed his arms to brace herself. It had only been a couple of weeks since the accident, and she knew her ribs were still healing, but there was still slight pain when she moved. He stood there for a moment, waiting for her to tell him that she was ready to move.

"Ready?"

"Oliver, I can walk to the bathroom without your help." she said pulling back and looking up to meet his eyes. "Really, you don't have to do this every time I need to go to the bathroom." she's told him this for the last couple of weeks, and he's said the same thing.

"I don't mind." He slid his arm behind her and helped her toward the bathroom. Walking wasn't as bad in these last couple of weeks. The first week home, walking and even breathing was just painful. Katie tried to hide it, to just take it, but she couldn't. Oliver saw it. He saw her in pain and now he was just her at home nurse always there. When he helped her into the bathroom, he sat her down on the toilet, and even reached for the tie on her pajamas, but she swat his arm.

"I can do it." she said and he just let out a sigh before backing away to let her do it. He let his back rest against the wall and she glanced over to him. "You really don't have to stand there to watch me pee."

"Twinkie, I've seen you naked and have watched you give birth. You don't have to be embarrassed to pee in front of me."

"I'm not embarrassed. I'm annoyed." she let out a sigh as she dropped her head to her hands. "The one place a person can be alone, and I can't." she looked over to him. "Oliver the doctor said in my last appointment that my ribs are nearly healed. One, maybe two more weeks and I should be good." he didn't say anything, and he also didn't move.

These last couple of weeks, Katie has been trying and failing to get a read on Oliver's emotions. She expected fear, and she expected worry, and she definitely expected his over-protectiveness, but there was something else. Something she saw when he thought she wasn't looking. Something she thinks he's suppressing. Once she's done, Oliver comes over to help her stand, and she knows trying to stop him is just pointless, so she doesn't even fight it. He helps her over to sink to wash her hands before he brings an arm around her and leads her back into the bedroom.

He helped her back over to the bed. Katie watched as he lifted her into bed, and pulled the blankets over her, all while avoiding her gaze. That was something else she noticed. He didn't look at her if it wasn't needed in the moment. Once he was done, he let out a sigh and turned to leave.

"I should get breakfast started." he said, not even glancing back to her as he left.

"Liver," she said and he stopped but didn't turn to her right away. He took a moment before turning and walking back over to her. "What's going on?"

He slid a hand over his eyes as if hating that she asked the question. The truth was, he still hadn't dealt the the knot of emotions that just didn't feel good. They felt as if they were growing every day and he's afraid they're going to burst out of him which is why he tries to be careful. To distract himself. To take care of Katie and make sure she's alright, even when she tells him not to.

"Twinkie, I'm fine." he says, more wanting the words to be true. Katie reached forward and grabbed his hand, tugging him closer and he sat on the bed beside her.

"You're not." she sighed turning away. "I'm not either, I don't think." she turned back to him. "And neither one of us is dealing with it." Oliver didn't say anything before turning away. Katie just reached over and placed a hand on his cheek. "I know the accident scared you." he turned his eyes back to her for a second before standing back up to his feet and heading for the door. He stopped before leaving, grabbing the little walkie talkie from the dresser near the door and turning back to her.

He held it up and Katie sighed before turning and grabbing the walkie talkie from the night stand and holding it up.

"Just call me if you need me or when you're ready to come downstairs, call me and I will help you." Oliver said and Katie looked at him for a moment before giving a nod and turning away. He stood there for another moment before turning and heading out into the hall to head toward the stairs.

"If I'm going to be forced to use this thing, we need to agree on code names." Katie spoke from the walkie talkie.

Oliver smiled lightly before bringing the walkie talkie up to his mouth. "Twinkie, we're not twelve, and we don't need code names."

There wasn't an immediate response, but then he heard the static before she was talking again.

"If you don't choose a code name, one will be appointed to you. This is your warning, you may not like it and I won't care." she said and Oliver laughed.

"Fine, Twinkie, whatever you choose will be fine." he replied.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, Mayor Handsome. Hot Mama out." she replied.

Oliver just chuckled with a shake of his head as he headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Oliver had just finished breakfast and was about to go grab Robyn who he sure was awake and probably attempting to climb out of her crib when he heard footsteps nearing.

He turned to see the frowned face of Ari who only glanced over to him before heading to the refrigerator. He didn't say anything as he watched her grab the juice and a glass before heading out to the dining table. He let out a sigh as he went to follow.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Oliver asked and Ari just cast him a glance before turning back to pour her juice. "You have a full day and it starts early."

"Can't believe you're making me intern at the Mayor's office." she muttered with a shake of her head.

"I can't believe you snuck out to go to a party without any security. A party where you drank alcohol. A party where you were found alone in a room with a boy." Oliver had to calm his tone. They'd had this conversation already. When the dust settled from the accident, he still had to be the parent and she still needed to know that what she did was unacceptable. He let out a sigh before taking a step back. "Right now Ari, I need to be able to trust you."

"So you can't trust me now?" she asked looking over to him.

"After what you pulled, you haven't really given me much reason to." he replied and she turned away. "Ari-" she stood to her feet and began leaving. "Arianna!"

"Fine." she said stopping and turning back to him. "What I did was stupid. I made a bad choice. You know I had to grow up not allowed to make bad choices, to always be perfect and I'm not trying to make excuses for myself. I'll take the punishment, be the best intern in that entire building. I just thought here—with you and with Katie, that I could make mistakes without you hating me." she turned to leave.

"Ari, wait-" Oliver walked over to her. "You're sixteen, and so I expect mistakes. I mean I didn't expect so many-" he let out a sigh. "You're going to make mistakes, and me and Katie will always be here to be the people who help you learn from them. That's our job. We don't hate it, we could never hate you. We love you." Ari turned away, dropping her eyes. "And if you weren't avoiding Katie, I'm sure she'd tell you the same thing. She's not angry at you."

"No, but I'm angry at myself." she said looking over to him. "I knew we needed to be careful. I knew that sneaking off to that party was stupid but I did it anyway, and because Katie had to come get me, she—she almost died."

"That accident wasn't your fault Ari." Oliver said and Ari just shook her head. "Ari-"

"I'm going to get dressed." she didn't wait for another word before running off back upstairs. Oliver let out sigh, when he heard a familiar tiny laugh. He turned, heading back into the kitchen where he found Thea with Robyn in her arms. She glanced over to him.

"You won't believe how I found your daughter." Thea said with a smile as she turned to him.

"Climbing out of her crib?" Oliver asked reaching forward and taking the baby into his arms and pressing a kiss to her head.

"She's done this before?" Thea asked following her brother.

"Last couple of mornings, she's gotten impatient. Just started." he said lowering her into her high chair. He went to make her a plate with pancakes and fruit, placing it in front of her and the girl didn't hesitate to dig in.

Thea watched as Oliver seemed to be moving as if on auto pilot. She'd noticed his mood had been different since the accident. She assumed he'd be in better spirits since everyone was safe and alive, but it hadn't.

He moved to pour Robyn some juice, when Thea moved to stand in front of him to stop him.

"Enough is enough Ollie, what's going on with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." he said attempting to move around her, but she continued to block him. "Look, Speedy, I appreciate the concern, but really I'm fine."

There was a sudden chirp from behind Oliver. "Mayor Handsome, Hot mama here, come in, over." Thea looked over to her brother in amusement and he just let out a sigh before handing her Robyn's cup.

"Could you-" she nods before taking the cup and heading back to Robyn.

Oliver turned, grabbing the walkie talkie clipped to the back of his pants and bringing it to his lips.

"We may need to think about these code names a bit more." Oliver sighed.

"You have to say "over" when you're finished talking." Katie said and Oliver slid a hand over his face.

"I'm not doing that. What did you need Twinkie?" his tone wasn't playful or light.

She didn't respond and he was about to head upstairs to check on her when she responded.

"N-nothing, just testing out the range. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yep, I'm good."

Oliver stood there wanting to say something more—knowing he should say something more. He's not an idiot. He knows he's been distant, and an ass and he really doesn't want to be, but for some reason he just can't seem to pull himself out of these emotions.

"Ok, just let me know if you need anything and I'll be right up." he waited a beat before adding. "Over." he hoped she'd say something, but there was no response.

Katie looked down to the walkie talkie. She wanted to respond, but at this point she doesn't think anything can fix whatever this issue is with them. She tossed the walkie talkie on the bed, and turns, dropping her feet to the floor. She slightly groaned as she pushed herself to stand and walked over to the window. Despite how Oliver feels, her rehabilitation needed to happen—her staying in bed all day wasn't how she was going to get any better. She needed to keep moving.

Felicity was on a mission. The woman was currently in their basement, which was also Bruce's secondary bat cave in the city. She sat at one of his computers as she worked on trying to get a match on the surveillance photo of their mystery woman.

She heard the whooshing sound of the elevator behind her, but didn't turn because she knew who it was.

"Any luck?" Bruce asked walking up behind the woman and looking at the picture.

"No, I'm trying to clean up the picture as best I can, but it's still not picking up anything." she said before glancing over to Bruce who had a look. "What's up?"

"Well I also don't have good news." Bruce sighed. "So there was a possibility that Batman was going to pay a visit to Franklin Burrow." Felicity frowned. "Turns out that's no longer an option. He killed himself in his cell last night."

"You're kidding, how?"

"Hung himself with his sheet. Guards found him this morning."

"Is there any surveillance video of it happening?" Felicity asked and Bruce shook his head. The woman groaned. "I get the feeling this wasn't suicide."

"I get that same feeling." Bruce said looking back up to the picture. "You tell Oliver about this woman yet."

"I've tried, but he's-" Felicity shook her head. "He's been out of it lately. I was hoping to have more information before I brought this to him, but that's looking less and less likely." she glanced back over to Bruce. "Where's Damian?"

"Locked in his room." Bruce said taking a seat beside Felicity. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Felicity turned her chair to face him, giving him all of her attention. "I've been thinking about Gotham."

"What about Gotham?" Felicity asked but then she got a sudden thought. "Wait, are you thinking of sending Damian to Gotham?" he was about to respond but she just continued. "You can't just send him off to Gotham, he's your son and-"

"Felicity, I wouldn't be sending him alone." Bruce suddenly said and Felicity stopped talking. He reached forward and took her hands in his. "When Robins woke up we rushed here, to help her, to help Oliver and I'm glad we did."

"But you're ready to go back?"

"I don't know, I just—" Bruce sighed before looking up to meet her eyes. "I keep trying to figure this out. Damian, this kid we now have to raise and I just imagined if I ever had a kid, I'd raise them back home. I mean there's just so much I want to show him and teach him, and just get to know him. Maybe let him get to know me, us." Felicity turned away slightly. "Tell me what you're thinking right now." she turned back to him.

"You know when we left, I promised you that I would give Gotham a chance and right when we were trying, we had to come back." she gave his hand a squeeze. "And I forgot. My life was in Star City and yours was in Gotham and we were supposed to be compromising, but I came back and just slid back into Overwatch." she dropped her eyes. "And now there's Prometheus and whoever this woman is who I think orchestrated Katie's accident." Felicity let out a sigh as she looked up to meet his eyes. "I don't think I can leave now." Bruce nods and turns away, and Felicity once again squeezed his hand. "But this isn't forever, right. We stop the bad guys then we head home." he turns back to her with a smile.

"You called Gotham home." he said and she smiled as she stood to her feet and slid into his lap, bringing her arms around him.

"Yeah, well I-" they heard the familiar sound of the elevator and both turn. Neither expected to see Damian step off of the elevator, his curious eyes looking around the bat cave before turning to them. The couple sat there, completely stunned in this moment. "What—what do we do?"

"I uh-" Bruce stood to his feet and Felicity slid from his lap to stand and they both just kept their eyes on the boy. "I don't know."

Damian let out a chuckle. "Don't look so surprised. I know you're Batman." he began walking around the cave looking around.

Bruce and Felicity share a look before looking back over to the boy. Felicity's phone rings and she snaps out of her shock and grabs it and quickly answers.

"He-hello?"

"Felicity, hey it's Laurel. You ok?"

Felicity's eyes looked over to the boy standing in front of the Bat suit and sighed. "Not completely sure, but what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something. Could you meet me at the bunker?"

Ari groaned as she looked in the mirror at herself. She looked like a teacher with her gray slacks that she paired with a gray sweater over her white collared shirt. She rolled her eyes before grabbing her bag. She turned to grab her phone but stopped and rolled her eyes. Oliver had taken her phone and even had Felicity locate all of her back ups. She let out a sigh before stalking out of her room only to come to a stop the moment she sees Katie.

"Uh, hey," Ari greets nervously. Katie doesn't say anything as she looks over the girl. "I'm uh, interning at the Mayor's office."

"I know." Katie said and Ari just gave a nod before dropping her eyes. "So you've been avoiding me." Ari looked back up to her. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, I was just-" Ari shook her head. "I just didn't think you'd want to see me."

"Why would you think I didn't want to see you?" Katie took slow steps toward the girl.

"Because this is my fault." Ari gestured to Katie. "If you didn't have to come get me then-"

"Ari stop. You didn't do this. Some guy in a car did this. Me having to pick you up from a party with underage drinking was just a pain point in parenting. That doesn't mean I don't want to see you. I love you kid, you know that." Ari let out a sigh before bringing her arms around Katie in a hug, but pulling back when the woman groans.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" Ari tried to pull away but Katie just pulled her back into the hug.

"I'm fine. I can handle the mild pain in exchange for a hug from my teenage headache." she said and Ari laughed before dropping her head to Katie's chest. "There's nothing you could do that would ever make me not want to see you. I'm with you through everything, always remember that." she placed a kiss to the girl's head. "Now go be the best darn intern this city has every seen." Katie pulled back and slid a hand across Ari's hair that was pulled back into a pony tail. "And then come back and continue out your life of solitude in your room."

Ari just rolled her eyes before pulling away and turning down the hall, but stopped and looked back to the woman.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting in bed?"

"I am, but I'm also supposed stay active, so I'm going to go for a walk around the house." she said before nudging her head. "I'll see you when you get back." Ari waved to the woman who turned and began slowly walking down the hall.

When Ari came downstairs, she followed the voices to the dining room where she found Thea sitting beside Robyn. When Thea lifted her eyes to Ari, the woman smiled.

"Look at you. You look like a little kindergarten teacher." Thea laughed and Ari just shook her head.

"And with that, I'm not going. I'll just stay grounded in my room." Ari turned only to be blocked by Oliver who was standing behind her. "I don't even know why I have to do this. Is this part of the punishment?"

"No, it's for your future. Ari you need to get your head focused on something other than Fire Light and Jamie." Oliver said. "You know when you first came to live with us, I remember you actually thinking about college and what things you could do to look good on your application. You had a plan and you were working toward it and somewhere along the way, you lost track of that plan. I'm helping you get it back."

Ari let out a huff before turning to Thea who stood to her feet and grabbed her bag and walked over.

"Trust me Ari, sometimes a distraction is good. Plus think of the glowing recommendation letter from the Mayor of Star City attached to your college application to Yale."

Ari let out a snort.

"She's not going to Yale." Oliver said and they both turned to him. "Yale is too far." he turned to Ari with a smile. "She can go to SCU and she wouldn't even have to leave home."

"Says the guy who made it perfectly clear to our parents that he was going to an out of state college." Thea said in amusement to her brother. "What was your argument again—wait, you said you needed your independence and to-"

"Weren't you leaving?" Oliver said nudging his sister toward the door and she just laughed as she began walking.

"You got to let me go and be the man you raised me to be." Thea repeated the words her brother once said as she looked over to him. "Those were your words and the fact that you were right was the only reason why they supported you when you wanted to leave. So remember that." she turned to Ari with a smile. "C'mon, don't want to be late for your first day."

"Before you go." Oliver said and Ari turned to him with a quirk brow and before she knew it, he'd taken out his phone and started taking pictures. Ari scoffed and stalked out of the room leaving Oliver and Thea laughing. Oliver turned to Thea. "Hank is sending four guys with you and her. Stay inside, and make sure she doesn't leave that building."

"So weird how you can go all dad mode in the blink of an eye." she said with chuckle. "Which you still have yet to talk about. Ari called you dad." Oliver let out a sigh. "A part of you has to be happy about it."

"Ari was drunk and hysterical and wasn't thinking clearly." Oliver said looking back to his sister. "She probably doesn't even remember saying it so no I'm not going to bring it up. If she wants to talk about it, then I will but other than that, it's just a thing that happened."

"Sure, whatever you say." she said sliding her bag over her shoulder before going back over and peppering kisses on Robyn's cheek. "Bye bye my little lady bug, I'll see you later."

Once Ari and Thea were gone, Oliver went back over to sit beside Robyn whose face was covered in syrup.

"And now it's time for your bath." he said before picking the child up into his arms and headed for the stairs.

"Down dah dah." she said looking over to him and Oliver smiled as he looked over to her. It still just blew his mind that his little baby girl was talking to him. When he reached the top of the stairs, he lowered her to her feet, but held on to her hands. The moment her feet touched the floor, she went running. Oliver laughed as he caught himself trying to keep up.

Walking and breathing at the same time wasn't as easy as it used to be for Katie. Which is why during her walk, she had to stop, lean against a wall to get her bearings. She doesn't know how long she'd been walking before she stopped and leaned against the wall beside a window to look out to the gardens. Soon she heard the sound of static, followed by a chirp.

"Twinkie?" came Oliver's voice from the walkie talkie. Katie sighed before unclasping the walkie talkie from her robe and bringing it to her mouth.

"That's not my code name and you know that." she said and she imagined the irritation on his face right now. "What can I do for you Mayor Handsome?"

"Where are you and why aren't you in bed?" he asked. He was attempting to keep his voice even, but she heard the tension.

"I wanted to go for a walk." she said simply.

"Why didn't you call me, I would've come up to help. I told you to call me and once again you just-" he didn't finish that sentence and Katie glanced down to the walkie talkie.

"I just what?" she asked. But he didn't say anything and she sighed. "Now you don't want to talk to me." she pushed herself from the wall and began walking again. "Fine, then I'll talk. Do you know what I realized? We never went back to Paris. I've always wanted to tell you how much I wanted to go back. While on bed rest, I was going through our pictures and I saw the one of us standing in front of the Eiffel Tower when we felt Robyn kick. I mean it was fun, but I was pregnant and emotional and I imagined that if we got a chance to go back it would be epic." she smiled as she took another pause and leaned against the wall. "I mean we could probably go out to a fancy restaurant without running into one of your ex girlfriends." she let out a sigh as she slid down to sit on the floor. "Then I remember there was never a chance to go. We had a baby, you ran for Mayor, Damien Darhk, Evil Twinkie, then coma, then awaken from coma, amnesia, Tobias Church, got my memories back, aliens, and finally Prometheus." she dropped her head back against his wall. "Where was Paris supposed to fit in with that?"

She heard the sound of the chirp from the walkie talkie and dropped her eyes to it.

"Honestly, wherever you wanted it to fit." he said. "It wouldn't have mattered when you asked, we would've went and it would've been epic." he let out a sigh. "You should've told me. But you don't. You never do."

She scoffed and brought the walkie talkie to her lips. "You know how hypocritical that is coming from you. You have yet to tell me why you're so angry with me."

"I'm not-" he paused for a moment. "I'm not angry with you. I'm just frustrated that you're not taking any of this serious. You almost died and I-" he didn't finish that sentence. Katie waited hoping he would. She hoped he'd finally open up and tell her what had him so closed off to her, but after a few moments she gave up hope that he would. She slid back up to stand to her feet before bringing the walkie talkie back to her lips.

"I think I'm going to walk for a little bit more." she said as she continued down the hall. "When you're ready to finish that sentence, I'm here. Hot mama, over and out." she clipped the walkie talkie back to her robe before wiping a stray tear from falling as she continued her walk.

When Felicity walked into the bunker she found Laurel there with Curtis, Rory and Rene. Laurel turned and walked over to her.

"I didn't realize there were going to be people here." she said with a light laugh. "They kind of freaked out when I showed up, but Curtis showed up and vouched for me."

"Ok, good, so uh, what's up?" Felicity asked as she pulled off her jacket.

"Has Oliver mentioned anything about expanding the team?" Laurel asked and Felicity quirked a brow.

"I mean no. He's been kind of busy. Wait-" Felicity smiled. "Did you want to come back, because I don't think he would mind if you-"

Laurel shook her head. "No, not me. I'm actually happy right now without the mask."

"Ok, if not you then who?"

"There's this woman...a vigilante." Laurel said. "A couple of people who've come into the legal aid office have mentioned that she helped them. "

"Ok, why do you think she'd be good for this team?" Felicity asked.

"I don't know, just some of things I've heard and read. I think she'd be a good fit. Plus I figured since he's now two members down—"

"Technically just one, the other is just grounded." Felicity sighed but shook her head. "But you're right. With Prometheus, and this mystery woman we could use all the help we could get."

"Mystery woman?"

Felicity just shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm working on it. Tell me more about this woman and we'll look into her and then you can go." Felicity turned but stopped when Laurel didn't follow.

"Oh, I was just-I wanted to help find her." Laurel said but shook her head. "But if you don't want me to-"

"No, it's just—you said you were happy in your life without the mask and this-" Felicity looked around the bunker. "This is the mask."

"I get that, I really do, but I just got to do this one thing. This one last thing and then I think I won't feel so guilty when we finally go home."

"You know you have nothing to feel guilty about. I'm honestly jealous." Felicity sighed.

"Is everything alright?" Laurel asked.

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Bruce is-" Felicity stopped and met Laurel's eyes. "You know Bruce and I are married, right?"

Laurel laughed, "Yeah, I heard the news. Richard comes to Metropolis every once in a while and I ran into him. He likes to talk."

"What is he doing in Metropolis?" Felicity asked and Laurel shrugged.

"He never said." the woman replied. "Congratulations. I really am happy for you two."

"Thank you. I honestly imagined you and Ethan would be married with a kid on the way by now." Felicity said and Laurel just smiled. "Wait, are you?"

"Let's just figure out who this woman is and talk to Oliver." Laurel said with a nudge of her head and Felicity followed.

When the doorbell rang, Oliver came down the steps. He actually missed the days when they had people that answered the door for them. Instead now, he had to sprint from wherever he was to get to the door. When he arrived at the door, he pulled it open and let out a annoyed huff.

"Ethan, what are you doing here? I thought you and Laurel would be headed back to Metropolis."

"We are, but we're hanging around a bit longer. She wanted to visit her dad and talk to Felicity I think and I wanted to see how Kit is doing." Oliver just gave a nod before taking a step back and letting the doctor inside. Ethan couldn't help the whistle as he stepped inside and looked around the mansion. "This place is ridiculous." he turned back to Oliver who didn't look amused as he closed the door "That was a joke." Oliver just shook his head. "So where's Kit?"

"I have no idea." Oliver said before turning and stalking down the hall. Ethan quirked a brow before running to catch up.

"What do you mean you don't know?" he asked following Oliver up the steps, while still marveling at the house.

"She was in bed when I went to the kitchen to make breakfast, then when I went back to check on her, she was gone, apparently going for a walk." Oliver said in frustration. Ethan noted his tone with a quirked brow.

"And you know her up and moving around is ok, right. It's actually suggested for people with injuries like hers." Ethan said and Oliver just let out a huff. The man simply pulled out his walkie talkie. "Oh cool, I used to have one of those when I was a kid."

Oliver didn't say anything as he brought the device to his mouth. "Ethan is here and he wants to check on you."

"I can't believe you called Ethan!"

"I didn't call him, he just showed up!" Oliver said with a shake of his head. "You know what, just do what you want Twinkie." he turned to Ethan and handed him the walkie talkie before stalking off.

Ethan stood there awkwardly for a moment, pretty sure he didn't come at the best time. He brought the walkie talkie to his mouth.

"Hey Kit. Uh, he was right, I did just show up to check in on you." Ethan said as he continued walking. There wasn't a response for a few moments before he heard her voice.

"Hey,"

Ethan stopped walking and turned to see the woman appearing from around the corner. He watched as she moved toward him, and he kept his eyes on how she moved.

"You're getting better at that. I remember when you couldn't even take a single step with out pausing." Ethan said with a slight smile. "How are you feeling?"

"There's still some slight pain when I move, so I can walk for a few minutes, but I have to stop and take a break. Standing and sitting is still kind of tough, but not as bad as it was. It's all just getting better." she let out a sigh before looking back down the hall. "Oliver doesn't seem to want to see that."

"Yeah, I kind of got that when I saw him. What's going on with you two?" Katie turned back to him with a quirked brow.

"Kind of assumed you're here as a doctor." she said before moving around the man. "Look I'm fine Ethan. You don't have to stick around."

"You know I am a doctor, but I also thought I was your friend." Ethan turned following in step beside her. "When Chris called and told me about the accident. He said it was bad. He said he didn't know if you were going to make it." Katie didn't say anything. "So of course I show up." still nothing. "Look I get we haven't actually had a conversation about..."

"You working for my father the entire time I've known you?" she asked casting a glance over to the man. "No we haven't. But we don't need to. I know about your situation at the time, trying to help your mom, so you took the job of pretending to be my friend."

"I never pretended. I never had to pretend. I thought you were awesome, a great doctor, and I honestly liked being your friend." they continued walking in silence. "Look, I'll leave, but just let me help with one thing." Katie stopped and looked over to him. "Humor me."

Soon Oliver and Katie found themselves in the living room sitting on opposite ends of the couch, the space between them intentional and noticeable. Ethan sat in a chair across from them looking between the couple.

"So, uh, who wants to start?" Ethan asked nervously and Katie glared over to him.

"You're not a therapist."

"Well I took a class one semester." Ethan said matter of factly. "Plus you two need someone, something to help and right now I'm all you got." neither said anything and Ethan let out a sigh. "Will you at least look at each other?" Oliver and Katie stubbornly took a moment before they both finally turned meeting the other's eyes. "Good, now say something."

Katie waited for Oliver to say something. She feels as if that's all she's been doing. Waiting for him to finally open up. Suddenly Oliver's phone rang and he slipped it from his pocket. He hesitated a moment as he looked down to see Laurel's number. He felt Katie's eyes watching him. He also didn't want to be in this moment any longer and so he pressed a button on his phone and stood to his feet.

"Laurel, hey, what's up?" he answered as he walked from the room.

Ethan watched as he left before turning back to Katie who was still staring at the space of where he was just sitting.

"Hey Kit?" Ethan said and Katie turned to him and just shook her head.

"I think I'm going to head up to bed." she said grabbing the arm of the couch and slowly making her way toward the steps. "You should go Ethan."

Ethan stood there until Oliver returned and searched the room for his wife who wasn't there.

"She said she was going to bed." Ethan said and Oliver turned to him and gave a nod before looking down to his phone.

"Are you going to be here for while?" Oliver asked looking back to the doctor. "Laurel and Felicity needed to talk to me about something, and I was going to-"

"Please tell me you aren't leaving, dude." Ethan said. "C'mon, what about anything that happened today tells you that leaving right now is a good idea." Oliver didn't say anything as he turned away. "I've seen this before Oliver. The spouse of an accident victim, the guilt and the anger at the mere possibility that you could've lost her." Ethan walked over to the man. "Pushing her away will not help either of you." Oliver turned to the doctor before turning and heading upstairs.

He didn't actually expect to find Katie in the bedroom, but she was there. Lying in bed, on her side, her back to him. He's pretty sure it's not a comfortable position, but he also knows that if he points that out it'll just lead to another fight.

"Uh, Felicity and Laurel needed to meet, so I was going to head over to the bunker." Oliver said. It was a cowardly choice, but he truly was afraid of all the pent up emotions lashing out on her. "Ethan will be here, so if you need anything, he has the walkie talkie." She didn't say anything. She was upset, and she had every right to be. "I'll uh—be back soon." she didn't say anything and so he let out a sigh before turning and leaving the room.

Ari's day officially sucked. Being an intern at the Mayor's office was a total and complete waste of time. She had to make copies, get coffee, take lunch orders, make more copies. She hated it. She was currently on a lunch break and chose to wait it out in Oliver's office.

Ari's eyes were closed in an attempt to take a nap when she heard yelling from outside of the office. She opened her eyes and quickly jumped to her feet before pulling open the door.

"I don't care! I need to speak to the Mayor!" Ari looked over to the man standing in front of Maddy's desk.

"He's not here!" Ari said and the man turned to her. "And you need to calm down before I call security."

The man sighed as he looked at her. "Arianna, I've been looking everywhere for you." he took a step toward her, but then Hank and another guard appeared.

"Sir, step away from the girl." Hank ordered and the man quirked a brow before turning back to Ari.

"My name is Stan Lewis. I'm your mother's lawyer. I've been trying to reach you, but you haven't been returning my calls. We got a court date and you need to be there. She says she's already talked to you. This is important and a lot is riding on you."

"Sir, I'm not asking again." Hank moved to the other side of Stan who looked over to him.

"Ok, I'm going." he turned back to Ari. "You have my number, call me."

Ari didn't say anything but did give a nod, hoping the man who just leave already. She can't believe she forgot about her mother or her parole hearing. He returns the nods before turning and walking away just as Thea appeared. She glanced over to Stan as he walked toward the elevators before turning to Ari and the guards.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Ari just shook her head before walking back into Oliver's office.

Oliver stood and listened as Laurel spoke of a woman she thinks would be a good addition to the team. Felicity, Rory, Curtis and Rene stood and listened as well. Oliver hadn't really thought about the team given everything that happened. Laurel was going on and on, and Oliver wanted to listen, but his eyes drifted and landed on the Guardian's suit.

"She's a fighter."

Those damn words were twisted in knots inside of him. They didn't hold the same comfort they once did.

"Ollie?" Laurel spoke and Oliver turned to her to see all eyes on him. "What did you think?" Oliver sighed and looked over to the monitor to read what information they had on the woman.

"I checked out recent sightings using the ARGUS database." Felicity said. "They started around three years go."

"Right around the time of the Star Labs explosion." Oliver said looking at the screen before looking over to Laurel. "Why her?"

"From what I've been told about her, she has what I think might be like a canary cry." Laurel said, with a shrug.

Oliver sighed and turned back to the screen. He couldn't help but think this wasn't the best time, that right now he couldn't even think about trying to induct this mystery woman onto the team.

"Well it sounds like a good idea, but I-" he turned to them with a shake of his head. "I can't get into this right now."

"Oh, we know." Laurel said walking over to him. "We know you're still taking care of Twinkie. Look whatever work needs to go into finding this woman, I can do it." Oliver looked over to her with a quirked brow.

"Laurel I can't ask you to do that." Oliver shook his head. "You were just telling me how happy you were without the mask, and I won't be responsible for pulling you back in."

"Except you're not. I'm still going back to Metropolis with Ethan, but ever since I got wind of this woman, I just can't shake the feeling that she would be a great fit for this team. With everything that's going on, you're going to need the help. I want to do this. This one final thing."

Oliver looked at her for a moment, before giving a nod. "Fine, just be careful." his phone beeped and he quickly pulled it from his pocket. "I got to go."

"Twinkie?" Felicity asked and he looked over and shook his head.

"Chase. Maybe he's found something to help John." Oliver said and Felicity gave a nod. Oliver turned and headed for the elevator and Felicity followed him inside. "Felicity-"

"I'm not here to meddle in the Twiver marriage no matter how much I want to." Felicity said before lifting her tablet and handing it over to Oliver. "Curtis went looking into Burrow the day of the accident and we found this. We don't think this was merely a drunk driver. I think he was a pawn." Oliver had his suspicions about this guy, and the entire situation. He looked to the tablet. It seemed to be a cleaned up image of the mystery woman that they think had something to do with the driver from the accident. "You hear the news about Burrow?"

"Yeah, Hank texted me, told me he killed himself in lockup." Oliver said looking down to the picture. "He also said he's going to look into it more. You find out anything more about her."

"The guys have been hitting the streets asking around and we got a name. Or at least what she's calling herself." Felicity said swiping the screen to reveal a close up shot. "Meet Malice. From what we've found, she's new and just so happens to be friends with Prometheus." Oliver turned to her. "That's pretty much all we know."

"The van?"

"Stolen plates. I've checked the statements from Burrow's wife, but she didn't mention him getting into anything this deep."

Oliver shook his head before turning back to the tablet. "She found him some kind of way. Look into him again. Their paths had to have crossed at some point. Did the video get a look at the driver-" Oliver swiped the screen expecting to see more pictures from the surveillance video, but that's not what he saw.

"Oh, I'm-" Felicity reached for the tablet, but he pulled it away as he kept his eyes on the screen. "Oliver, I'm sorry, I forgot I had that up."

Oliver didn't say anything. He kept his eyes on the screen to the image he'd tried adamantly to avoid. It was a picture Katie's car. It was completely wrecked and anyone looking at it wouldn't believe anyone inside made it out alive. The doors to the elevator opened and Oliver took another second to look at the picture that was a physical reminder of how close he came to losing her again. He handed the tablet back to Felicity, and didn't say a word as he stepped off of the elevator.

Felicity stood there for a moment before letting out a sigh about to step back when her cell phone rang. She'd been expecting a call from Bruce ever since their morning surprise of Damian appearing in his bunker and admitting he knew Bruce was Batman. She pulled the phone from the pocket of her dress and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number.

With a frown she brought the phone to her ear, "Hello?"

"Ms. Smoak, or should I call you Mrs. Wayne?" came the voice from the other end. "You know there hasn't been an official announcement of your nuptials, I'm surprised."

"Martin?" Felicity asked. The voice was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. "Why are you calling me?"

"You're looking for someone. A woman who wears a mask and calls herself Malice." Martin sighed. "The woman behind the car accident that almost killed Katherine."

"So he's aware of what happened?"

"Oh he's fully aware and he's going to handle it. All he asks is that you stop your search and let him take care of it. "

"Oh I've seen the way Jacob takes care of things." Felicity stepped back into the elevator. "This woman orchestrated a car accident that nearly killed my friend and her children. I'm going to find her."

"That's just it Ms. Smoak. We already know who she is and you poking your big brain at this will not bode well. She has a tendency to get rid of the people looking too close."

"Michael?"

"Exactly."

"She's working with Prometheus isn't she. This is about Oliver."

"No, Malice and Prometheus have two very distinct motives for what they're doing. But we believe they share one goal. To make both Oliver and Katherine pay." Martin let out a sigh. "We need you to step away from this Ms. Smoak."

"It's Mrs. Wayne, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I get the feeling Jacob doesn't want me poking my brain at this for an entire different reason. If he's tied up in this in anyway, I'm going to figure it out." Felicity ended the call just as the doors opened. She stalked off to see the team standing behind Curtis who was looking at something on the computer.

Laurel looked up to Felicity with a smile. "We think we've found her. You think Oliver would mind if I took a couple of the guys with me?"

Katie poked her head inside of Robyn's nursery to find the girl attempting to climb out of her crib.

"Hey!" she called and Robyn jumped and lifted her eyes to her mother. "No, no Robyn." the girl pulled her leg back over the wall and began babbling as if she weren't even caught. Katie rolled her eyes. "So you're going to be my 'pretend nothing happened at all' child aren't you?" Katie walked over and reached forward to lift her into her arms. She had to pause for a moment, actually feeling the extra weight and pressure on her ribs. She took a deep breath and turned to Robyn. "I'm fine."

Katie carried Robyn downstairs to find her something to eat. She heard the sound of Ethan's voice and went to find him.

"I completely understand Laur, really I do, I just think this is a little too much. I mean Hub city. You don't know who this woman is and this could be dangerous." he paused and listened. "That's just it, you don't have to do this. If this is what Oliver wants to do, then let him and his team handle it." he paused again to listened to the woman and then he let out a sigh. "Fine. Just be careful please. Call me when you get there." he smiled. "Yeah, yeah, I love you too woman. Just make sure you're back in one piece." he hung up the phone and turned to see Katie and Robyn. "Eavesdropping Kit?"

"Yep." she said walking over. "Everything alright?"

Ethan sighed. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"C'mon, I'm about to make her some lunch." Katie said nudging her head and Ethan went to follow her.

Oliver sat across from John. Moments earlier, Adrian revealed that General Walker was under investigation for a list of crimes, the issue is that he somehow got the investigation slow rolled. He was going to send a text to Felicity, hopefully she could hack the NSA and find out what they found.

"So Laurel brought up the whole new Black Canary thing." John said and Oliver looked at him with a sigh. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. I mean, when she left, I sort of figured that was the end of Black Canary on the team. It just doesn't seem right replacing her."

"Maybe you shouldn't look at it as replacing her. I don't think she's trying to find a replacement to be honest with you. When she came to visit and she brought it up, she made it seem as though she was looking for someone to take up that mantle she feels she abandoned." John said and Oliver gave a nod as he turned away. "How's Katie doing?"

"She's recovering I guess." Oliver said turning back to the man. "Adamant that she can do everything herself and doesn't need my help with anything. " he shook his head. "It's like—like she isn't taking this seriously. Like she doesn't get that she-"

"She almost died." John said and Oliver nods. "Oliver, you know that isn't true. I'm pretty sure she understands just how close this was."

"It doesn't seem like she does." Oliver muttered and John looked at him for a moment and could see the tension as he said the words.

"Hey, Oliver-" Oliver turned to him. "Trust me, she does. Maybe that's not your problem." Oliver let out a sigh. "Maybe you can't stop seeing it." Oliver doesn't say anything. "Trust me man, I've been there. The close call get so close you can't stop thinking about it, and you see it whenever you look at her. But Oliver that can't be the only thing you see when you look at her, because if you only see that thing that torments you, you'll pull away and if you pull away too far, she'll slip through your fingers."

Katie stood in the kitchen and watched Robyn who happily ate her PB & J sandwich. She turned to Ethan who sat beside her eating his sandwich as well. Her phone rang, and she slipped her hand in the pocket of her robe to retrieve her phone. She was hoping it was Oliver. He'd been gone for a while and she really was starting to worry that he hadn't checked in. She sighed at the unknown number before bringing it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Is this Katherine?"

"It is, and who is this?"

"This is Leslie Bradshaw, Michael's sister.

"Oh, Leslie, hi, I've been meaning to call you, but I wasn't really sure I should or if it was appropriate. I know we weren't-"

"I was a bitch to you." the woman sighed. "You know I don't even remember why. I think I was just jealous but I'm not even completely sure of what and now-"

"Les, I'm so sorry about Michael. I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now."

"I'm not even completely sure what I'm feeling right now. I don't think it's really hit me yet. "

"Well I'm here. Whatever you need, whatever I can do, anything, you name it."

The woman lightly laughed. "Funny you say that because I kind of needed a favor. Uh you have kids right?"

Katie quirked a brow. "Yeah, I do."

Ari completely zoned out as she stood on the elevator, her hands on her mail cart that currently held some memos she had to deliver. It was her last task for the day. She couldn't stop thinking about her mother's lawyer. Her mother had a hearing, and she expected Ari to be there.

The doors to the elevator slid open, but Ari was still out of it and didn't even notice the eyes on her.

"Uh, hello?" the man waved a hand in front of her and she jumped slightly startled. "Sorry,"

"No, I'm sorry," Ari said with a slight smile as she looked over to the guy. She instantly noticed how good looking he was, young as well. Younger than some of the other people she saw around here. "I was day dreaming." she grabbed the cart and pushed it out of the elevator.

"Yeah, this time of the day, I totally get it." he said with a laugh. "I don't believe I've seen you around here."

"Oh, it's my first day. I'm an intern." Ari said. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. His blonde hair was perfectly combed, and his piercing green eyes seemed to be looking right at her. And one thing was painfully obvious, he was much older than her and she doesn't think he's realized it.

"First day huh? How's it going?"

"Honestly, it's pretty boring." she sighed and he laughed again. "The people who work here are a total—" she turned to him and stopped herself. "You work here, don't you."

"I do." he laughed again. "And I know some of the people here can be a total drag, but we're not all bad. My name's Adam and you are-" he looked over to her name badge. "Arianna?" he turned to her.

"Ari," she said with a smile that he seemed to return. "And it's nice to meet you Adam." She nudged her head. "I should get going. I have to deliver these before I go."

"Right, and I need to get back upstairs to drop off these forms." he said before stepping back into the elevator. "I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see ya." she said standing there as the doors closed. The girl smiled as she grabbed the cart and began walking down the hall to finish her delivery.

When Ari was finally done with her shift, she had to kill time since Thea was still in meetings. So she walked the halls of the mayor's office, Hank and his other guard Clay following close behind her.

"Are you happy with your life?" Ari asked glancing back to Hank who chuckled. "Like when you were a kid did you want to be personal security guard when you grew up."

"Asking the deep questions, are we kid?" Hank said as he kept his eyes scanning the area. "You know you don't have to know what you want to be right now. You got plenty of time. Plus with Mr. and Mrs. Queen, the world is literally your oyster."

Ari dropped her eyes and let out a sigh. Ari finally had an idea of where she saw herself, and where she wanted to go, and that only happened with Oliver and Katie. She didn't know what her life would be if she returned to a life with her mother.

Ari ended up back up to Oliver's office. She pointed to his door as she glanced over to Maddy who was packing up her desk.

"I'm going to wait for Thea in there." Ari said and Maddy nods.

"Sounds good. Remember the rules."

"I know, if I discover city secrets keep them to myself." Ari said and Maddy just laughed.

Ari came into Oliver's empty office. He'd been out since the accident and she'd already determined this would be the perfect place to hideout when she wanted to get away when she had to work here. She closed the office door and went over to plop down on his couch, laying down and closing her eyes.

Thea looked down to her phone as she walked down the hall heading for the elevator. She reached forward to press the button without even lifting her eyes from her phone. She heard a muttered voice and glanced back to the two guards behind her. Jackson and Bobby she learned earlier that morning.

"You say something?" she asked and Jackson just shook his head. She narrowed her eyes before turning to the open doors, pausing at the sight of her brother. "Oh, hey, I didn't know you were coming in today. I thought you had another week out.

"I do, I figured Ari would be done by now and thought I'd pick her up." Oliver said before looking over to the guards and holding out a hand to them. "We're good." the men gave a nod before stopping as Thea walked into the elevator.

"So they listen to you, but when I tell them to back off I get a whole lecture about my safety." Thea said with a shake of her head as she looked over to Oliver. "Plus I think they've been talking about me. I swear they whisper to each other and when I ask them about it, they play dumb." Oliver laughed and she just swat his arm. "Seriously, why are you here and not with Twinkie. I could've gotten Ari home." Oliver turned away. "You're not still being an ass are you?" Oliver looked over to her with a quirked brow. "Don't look at me like that. After the accident, you just got-" she shook her head.

"Scared." Oliver said looking over to his sister. "I was really scared and even when I saw her and could see she was alright, I just couldn't shake that feeling." Oliver turned away. The doors to the elevator opened to the floor and they both walked out and headed toward Oliver's office.

"You know about her earlier visit from Heather's lawyer?" Thea asked and Oliver nods. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't think there's much we can do." Oliver said with a shake of his head. This whole thing with Heather possibly getting out of jail and possibly trying to regain custody of Ari has been in the back of his mind. He'd come to the conclusion that no matter what he wanted, it was Ari who had to choose. "It's her mother and I won't stop her if she wants to go back." Oliver pushed open the door to his office to find Ari lying on the couch asleep. "How'd she'd do?"

"Oh she was the model intern. They're calling her the mini IT girl." Thea said with a laugh. "Even though I don't think she liked it that much. Working in the mayor's office isn't a high schoolers dream. You sure this was a good idea."

"She needs something that isn't that mask, or school or-" Oliver sighed. "Or Jamie. She's young, I get that, but she also needs to figure out where she's going in life and that means she needs to learn, and if it isn't here, then we will find something else."

"You know who you sound like, don't you?" Thea asked and Oliver turned to her. "Dad, all those times he tried to get you interested in the company."

"Well the difference between me and dad is I'm going to give her options. Right now she doesn't see that there is more in this world for her, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure she and Robyn see every last one." Oliver turned back to Ari before squatting down beside her. "Hey Ari," he whispered. Ari groaned before cracking open her eyes and looking over to the man. "So I see my office has become your hideout."

"Is that why you're here?" she asked sitting up from the couch.

"No, I came to take you home." he said and she furrowed her brow in confusion. "C'mon." Ari glanced over to Thea who just shrugged before she stood to her feet. Oliver turned to Thea as well. "You coming too?"

"Uh no, I have a few more calls. This place without a mayor is it's own brand of crazy." Thea said and Oliver sighed but she placed a hand on his arm. "But I'm handling it. Just take care of your family."

"Thanks Thea." Oliver said before turning to Ari who let out a yawn.

The drive home was quiet. Oliver glanced over to Ari whose eyes were barely open as she stared up ahead to the road.

"You want to talk about what happened today?" Oliver suddenly asked. "The visit from Heather's lawyer."

"Not really." Ari said. "He's been calling I guess and since I am without a phone I haven't been able to return his calls."

"Ari-"

"I don't want to talk about it." she said looking over to Oliver.

"Aright." he replied and the ride once again fell into silence.

"You know I guess I should bring up the other elephant in the room." Ari said and Oliver turned to her. "I remember calling you dad."

"Oh, uh yeah-" Oliver turned away back to the road trying to remain cool even though on the inside he was pretty nervous about this conversation. "It's fine. I know you were out of it at the time."

"Yeah, I was totally out it." she groaned before glancing over to him. "But I remember that moment I called you and how freaked out I was and in that moment, I just wanted you there." he looked over to her. "Because you're our guy. The one who's there when we need you and when I saw you I just-" she turned away. "In that moment, that's who you were and I'm sorry if it was weird. I know I'm not—I'm not your daughter." she felt the car slow down before Oliver pulled over to the side stopping the car. She turned to him. "This doesn't have to be a thing."

"Just listen, ok." Oliver said and Ari sighs. "In the last year since you've been with us, something happened and I didn't expect it. Ari you came into our lives, and you just—you fit as if you were always there." he looked at her for a moment with a slight smile. "And I know that we don't share a drop of blood, but Ari to me, in my heart, you are just as much my daughter as Robyn is. That means that I will always be your guy, the one who will always protect you, and teach you and guide you in any way I can. So if you want to call me dad, I am perfectly fine with that, if you want to call me Oliver, that's fine too." he let out a chuckle. "If you want to call me Bullet magnet or BM, I won't like it, but I'll tolerate it. Whatever you're comfortable with is perfectly fine." she didn't say anything, but looked over to him with a smile and gave a nod. Oliver turned and and pulled off once again.

It still felt strange to Oliver when he pulled up to the mansion. When he pulled his car to a stop, he and Ari stepped out and he looked around. He spotted a few of the guards and he gave a nod before heading inside. Once inside, Oliver stopped and noticed how quiet it seemed.

"Where is everybody?" Ari asked.

"No idea." Oliver said. With a quirked brow, he walked further inside to figure out where everyone was. He heard movement in the kitchen and went to check it out. He found Ethan at the sink filling a bowl with water.

"Hey," Oliver said and Ethan turned to him. "Where's Twinkie?" he turned when he saw all the shopping bags around. "And what is all of this?" he walked over to one of the bags and looked inside. He reached down and pulled out plastic bone that squeaked when he squeezed it. He looked back over to Ethan. "What the hell is going on?"

That's when he heard a bark before the sound of pattering feet followed by the sound of his daughter's laughter. Oliver glanced over to Ari before they turned and headed toward the sound which lead them out the back door where he saw Katie standing there watching as Robyn and a familiar black and white boarder collie playing. Katie glanced over her shoulder to finally see them as they walked over to stand beside her.

"That's Michael's dog, Harry." Oliver suddenly said and Katie looked over to him and he turned to her.

"Now she's our dog." she replied.

"Of course we have a dog now." Ari sighed before walking over to Robyn to see the dog as well.

"Michael's sister called me. She was in the city taking care of everything. Her kids have allergies and she didn't want to take Harry to a shelter and so she called me and asked if we could take her and I said yes." Katie turned back to watch Robyn happily laughing as she played with the dog. "I probably should've told you but you've been kind of a jerk."

"Twinkie-" Oliver brought an arm around her and turned her to face him. "I'm sorry. This has just been-" he shook his head. "I didn't expect to feel so scared of losing you." he turned away. "I thought it was going to happen again. That a doctor was going to walk over to me and tell me that you were gone. That I'd have to look in your closet again and find the last dress you'd ever wear." he felt the emotion rise in his throat and she placed her hands on his chest. "I thought I'd have to walk through a room filled with coffins and choose one, again." he turned back to her. "And even though you're standing in front of me, fine, I just can't stop seeing it. I can't stop feeling it." Katie placed a hand on his cheek.

"I can't stop thinking about it either. I can't stop dreaming about it. I can't stop picking apart every decision I made that lead to that moment. Our kids were in that car." she held his gaze. "I can't stop thinking about that look in Ari's eyes the moment she saw that car, and I can't stop thinking about how scared I was those few moments before that car hit." she dropped her eyes from his and felt his grasp around her tightened. "I wanted to see him. The driver of the other car. To look in the eyes of the man who nearly stole everything, but that's not possible anymore I guess."

"Twinkie, I promise we are going to get through this." Katie lifted her eyes back to his. "Together."

"You know you haven't kissed me since I was discharged from the hospital. I was afraid I looked as bad as I felt and that maybe you didn't-" His lips captured hers, taking her words.

"Uh, don't mind me." Ethan whispered sliding around the couple. "I'm just going to get to the kid before her and the dog go on the lamb."

Oliver and Katie pulled apart suddenly remembering they were outside. They looked over to see Ethan carrying a bowl of water over and sitting it down before the dog ran over, Robyn not far behind him.

"Robyn loves her." Katie said turning to Oliver. "Ari seems to be a fan too."

Oliver let out a sigh. "I guess we have a dog now." Katie smiled before looking over to where Ethan stood.

"He caved!" she called and the doctor turned to her and cursed under his breath. "You owe me twenty bucks!"

Oliver just shook his head before walking over to greet his daughter.

Felicity felt as if she were being pulled in too many directions. When Oliver told her the information about General Walker that could help free John, she didn't hesitate. It kind of felt exhilarating. She almost forgot that feeling. Digging in the nooks and crevices for government secrets.

Felicity pushed her chair, turning to the other side of monitors where she was currently digging for any indication on the true identity of this Malice woman.

"There looks like a lot is going on here." Said Rory as he walked over. He stayed behind while Rene and Curtis went with Laurel to Hub city to try to recruit their possible new team member. "Are you sure you didn't need any help?" Felicity stopped and looked over to him. "Not from me obviously, but I could call Ari. I think, maybe. She hasn't been here in a while."

"Yeah, she's still grounded for her teenage antics. And really I'm fine, I got this handled." Felicity said before turning and going back over to the computers she has looking for the files. She lets out a groan.

"What's up?"

"The file containing all the dirt on General Walker, it's gone, scrubbed." Felicity said as she continued looking hoping she maybe missed something.

"So what does that mean?"

"Well, it means that John is back to being totally screwed." Felicity slid her hands over her face and tried to rack her brain. "There has to be something."

"Maybe you should take a break from this." Rory suggested and Felicity shook her head before turning at her ringing phone. This time she did see Bruce's name and quickly answer.

"Hey, hi, what happened? I thought you would've called sooner."

"Yeah, well it's been a day. You heading home soon?"

"I uh-" Felicity looked at the computer. "Yeah. I'm not getting anywhere with this search for John, maybe you could help. Plus I have to tell you about another call I got."

"From who?"

"Martin Ellis."

"What, why?"

"I'll tell you about it when I get home. I should be there soon, love you."

"Love you too."

Felicity ended the call and looked over to Rory who took a step away.

"I'm going to head home, continue the search there." Felicity said standing to her feet. "You should head home. There isn't much for us to do here."

Katie's dream that night seemed to pick up right where they left off. Her arm was lifted to shield her eyes from the bright light as she stood next to Constantine. Once the light was gone, they once again heard the sound of laughter.

"It's such a pity." a deep, almost not human voice spoke. Katie dropped her arm and looked over to see the hospital room from that day. She frowned as she looked to see herself lying on the bed, but she wasn't alone. There was someone sitting there beside her, very close.

"Who is that?" Katie asked glancing over to Constantine who kept his eyes on the scene in front of them before walking over to get closer. Once he was near, Katie watched as a frown came to his face. "What?" Katie walked over to stand beside Constantine, her eyes going to the man hoping she'd recognize them, but that was impossible. "Why doesn't he have a face?"

"I believe he has a face, you just can't see it, Luv." Constantine said glancing from the man to Katie. "What was wrong with you?"

"I fainted and then was brought to the hospital. I was unconscious when all of this happened." she said but then noticed as the version of herself lying in bed turned her head with a groan. "Or at least I thought I was."

"Shsss, " the faceless man said as he placed his hand on her cheek. "This is only a dream." she watched as his hand seemed to lightly slide down from her face, to her arm before resting on her breast."

"Stop!" Katie took a step forward to hit the man, but her hand simply passed through him. "Don't touch me!"

"I think you should go." Constantine said turning to Katie. "Whatever happened in this room, you can't change and seeing it-" he turned back to the man who sat beside her.

"It's his fault you know. That husband of yours doesn't deserve you." his hand traveled down her side before sliding to the skin under her shirt. "But I have to destroy him for what he did and unfortunately that means I have to take everything he holds dear." he popped open the button on her pants.

"No!" Katie said not wanting to watch but unable to turn away. He grabbed the hem of her pants and gave a slight tug down and Katie assumed she knew what she was about to witness.

The faceless figure stopped when he heard voices and quickly snapped the button back to her jeans.

"I can't wait to see you again." he said before leaning forward and bringing his face near hers for a moment and then standing to his feet.

"Twinkie, wake up!" Katie's eyes snapped open to find Oliver hovering above her, his eyes wide with worry. He placed a hand on her cheek and let out a relieved sigh. "Thank God."

"What-" Katie blinked a couple of times before trying to sit up. Oliver's arm came around her to help her and once she did, her eyes went to broken lamp beside the bed. "What happened?" she turned back to Oliver who just continued to look at her. "Liver, what—did I do that?"

"You were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you, but you wouldn't-" he shook his head. "You screamed 'no' and then the lamp just exploded." Katie turned away, sliding a hand over her face as she's tugged into remnants of that nightmare. "Twinkie, what happened?"

"I uh-" she turned to him. "Something happened after the accident. When I was unconscious. I saw things."

"What things?"

Katie turned away. "The day I fainted at the mall, I was brought to the hospital. I was in my hospital room and-" she looked over to the confused eyes of her husband. She knew what telling him this would do. The truth is, she doesn't know if this dream is even real or just a creation of her messed up subconscious.

"Twinkie, tell me."

She had to lie. Well she didn't have to lie, but she had to make a choice and right now with everything happening, she couldn't risk pulling their lives into more crazy.

"I was in that room and you never came." she turned back to him. "And I was there all alone and I was scared." Oliver looked at her for a moment before placing a hand on her cheek.

"That will never happen. You are never alone and I'm sorry if in these last couple of weeks I made you feel as if you were." he placed a kiss to his cheek before Katie turned and grabbed the pillow that separated them and tossed it on the floor. "Twinkie, don't-"

"No, I can't do this anymore." she said before twisting her body and bringing her arm around him, dropping her head to his chest. "I just need you to hold me."

Oliver was hesitant for a moment, but brought his arms around her, needing the embrace as well.

Laurel stood on top of a roof, slightly out of breath. The fact that she hadn't done this in a while quite evident, but she wouldn't give up. She stood as the Black Canary, Rene and Curtis beside her as Mr. Terrific and Wild Dog across from the woman they'd been searching for.

"Stop!" Laurel ordered before the woman could kick in a skylight. She stopped and turned to them.

She seemed to laugh. "Ha! Wow, costume warehouse having a fire sale I didn't know about." she shook her head. "What do you want?"

"You're a Vigilante." Laurel's modulated voice spoke. "And a meta-human and for the past three years you've been working alone."

"We have a proposition for you." Curtis said and Laurel looked over to him with a quirked brow. "Oh Sorry, you uh, you were doing fine, you take it." she just shook her head before turning back to the woman.

"There are a team of people in Star City, just like you, trying to make this world safe." Laurel said looking over to the woman. "And we would like you to join. To give you a home and a team, a place to help you learn how to use your powers."

"I can take care of myself." she said about to turn, but stopped and looked back to Laurel. "Oh, and if you get in my way, I'll send you three back to Star City in a body bags." with that she turned and jumped from the room.

"I think that went pretty good." Rene said sarcastically looking over to Curtis. He glanced over to Laurel who just stood there in the same spot. "Now what?" she rolled her eyes and turned to the two men. She just shook her head before moving past them.

That morning, Oliver stood at the window that looked out to the back of the property to see Katie standing there, Harry standing beside her as Katie rubbed her head. He pushed open the door and walked out, and Katie glanced over to him.

"You've been out here for a while." Oliver said and Katie looked over to Harry. "Are you alright?"

"Leslie's having Michael cremated and she's taking him back to New York where they have a family mausoleum. There's not going to be a service. She said he never wanted one." Katie turned. "He hated death. Mostly because of what it did to the people still alive. He didn't want people standing around old pictures of him or telling old stories that just made them more sad." she looked over to Oliver. "He wanted his death to just be this thing that happened and that everyone would move on from." Oliver brought an arm around her and placed a kiss to her head. "I'm not moving on from this." she turned to Oliver and he met her eyes. "We're going to find this bastard and we're going to make sure he can't do this to anyone else."

"Absolutely."

"And I think we have to start with the crash. Frank Burrow, was he really just a drunk driver?"

Oliver looked at Katie for a moment before letting out a sigh. "No, he wasn't. We need to talk."

Bruce stood in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee to finish brewing when he glanced up to see Damian walk in. The boy stopped and glanced over to his father before walking over grab an apple from the fruit bowl.

"It's not that big of a deal, you know." Damian said turning to Bruce. "Me knowing you're Batman."

"Your mother-"

"Yeah, she did. She seemed to think that I should know before we met." Damian said. "She had articles about Gotham City's Batman. The man that was my father. A fierce warrior, defender of the people and then he just disappeared."

"How did your mother find me?" Bruce asked and Damian shrugged.

"I don't know. I think someone told her. One day she got a call and then she told me we had to leave and that's when we came here." he looked back to Bruce. "I thought you were Gotham City's Batman, what are you doing in Star City?"

Bruce dropped his eyes. That had been a question he'd been asking himself lately. He still reads the Gotham news and even though Dick and his team of friends are trying to keep the crime down, they're all just amateurs. Deep down he knew what he had to do. It was time to return home, he just didn't know how to do that when his wife couldn't come with him.

Bruce turned, grabbing a bowl and spoon and pulling open the cabinet to reveal the array of cereal.

"You're eating more than fruit for breakfast." he said placing the bowl and spoon in front of Damian. "Pick something and eat." he then turned and poured a cup of coffee and moved to leave, but stopped before he did. He looked back over to Damian. "I don't know what your mother told you, but we are going to have to talk about rules. One very big rule, you don't tell anyone about Batman, do you understand?"

"Why would I tell anyone? You're my father." Damian said and Bruce looked at him for a moment and could see the sincerity in his words. "I won't say a word, I promise."

Bruce just nods. "And you don't go downstairs ever again."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so." Bruce said before turning and heading down the hall. He let out a sigh as he stepped into the hidden elevator that lead down to the bunker. When the door opened he wasn't surprised to see Felicity still sitting behind the computer. She didn't look up as he walked over to her and placed the cup beside her.

Her nose smelled it first before she looked over and smiled. She picked up the cup and took an appreciative sip before turning to Bruce.

"I love you." she said and the man laughed before placing a kiss to the top of her head. He moved around to look over to the computer. With a furrowed brow, he looked to the text on the screen. "Yeah, that kind of happened?" Bruce looked over to her. "I reverted to scouring the dark web for a way to find a sliver of anything from that file on Walker and then this-" Bruce turned to the screen to read the words,

Are you Ghost Fox Goddess?

"A terminal message." Felicity said looking at the screen. "From who? I don't know. I also don't know how they got into my system."

"And Ghost Fox Goddess..."

"That's me. My handle from college." Felicity said and Bruce looked over to her with a quirked brow. "I told you about my college years. Well I made some bad choices. I was sort of a hacktivist. Taking on corporations and governments. Dark hair, dark Felicity, but I left all of that behind. It was a power trip that was not healthy."

Bruce looked at her for a moment, "You know I could see it." he turned back to the computer and reached forward to type.

Who's asking?

I can help you. Meet IRL?

"IRL?" Bruce said glancing over to Felicity with a quirked brow.

"In real life." she said glancing from the screen to her husband. "Maybe-"

"Nope." Bruce said shaking his head before turning and heading for the elevator.

"But Bruce, if this can help John-"

"I'm sorry, " Bruce turned to face her. "Are you really trying to convince me to be alright with you going off to meet some stranger that reached out to you on the dark web?"

"Well when you say it like that-" Bruce shook his head about to turn, but Felicity came over and placed her hands on his chest. "Ok, I know it sounds crazy-" he turned to her with a quirked brow. "Fine, it is crazy, but there is a chance that this is our way to help John." Bruce let out a sigh as he turned away.

"You're not going alone." he said turning back to her.

"Fine, I'll take Rory, have him play back up in case something goes wrong."

"No, you're going to meet a possible murdering, psychopath who wants to sell your organs on the black market-" he sighed. "I'll be your back up." he looked down to meet her eyes.

"What about Damian?" Felicity asked and Bruce shook his head.

"He should be fine here alone for a little bit."

"You talk more with him?"

Bruce nods. "Yeah, it was his mother who told him. He also said that someone told her that I was here, but he doesn't know who."

"What are you thinking?"

"There's something bigger at play here. With Talia, she's up to something, I just don't know what."

Felicity sighed as she dropped her head to his chest. "Murdering psychopath who wants to sell my organs on the black market...why would you say that?"

"Because it's true sweetheart." he placed a kiss to her head. "And I for one won't let anyone near those organs." she laughed before shoving him away.

That night had not gone the way Laurel expected. They'd identified their mystery woman as Tina Boland, a former cop with the CCPD. They'd even got to experience her sonic scream first hand. Tina was looking for the people responsible for murdering her partner. She was out for blood. In their search for Tina, they figured out who she was after. Sean Sonus. Sonus was some big time drug pusher that sold drugs to kids.

After one failed attempt to talk to Tina, they found her again. This time in a parking structure. She walked away, hopped on her bike and Laurel realized that she needed to try a new tactic.

Laurel took off her mask as Tina drove up on her bike, stopping in front of the woman.

"Let me guess." Tina said sliding off her bike. "You're trusting me with your mask off, so now I can trust you."

"No, I thought that if you weren't going to listen to the Black Canary, that maybe you would listen to Laurel Lance here on behalf of the Green Arrow, Oliver Queen." Laurel took a step forward. "You know I lost my sister, and I grew up in a city riddled with corruption, and death because of people like Sonus. That was one of the reasons I went to law school. I wanted to put bastards like him away for good."

"Jail isn't good enough for Sonus, after what he did-"

"I get the need for revenge, trust me I do. When I found out the man who was responsible for my sister's death, I thought making him pay was my only option."

"So what, you see a little bit of yourself in me, is that it?"

"No, I see a lot myself in you, a lot of the dark stuff that was inside of me, hatred and sadness that just consumed me, but I had people there to help me."

"The Green Arrow." she scoffed. "Why isn't he here annoying me?"

"Back in Star City, the Green Arrow is dealing with a man just like Sonus. Cruel and ruthless." Laurel shook her head. "I'm here looking for you, because he needs help, much like you do right now. You're not going to be able to go up against Sonus and his crew. Not alone." Tina didn't say anything as she turned away. "Fine, just let us help with this." she turned back to Laurel. "We help you and then we're gone."

That night, Bruce stood at a safe distance to not be seen. He held the binoculars up to his eyes, looking right to Felicity, before looking around for anything out of the ordinary as she sat on the park bench by the Star City Bay.

"You know I'm nervous already, and I can literally feel your nerves radiating from where ever you are right now." Felicity spoke through the comlink.

"Organs on the black market honey." was all Bruce said and the woman sighed.

Soon he watched as a young brown haired woman walked over to Felicity suddenly.

"Omg! The Ghost Fox Goddess, here in meat space! The real Ghost Fox Goddess!"

Felicity just looked at the woman with slightly wide eyes. "You're Kojo Sledgehammer?"

"Yeah, I know, not as cool as Ghost Fox Goddess, but then I can only aspire to your level of cool, which I do." she shook her head. "Uh, aspire to, I mean."

Bruce looked over to the two women in confusion. Of all the people he expected to show up in this park, some rambling computer woman was not it. He continued to listen, when his eyes caught something on the other side of the park behind the two women.

"Don't say anything—but when I say run, I want you to get up and run to the car." Bruce said and Felicity turned and gave a slight nod before turning back to the woman.

Bruce slipped the binoculars back in his back pack and slipped it on before turning and cautiously moving to find out who else was here watching. He found a spot behind a tree, and subtly looked around to see a figure hiding behind a large rock.

Felicity looked at the woman who she couldn't help think reminded her of herself.

"I was looking for an NSA file to exonerate an innocent man." Felicity said.

"John Diggle?" the dark haired woman said and with a furrowed brow, Felicity nods. "My organization does its homework."

"Organization?"

"A hacktivist group. We call ourselves Helix." Kojo said. "A month ago, we hacked Echelon."

"The NSA's information gathering program?"

"Mm-hmm. We hoovered up 8 petabytes of data including everything you need to help your friend. " she placed a flash drive in Felicity's hand. "We're calling the data cache Pandora. With it, you can take down politicians, bankrupt companies, spark revolutions."

"So you're not just giving me the file for John."

"You inspired me to make the world a better place, and now I intend to inspire you to be the hacktivist you used to be, the great Ghost Fox Goddess." The woman smiled before standing to her feet and leaving. Felicity looked down to the flash drive in her hand, not expecting that familiar feeling to stir up inside of her.

Suddenly she heard a yelp and looked around to find the source.

"Bruce? What's going on?" Felicity stood to her feet.

"Meet me at the car." Bruce said and she could hear the tension in his voice.

When Felicity arrived at the car, she saw Bruce, but she didn't expect to see the child standing beside him.

"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 too 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, glancing over to the car to see Damian staring back at them from the backseat. She turned back to Bruce. "He's only a child, why would she-"

"It's how she was raised. Her, Nyssa, the demon started them young and I guess Talia was going to continue the legacy." Bruce sighed before turning back to Felicity. "So did she steal your organs? "

Felicity laughed, but held up the flash drive. "No, but she did give me what we need to help John." she looked back over to the car. "C'mon, lets get our little assassin home."

Laurel tried not to shake, or bat an eye. Just moments earlier they found Sonus and his crew as they were making a deal. It turned out as she expected. A lot of guns and fighting. It ended with Tina, a gun in her hand aimed at Sonus. Laurel tried to talk her down, to get her to see past her anger, but then the woman pulled the trigger and shot him. She suddenly remembered why she left in the first place. Why she determined that she couldn't be the woman in this mask who took lives and the woman who fought for justice in the courtroom.

"He'd want me to do that." she said looking over to Laurel. Her eyes glanced back over to the body before turning and leaving. When Rene attempted to go after her, Laurel threw out a hand to stop him.

"Let her go." she said.

The next day, Laurel found herself standing outside of a door she'd been hesitant to visit. With a deep breath she rose her fist and knocked. She heard footsteps and pulled a smile to her face that slightly fell when the door pulled open.

"Ethan? What are you-"

The man smiled before looking over his shoulder. "Told it was her." he took a step back and Laurel walked in with a furrowed brow before spotting her father sitting at his kitchen table.

"Hey Dad," she said walking over to him. Quentin smiled as he stood to his feet and brought his arms around his daughter in a hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner, but I-"

"Don't apologize sweetheart." Quentin pulled from the hug with a smile as he looked over to her. "Ethan here has been talking nonstop about all the work you're doing at legal aid in Metropolis."

"That's still no excuse to stay away so long. I should've been here for you when you needed help." Laurel placed a hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Well I'm not. All I ever wanted for you and your sister is to be happy and from what I can tell, you're doing it. I don't ever want you to worry about me."

"Too bad, because I always will." Laurel gave a smile that Quentin noticed seemed a bit sad.

"Are you alright? Ethan said you were working on something for Oliver in Hub City, did it go ok?"

Laurel dropped her eyes for a moment before looking back to her father with a smile as she shook her head.

"It didn't go as planned, but it's fine." she glanced over to Ethan. "So what are you doing here?"

"We were just-" Ethan looked over to Quentin. "Catching up. I wanted to see how the old man was doing."

Quentin chuckled. "Old man, huh?" he turned back to Laurel. "You sure this is the guy?"

Laurel laughed as she looked over to the smile on Ethan's face. "Yeah, he's the guy."

Later that day, Laurel stepped inside of City Hall and told the guard her name and that she was there to see Mayor Oliver Queen. After showing the guard her ID, he handed her a visitor's pass and she was let right in. It still felt weird. Oliver was mayor. She shook her head as she headed over to the elevator.

When the doors opened, she didn't expect to see a familiar face. It was the face of the teenager that didn't really like her much.

"Ugh, what are you doing here?" asked Ari as she pulled her mail cart away.

Laurel just sighed, "I'm here to see Oliver. Things didn't go well with the new recruit."

"What new recruit?" Ari asked and Laurel didn't say anything. "Is he recruiting a new member to the team?"

"Maybe you should talk to Oliver." Laurel said when the doors opened. Laurel stepped off, but Ari shoved passed her, pushing her cart as she hurried towards Oliver's office.

Ari glanced over to Maddy, "Is he in there?"

"He is, but Arianna-" Maddy didn't even finish the thought before the teenager burst into Oliver's office, coming to a stop when she realized he wasn't alone. Oliver stood there across from a woman, both of their eyes going to the teenager before looking over to Maddy and Laurel as they came in.

"I'm sorry sir, she just blew right past me." Maddy said and Oliver turned a dark look to Ari before looking back over to the woman.

"It's fine. They can stay." Oliver said and Maddy gave a nod before turning and leaving the office, shutting the door behind her.

"Tina?" Laurel said looking over to the woman before turning to Oliver who just looked over to Ari.

"What's wrong?" Oliver said.

"I didn't know you were in a meeting, sorry, I'll leave." she turned to leave.

"Wait," Laurel said turning to Ari before looking over to Oliver. "I mentioned me trying to recruit Tina, but I didn't know she wasn't aware. I thought she was on the team."

"So did I." Ari said before looking over to the woman. "So this is the new recruit to the team?" she looked over to Oliver who let out a sigh.

"Ari, we'll talk later. Go, I'm sure there is something you're supposed to be doing right now." Oliver said and the teen just rolled her eyes before stalking out of the office.

"I'm sorry, I really thought she knew." Laurel said before turning to Tina again. "What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you again after you left me on that roof."

"Well I didn't expect to be here either." the woman said before glancing over to Oliver. "But I thought I would feel different after Sonus was gone." she glanced back over to Laurel. "I really didn't believe you when you told me that nothing would change. I thought I would feel liberated...free." she shook her head.

"I wish it worked out that way." Oliver said and the woman looked over to him. Oliver looked over to Laurel. "She stopped by a little bit ago to tell me about the impression you and Rene and Curtis made on her."

Laurel turned to the woman with a quirked brow.

"Rene, the guy in the hockey mask, told the other guy that was with us-Curtis- that this team is all about finding second chances." Laurel said.

"What if I don't deserve a second chance?"

Oliver gave a slight chuckle and she turned to him. "You know that teenager that just stomped out of here a few minutes ago? She's my—" he smiled as he looked over to the woman. "She's my daughter." he was no longer afraid to admit what he felt so strongly in his heart. "And I have found that she teaches me as much as I teach her, and one of the things that she has taught me is that everyone, no matter what they've done, deserve a second chance. You just have to believe it."

"That doesn't seem as easy to do as it sounds." she replied.

Laurel walked over to stand beside Oliver. "Well, Tina, there's something that tells me that you can handle it."

The woman chuckled, "So about that name, Tina Boland was a cover I used for undercover work. It was to protect my family. My name—real name is Dinah. Dinah Drake." Laurel looked at her for a moment before turning to Oliver. "What? That name means something to you?" Laurel turned back to her.

"You can say that. My name is also Dinah after my mother, but I go by Laurel." Laurel simply laughed before once again turning to Oliver. "Kind of seems like fate, doesn't it?" they turned back to Dinah. "I think you're going to do well on this team Dinah, I just wish I could see it."

Dinah turned a confused look from Laurel to Oliver. "You're not on the team?"

"Not anymore." Laurel said with a smile as she let out a relieved sigh. "Everything I told you is true. This team taught me so much."

"Then why did you leave?"

"Because once you believe that you deserve a second chance, you start to believe that you deserve so much more." Laurel said before looking over to Oliver. "Thank you." Oliver brought his arms around her in a hug. "You sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'm getting there." Oliver said pulling back from the hug. He met Laurel's eyes with a smile. "Uh, I'm supposed to tell you that Twinkie hoped to see you before you and Ethan headed back to Metropolis."

"Twinkie?" Dinah says and they both turn to her. "What's that?"

"Oh Twinkie is just the real person you have to impress." Laurel laughed before turning to Oliver who just shook his head.

That night on top of a roof that overlook the city stood the monster that called himself Prometheus. He heard the high heeled steps from behind him.

"Where have you been?" his modulated voice asked, not even turning to her for a moment. She didn't say anything and so he turned to the masked face of the woman that he was restraining himself from killing right now. "You don't have anything to say for yourself?!"

"This whole slow and steady plan was not working for me!" Malice snapped angrily. "I needed to do something before she ruined everything. I know you don't want to kill her, but she needs to die."

"I told you how this will work." he began walking toward her and she took a slight step back. "You disobey me again, and you'll regret it, do you understand me?" she turned away, but gave a nod. "Good. Because of you, I had to kill a civilian before he could talk. You better pray they believe the drunk driver story, because if someone starts looking too close-"

"They won't find anything." Malice muttered folding her arms over her chest. "What now?"

"Now nothing. Now you wait for my order, until then, you don't breathe until I tell you, you understand?"

"Whatever," she said before turning and stalking away. Prometheus growled as he watched her leave.

"I told you, bringing her on was a mistake," he turned at the voice that belonged to Talia Al Ghul. "She's unpredictable."

"I can handle her." he replied before walking back over to the edge to look out to the city. "What about you? How is getting rid of the bat coming along?"

Talia laughed, "Don't worry, Gotham's Batman will find out just how much he's needed back home very soon."

For the first time in a long time, Jacob Robins didn't know what he should do next. The former agent stood on the back porch of his cabin as he stared out to the trees. He turned at the squeaky back door to see Martin.

"Ms. Smoak has seemed to shift her focus on helping Mr. Diggle with his General Walker problem."

"The NSA file?"

"Yeah, he'll more than likely be free soon, and when he is-"

"She's going to go looking where I don't want her to look."

"I hate to sound like a broken record sir, but I think the only solution you have right now is to be honest." Jacob didn't say anything as he walked down the steps of the porch. "You and I both know sooner or later, the truth is going to come out. They will find out about Alice and how you're connected to her."

"You're right." Jacob said turning back to Martin. "It is time for the truth to finally come out." he walked over to Martin. "All of it."

---

Authors Note:

And our new villain has a name and her sights set on Katie and isn't being a very good evil team player.

Review Replies

Adela: Thank you!

Many thanks to everyone!

Sneak peek

Dr. Green brought the thermometer to Robyn's ear and gave a nod. "Yep, definitely a fever." she smiled down to Robyn. "Oh, I know, I know." she placed a hand on the girl's stomach and slightly frowned. Katie noticed to expression.

"What?"

The doctor looked over to Katie before lifting Robyn's shirt and sliding her hands against her stomach.

"Ok, we need to get to take her down to the emergency room." Dr. Green said and Katie looked up to the doctor in confusion.

"Wait, what—why-" Katie looked back down to Robyn before placing her hands on Robyn's stomach and that's when she felt it. "Wait—No, that-" she looked over to the doctor.

"Mrs. Queen, we really need to take her to the emergency room right away."

Katie gave a nod before following the doctor out of the room.