Part 2


Sitting in front of her computer in her little PI office, Veronica wondered if Oliver would manage to guess she was the one writing the articles. She could picture him reading it on his cell phone after being told by Thea over breakfast that it was online. Thea knew that Veronica wrote in the famous blog but had promised to keep the secret. She hadn't even tried to get Veronica to tell her who the Vigilante was. The younger Queen was just glad that she had someone in her life who would be able to get the Vigilante if she ever was in trouble (and if it was too much for Veronica).

If he really was the vigilante like she believed he was, then he'd be able to connect the dots and she hoped he'd come find her to talk, maybe even offer her to work with him. Until then, she had work to do, cases to close. She couldn't just sit around and wait for him to come, she had bills to pay and cases to solve.

Ever since she had started hanging out with Thea, Veronica's clientele had slowly changed. Her clients used to belong in the glades but the Queen's friends tended to come to her for their problems now. Cheating spouses, industrial espionage and such. She also dug dirt on parents for teenagers who came and paid her. It was often easy work and easy money, so why wouldn't she do it? Whenever Thea had the time, she helped Veronica on these easy teenager cases and got some money that was only hers and that the young Queen placed on a separate account.

She didn't want to owe all of her money to her family, she wanted to know that she was able to earn her own money once in a while, money that nobody would be able to take from her in case of problems with the Queen's fortune.

"Miss Mars, do you have what I asked for yesterday?" A man said as soon as the front door was closed.

Another one of the Queen's friends. Another rich client willing to pay big money for proof of his wife cheating on him before they hit the 10 year mark on their marriage. He had paid for an urgent delivery and so she had been forced to cancel her night with Thea to work on it. It was worth it though, it paid big money. Plus, the man was a lawyer and she knew that he'd be able to provide hr with more work, which is why she let him take several of her business cards.

"I do. I managed to get the money shot quite easily. They were very careless." She nodded, handing the man the printed pictures in exchange for his payment.

"Good for me, too bad for them." He commented with a satisfied smile as he looked over the different pictures she had taken.

"Exactly." Veronica nodded.

"Thank you Miss Mars. You work quickly and effectively, I'll make sure to tell my friends." He replied, satisfied with her pictures, before he paid her and left her office, happy with the evidence she had provided him with.

As soon as he stepped away, Veronica went back to her computer. She didn't hear the door close back but she didn't wait to hear it either. She was busy working and she never waited for the clients to leave her office before going back to work. Time was money and she didn't waste it.

She was working on finding more information about the new drug called Vertigo and the people who were selling and making it. She wanted to expose them so they'd stop, especially since they were targeting teenagers like Thea who just wanted to party. She wanted him caught before Thea or one of her friends ended up hurt by it. Or before someone who was partying at Verdant got hurt and put Oliver and Tommy in trouble with the police. If she managed to get enough information, maybe she'd be able to convince the Vigilante to work on this with her.

"Hard at work or hardly working?"

Veronica looked up as soon as she heard the deep voice that belonged to the vigilante. He was standing in front if her, his bow on his shoulder and his arrows behind his back. Obviously he wasn't here to shoot her. He was the vigilante but she couldn't help but notice that his stance was one of Oliver Queen, relaxed. Either he knew that she knew who he was or he was slipping up with his cover. She bet on the first one.

"Oh, hi! I didn't hear you come in. You're lucky there's no window here. It's still daylight, you know. I thought you only came out at night." She replied, blushing a little and trying to hide it as she stood and went to lock the door to make sure that no potential clients would disturb them.

It was rare that people were able to surprise her but she wasn't surprise that the vigilante was able to.

"I came in right after the man that left but you were already back to your computer. I was able to change in the corridor. No video surveillance and nobody around. You didn't choose the safest building for your office. What has you so concentrated?" He asked her, standing tall.

"Oh, you know. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. What about you, what are you doing here? I doubt this is a social call." She smiled.

"I was just passing by on my way and I figured I'd stop by." He replied.

"Stop by? Like an old friend?" She asked him, amused and refusing to tell him that she knew who he was before he hinted that he knew she wrote the article.

"Or a new one." he replied.

"So this is a social call. And what could a new friend do for you?"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important. Maybe an article to write?" He suggested with a spark of amusement in his eyes, not answering her question right away.

"An article? Well, I do write the occasional freelance piece for some newspapers in town but nothing recently. I just had to stake out a woman who cheated on her husband and was dumb enough to do it before they hit the 10 year mark on their wedding. Too bad for her, she's going to lose a lot. She wasn't very discreet either, she was either dumb or she wanted to be caught." Veronica replied.

"I wasn't speaking about your articles for newspapers but about a blog. The Healer. There was a very interesting new article on it this morning." Oliver replied.

"Oh yes, I read it. Seems like you've got yourself a fan." Veronica replied.

"And a friend." he added.

"True. So, tell me Oliver, now that you've guessed I was the one behind 'the Healer', are you going to take down your hood and turn your voice thingy off?" She asked him.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked her, taking down his hood and turning his voice changer off.

"I have a good instinct. Don't worry, I don't think anyone else will be able to figure it out the same way I did." She replied.

"And when was that? When did you figure it out?" he asked her.

"About a month ago, when you, as the vigilante, helped me out."

"I barely spoke that night. How?"

"Sometimes, around certain people, you feel a certain way, like... I don't know, an aura you can feel or something. When I got the same feeling around the Hood as I did around Oliver Queen, I looked more into it and decided that I was right." Veronica informed him.

"I see... You're not speaking about the skin crawling and goose bumps kind of feeling, right?" He asked her with a frown.

"No, don't worry. A totally different and warmer feeling." Veronica chuckled, trying to hide from him that the feeling she was speaking about was a much warmer, much more pleasant feeling.

"Okay, good. Well, I know that you can be trusted."

"Does that mean you're not going to shoot an arrow in me?" She asked him with an amused smile.

"As long as you don't taser me." He smiled back.

Veronica and Oliver spoke a while longer. Oliver went to change back into Oliver Queen in Veronica's bathroom and he invited her to join his crusade, explaining to her why he had started what he was doing and how he got his list. He even told her about his idea to find another spot for her office and to use it as a front for his 'vigilante working quarters'. They decided that they'd keep her office the way it was and that he'd keep on using his club for now, they'd look for a good location for her new office later but they were both very enthusiastic about it.

It would have to be large, with a big enough cave and well located. It would take them some time to find it but with both of their resources, they'd be able to do something great.

Veronica used this opportunity to inform him of her own personal crusade of the moment: Vertigo.

"It's the kind of drug that would have hurt your sister a while back. Before she stopped using drugs." Veronica added.

"You mean before you came into her life and helped her find her path." Oliver smiled.

"I... yes. A lot of teenagers are using it. A lot of them end up at the hospital, or at the morgue. It's a plague that grows quickly." She explained.

She could imagine that if Vertigo was to arrive in Neptune, half the town would be high or dead within a few weeks.

"Yes, Vertigo is a name that comes up more and more often in the news lately. Lance wants to take him down even more that he wants to catch me right now." he nodded.

"I want to take him down. I usually wait for them to target someone I know or care about to take them down but with Vertigo, I don't want to wait until they kill Thea or one of her friend to worry about it." She exclaimed.

"I guess Vertigo will be our first common task then. I'm sure John won't mind." Oliver smiled, enjoying this open moment of honesty with Veronica.

He could easily imagine a life where he and Veronica would be partners in all aspects of their lives. He wanted it. He wanted her by his side, he wanted to be the one who held her in his arms at night and he wanted to help her forget about all of her past broken hearts. He also knew that she had guards around her heart, just like he did, and that it would take them time, if she even felt the same way, but he was willing to wait and see how things would evolve between them. One thing was sure: Veronica was able to take care of herself and working with him wouldn't put her in any more danger than what she was already doing daily. Hell, she probably had enemies he didn't know anything about yet.

He was determined to do his best to keep her close to him.


So, what did you think of part 2?

Another part coming up soon and so far there is 4 parts, maybe 5, it depends.

I'm also working on another part of this story, one that explains how Veronica and Thea got so close, back when everybody thought Oliver to be dead. It will explain how Veronica got to be in Starling city as well.

Review please?

Lorelei Candice Black