That next weekend, Laurel, Quentin and Sara took a trip out to Colorado to meet McKenna and suss out whether she was serious about taking Sara on as a client for free. Despite Sara's insistence, everyone else in the family still wasn't quite sure.

By the time they returned, however, they were all thoroughly convinced. From that weekend on, Quentin spoke of McKenna in almost a reverent tone that freaked Felicity out and made Donna roll her eyes every time.

But despite their assurances, the question still remained: Why?

Why was such a prestigious lawyer taking on a relatively minor drug charge for free? It wasn't like Sara's case was even all that much of a challenge.

Sara and Quentin had asked McKenna several times, but McKenna dodged the question each time until finally she told them that she had taken on the case as a favor to a friend and that was all she could say about it.

When Sara told her about it later, Felicity's cheeks turned bright red and her stomach started twisting itself in knots.

Well, that certainly confirmed it.

But while the answer was pretty clear for her, the rest of the family was still confused. Sara didn't have any mutual friends with McKenna — their social circles were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Felicity debated telling her family just who exactly was behind their stroke of good luck. On the one hand, she should have told them so they could feel properly grateful about it. But on the other hand, she'd have to dive into the whole explanation, and the story didn't exactly paint her in the best light.

"I just don't get it," Laurel said for the millionth time at coffee and doughnuts with Iris and Felicity. Sara was volunteering at the animal shelter, which had grown more and more dependent on her. It was just as well — she needed to start getting her community service hours in anyway.

"I don't either," Iris confessed. "I mean, not like it's not awesome or anything, but it's just...so weird, right?"

Felicity didn't say anything. She just sat in her seat, staring at her coffee, paralyzed by their musings. It would have been so easy — all she had to do was open her mouth and explain. Explain it from the beginning. Explain the whole, sordid tale that ended in the most frustrating way possible.

But her lips stayed closed, and she continued to sit there, listening in tortured silence as her friends continued to muse aloud.

When coffee was over, Felicity spent the whole walk to the bookstore silently beating herself up. Why couldn't she just tell them? Sure, the story made her look like an insensitive shrew, but if anyone would understand, wouldn't it be her best friend and her sister?

In the end, she didn't say anything. She chose to keep it a secret, partly because it wasn't entirely her story to tell. She shared it with Oliver. It was his story, too.

Until he consented to have it told, she'd keep it locked behind her lips.

The problem was, she was almost certain she'd never see him again. She'd never get his consent to tell it.

She was going to have to take this secret with her to the grave.

Several things happened in very quick succession.

The first thing was that McKenna managed to negotiate a deal for Sara. In exchange for a guilty plea to lesser charges, Sara agreed to undergo mandatory counseling and rehab that could be done outside of Colorado. She was also put on probation and had to complete a buch of community service hours, and every week her probation officer had to administer a drug test.

The big take away for the whole family was that Sara wasn't going to jail, and that was the most they could ask for.

The second thing that happened was much less predictable and made Felicity's blood pressure jump the moment she heard about it.

"Felicity!"

Everyone in the bookstore jumped at Iris' screech. The woman in question raised an eyebrow as her best friend barreled through the narrow aisles of bookshelves to get to her.

Sara was behind the counter with Felicity, helping with inventory. She popped her head up in curiosity.

"Felicity, did you hear?" Iris demanded.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Iris, we've been over this. You're the reporter, remember? You're always the one who hears everything before I do."

"Right, sorry." She shook her head, then took a deep breath.

"Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Queen are back in town."

Felicity's heart jumped into her throat at the sound of Oliver's name.

He was back. He was back.

"Who are they?" Sara asked, eying her sister's frozen expression with a mixture of concern and curiosity.

"They're these two rich guys who rented out the Netherfield Beach House for the season last year," Iris explained. "They're renting it again for the season this year."

That jumpstarted Felicity's brain again. "How long are they staying?" she demanded. "Are they going to be here for the whole summer?"

"I don't know," Iris admitted.

Felicity felt her heart pounding furiously, but whether it was from the news or something else, she couldn't tell.

"What's the big deal?" Sara shrugged. "Rich tourists come to spend the summer here every year. What makes these guys so different?"

"The big deal is that Laurel fell in love with Tommy last year, but he just up and disappeared without saying a word and he left your sister heartbroken," Iris answered grimly.

A pang of guilt echoed through Felicity's muscles at Iris' words. She'd been so caught up by the fact that Oliver was back that she hadn't stopped to think what kind of heartache this would cause for her beloved sister.

"Not to mention, Oliver Queen is the most insufferable human being on the planet," Iris added. "He called Felicity stupid the first night he met her."

Felicity closed her eyes at that. So much had happened since then. So much that she couldn't tell.

Sara quirked an eyebrow up her forehead. "Wait a minute, Oliver Queen? That Oliver Queen?"

"Yeah, the guy who's heir to the Queen Consolidated empire," Iris nodded.

It seemed that the gravity of the situation had finally gotten through to Sara. "Well he must be the real stupid one, if he thinks my sister is dumb."

Felicity shook her head hard. She couldn't bear to listen to them denigrate his character, not now when she knew the truth. Not now, after all he'd done for them.

So she quickly changed the subject. "Does Laurel know?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Iris said, as she bit on her lip. "But knowing this town, someone's probably already broken the news to her."

The minute Felicity got home, she made a beeline for her older sister's bedroom. Laurel was already sitting in the middle of her bed, wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt with a book in her lap and a calm expression on her face.

At first, Felicity thought Laurel might not have heard the news, and she was dreading being the one to break it. But before she could open her mouth, Laurel began.

"Yes, Lissy, I heard," Laurel said, not even glancing up from her book. "And yes, I'm fine. I promise, I'm perfectly fine."

Felicity didn't believe her for a second.

"I'm over him."

No she wasn't. Laurel could repeat those words until she was blue in the face, but Felicity knew better. She could see it in Laurel's eyes whenever they glazed over and drifted out the window when they went to coffee at the Mudhouse. She saw it in the droop in Laurel's expression every time they passed by the Netherfield Beach House. She could even hear the quiet sobs through her bedroom door late at night when Laurel was sure everyone else in the house was asleep.

Felicity walked toward the bed and plopped down on it, glaring at her sister with an expression that showed very clearly how little she believed her.

"I mean it, Lissy," Laurel said. "I'm over him. I realize now that all we had was a summer romance. It came, and now it's gone. I've accepted that."

"So then what happens?" Felicity demanded. "What happens when you run into him at the Mudhouse? Or at The Place? Or somewhere else in town? This place is tiny, you're bound to see him at some point."

Laurel's complacent mask cracked for a tenth of a second, but she schooled her expression back into its forced tranquility before Felicity could drill anymore cracks.

"If I run into him, I'll be perfectly polite. Just like I am with everyone."

Felicity huffed. "Laurel, it wouldn't be completely out of line if you yelled at him. He deserves it! He just left town without saying a single word!"

"I'm not going to do that. And neither are you." Laurel's face suddenly got stern and fierce. "You are going to leave him alone."

"But — "

"Lissy, you promise me right now that if you run into him, you won't do anything to embarrass me. You will be civil at the very least and you will not breathe a word about me."

She grumbled as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Can I at least hack his cell phone and replace all his data with videos of porcupine farts?"

That brought a reluctant smile to Laurel's face. "OK, well he does deserve that."

For all of Laurel's assurances that she was over Tommy Merlyn, she was definitely doing all she could to avoid him. It started slowly, when she declined Felicity's lunch invitations because she claimed she had too much work to do, or when she didn't want to go grocery shopping because she was too tired. But when Laurel stopped showing up to coffee Saturdays, Felicity finally decided to put her foot down.

With Sara's help, the two younger Smoak-Lance girls cornered Laurel one evening after dinner in her bedroom.

"Laurel, you can't let Tommy Merlyn keep you from living your life," Felicity announced as she burst through her bedroom door.

Laurel quirked an eyebrow up at her. "I wasn't aware that that was what I was doing."

Sara barrelled past her older sister to throw herself onto Laurel's bed. Then she made a big show of rolling her eyes. "Oh please," she snorted. "You've done nothing but try to avoid him for the past two weeks. Ever since he came back to town. I don't even know the guy, and even I can tell you're trying to stay away."

"That is not true," Laurel huffed. "I've just been swamped — "

"With work," Felicity finished for her. Her tone was as dry as the Sahara. "Yes, we know. But we also happen to know that your schedule is completely clear this Friday afternoon. So since you're over Tommy Merlyn and since you're obviously not avoiding him, you're going to the Beach Bash with us."

Laurel gave them both a long-suffering look. "You've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Felicity demanded. "You went last year."

Sara nodded solemnly. "Yeah, and I need something to do around here that isn't drugs."

Laurel looked down at her book and let out a sigh.

Felicity slowly took a seat on the bed next to Sara. "Hey," she began gently, "I know you're over Tommy, but if you're at all worried about running into him, Sara and I will run interference. You won't have to talk to him at all."

Laurel looked up and bit on her lip, like she was trying to hide a smile. Finally, she rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine! God, you two are the worst sisters ever."

"I think what you meant to say is we're the best sisters ever," Sara said smugly.

Laurel laughed again and responded by grabbing her pillow and hitting Sara with it.

Felicity smiled, but it didn't quite make it all the way to her eyes. Sure, there was a plan in place to help Laurel avoid Tommy, but what would happen if she ran into Oliver? She was torn between hoping like hell it wouldn't happen and praying to deities she didn't believe in that she would.

Friday afternoon eventually rolled around and once the Smoak-Lance sisters got off work, they met at the Mudhouse and walked down to the boardwalk where the Beach Bash was already in full swing.

"You'll point him out to me if we see him, right?" Sara muttered to Felicity.

The older girl swept her gaze across the crowd, and sure enough, Tommy Merlyn was standing by the volleyball pits, talking and laughing with a group of people in his board shorts and a thin white T-shirt. She tried not to let her heart sink when she couldn't find Oliver anywhere near him.

"Yeah," she answered, jerking her eyes toward the stand. "He's over there. Dark hair, blue trunks."

While Laurel was busy looking around, Sara surreptitiously glanced where Felicity had gestured. Then her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wow," she breathed. "Well now I don't blame her for falling for the guy."

With Tommy on the west end of the boardwalk, Felicity and Sara steered Laurel onto the east end, claiming they wanted to make their own tie-dye T-shirts. Together they kept her occupied and far away from any Tommy sighting — until Laurel declared she was hungry.

"Why don't we get a funnel cake?" she suggested. "I mean, that's half the reason we come anyway, isn't it?"

Panicked, Felicity glanced over. Tommy was still over on the west side, but he was in the middle of a volleyball game with someone. He was occupied, but she didn't want to risk the chance he'd see Laurel.

"Uh, why don't I go get them?" Felicity suggested. "You stay right here." And before they could follow her, she turned on her flip flop and braved the other end of the boardwalk.

As Felicity got in line, she made another quick scan of the beach. Oliver, once again, was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't tell if she was relieved or severely disappointed.

Just as she was about to let out a sigh, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Turning to see who it was, she immediately felt her heart sink into her abdomen.

"Hey, Felicity," Tommy grinned widely. "Typical to see you in line for the funnel cakes."

Felicity frowned at him. "Hello, Tommy," she answered stiffly before turning away. Sure, she'd promised Laurel she wouldn't say anything embarrassing if she ran into her ex — but that didn't mean she had to say anything to him period.

But sure enough, Tommy couldn't seem to take a hint.

"So how are you?" he asked in his perpetually sunny tone. "How have you been? What have you been up to?"

"Different things," she bit out, still refusing to look at him.

"Like?" he prodded.

Felicity let out a sigh. Laurel, forgive me, she thought silently before turning around, her eyebrows fixed into an angry point above her nose. "Why do you care?" she demanded. "Are we supposed to be friends or something?"

That seemed to shock Tommy into a temporary silence, at the very least. He got over it pretty quickly, though.

"Of course we're friends, Felicity," he said, his eyes still showing surprise and now a little bit of hurt. "I've always thought of you as my friend."

She snorted. "Could have fooled me. Especially when you just up and left last summer without telling any of us. Without saying goodbye. Without even warning Laurel."

Tommy winced at the name and Felicity couldn't help the flood of vindictive pleasure that washed over her at the sight of his discomfort.

"She's fine, by the way," Felicity continued. "She's actually great. She's busier than ever with work. And she's over you. She's so over you."

He looked down at his feet, shuffling some sand with his flip flop. "Good," he mumbled, though his face looked like he meant the exact opposite.

With a harrumph, she crossed her arms and turned away. She refused to let herself feel pity for him. She held onto her anger with a vice-like grip.

But Tommy wasn't going to drop the subject so easily. "I guess I wasn't a very good friend," he sighed. "I should have been more open about things. I realize that now. You know, I wasn't even all that sure that we should come back, but when Oliver insisted — "

It was embarrassing just how quickly his name made Felicity turn around.

"Oliver? Oliver insisted?" she demanded. "Is he here?"

Tommy blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah...well, he's not here right now. He's back at the house, catching up on some work. But he's here for the summer with me."

It was like he had stolen all the air from her lungs with a single answer. Oliver wasn't at the beach, but he was going to be in town for the summer. The whole, long summer.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The person in front of her had finally gotten their funnel cake, so Felicity automatically moved up and ordered one. The minute the plate was in her hand, she turned and started walking toward the other end of the boardwalk as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to escape the length of Tommy's legs.

"Wait, Felicity."

She rolled her eyes, but stopped so he could catch up to her.

"Look, I know I made a big mistake, but…" he bit his lips and slumped his shoulders forward. "I just want a chance to talk to her. Please?"

"Are you asking my permission?" Felicity demanded tartly.

He gave her a wry smile. "I'm smarter than I look. You're super protective of your sister, and I know I'm not going to get anywhere near her if you don't let me."

Felicity couldn't help but grin a little at that.

"Fine. I'll...I'll see if she's willing to talk to you later tonight. But don't get your hopes up or anything," she warned him. "Just because she might be willing to talk to you doesn't mean you're forgiven or that you even deserve a second chance."

Tommy nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes! Thank you so much!"

Felicity waved him off and went back to the east end of the beach. Her two sisters were already sitting on a towel in the sand, talking about something when she plopped down next to them with the piping hot funnel cake in her hands.

Sara eagerly tore off the first bit and shoved it into her mouth. She let out a sigh of contentment, then leaned back. "If I had easier access to funnel cake in Colorado, I'm sure it would have been so much easier to avoid the drugs."

"Yeah, but then you would have been six hundred pounds," Laurel teased.

Sara waved that off like it meant nothing. "Still would have been healthier than heroin."

Felicity couldn't help but marvel at how easily Sara could talk about it now. Three months ago, she was hiding out in a basement, refusing all human contact. Now she was openly joking about her addiction problems. With a smile, she leaned over and pecked her little sister on the cheek.

Sara quirked an eyebrow up at her. "What was that for?"

Felicity returned her expression with a shrug and a smile. "Nothing. Just glad you're here."

The funnel cake slowly disappeared as the three sisters talked and laughed together. Once it was gone, Felicity got up to toss the paper plate. Then she took a deep breath and returned to her sisters, preparing herself inwardly for her mission.

"So," she began casually, "you won't guess who I ran into in the funnel cake line."

Sara, who was drawing patterns in the sand with her finger, didn't look up. "Who?"

Another deep breath. "Tommy Merlyn."

Just as she suspected, Laurel froze at the sound of his name and guilt automatically washed over Felicity. She shouldn't have brought it up, she thought to herself. She was a bad sister for talking to the enemy. She should have kept her promise to her sister and to herself to ignore the little twat.

Sara looked up from her sand drawing. "Wait, did he walk up to you? Or did you walk up to him?"

"He walked up to me," Felicity answered quickly. "I swear, he was the one who talked to me. And he wouldn't stop talking either. It was like he was using the funnel cakes to hold me hostage!"

"What did he say?" Laurel asked. She might have sounded calm to anyone else, but her sisters could hear the slight tremor in her voice.

Felicity sighed. "He wants to talk to you."

"Well too bad!" Sara said fiercely. "You should have told him to go fuck himself!"

Laurel all of a sudden looked horrified. "Lissy, please tell me you didn't tell him to go fuck himself."

"No, but I wanted to," Felicity admitted. "He just wants to talk to you. I told him I'd let you know that, but I also told him not to get his hopes up."

Laurel bit on her lip as she thought it over. Felicity felt a little on edge as she waited for her answer. Finally, the oldest sister sighed.

"It had to happen sooner or later," she said in a resigned voice. Then she got to her feet.

"Do you want us to go with you?" Felicity asked.

Laurel shook her head. "I need to do this by myself. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

She shot them both a tepid smile, then walked off to go talk to Tommy.

Once she was out of earshot, Sara turned to Felicity with a raised brow. "If she's not back in fifteen minutes, do we make up an excuse to go rescue her?"

Felicity frowned as she walked her sister walk away. "Make it twenty."

They didn't have to wait the whole twenty minutes, though. Laurel came back before their self-imposed deadline with a much brighter smile on her face than when she left.

"It wasn't so bad," she said immediately as she sat down. "We talked a little. He was very nice. It was like catching up with an old friend."

Felicity's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "And?"

"And nothing," Laurel answered. "It wasn't awkward, it wasn't weird. I think we'll be fine. We'll just be friends, which is great since he's staying here for the summer."

"But he say why he just left last summer without giving you any heads up?" Felicity demanded. "Did he give any explanation at all?"

"No, but he didn't need to," Laurel insisted. "I swear, Lissy, I'm fine."

Felicity didn't believe that for a minute. She knew her sister almost as well as she knew herself, and she also knew that Laurel had a penchant for self-sacrifice. She was willing to bet that Laurel was just telling herself that everything was fine, just so she could be close to Tommy again. She knew all this, she just wasn't willing to say it out loud.

Sara, however, didn't feel beholden to such compunctions.

"You're full of it," Sara declared after staring at her sister's face for a long time. "You're still in love with him, you just won't admit it."

"I'm not," Laurel sighed. "And to prove it, you'll get to see it for yourself."

That immediately made Felicity wary. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Tommy's having a dinner party tomorrow night. He's having a few people over and he extended the invitation to the three of us. I accepted his invitation."

Felicity felt her stomach drop and the blood in her veins go cold. "What?"

"We're going to a dinner party at Netherfield tomorrow night, and you'll see for yourself that I'm over him."

Suddenly her older sister's obsession with her ex was no longer her chief worry. "Is Oliver going to be there?"

"Yes." Laurel's expression turned apologetic. "I know you don't like him, I'm sorry. I just couldn't come up with an excuse fast enough to get you out of it. We can always pretend you came down with something at the last minute, though, if you really don't want to see him."

"He's the guy who called you stupid, isn't he?" Sara demanded.

Felicity nodded, but it felt weird — like her head was detached from her neck.

"God, I haven't even met either of these douchebags and already I hate them," Sara growled.

Felicity's answer was automatic. "Don't worry about it, Sara, and don't be mad about it. I'm over it. I was just curious."

It was like the script had flipped. Instead of Laurel insisting she was fine and over Tommy, now it was Felicity's turn to say she was over Oliver's insult — except in her case, she really was.

Sara and Laurel, on the other hand, didn't look so sure. "If you're so over it, then why does it look like you're about to puke?" Laurel asked in a worried tone. "Honestly, Felicity, if the thought of you having to spend any time with Oliver is making you panic, then please, don't worry about it. Sara and I can go and you can stay at home."

As painful as the thought of spending an evening with Oliver surrounded by a bunch of people sounded, it was even more painful than the thought of staying home and not seeing him.

"Don't be ridiculous," Felicity said automatically. "Of course I'm going with you. I'm not about to let you walk into your ex's house by yourself."

Laurel beamed at her sister and leaned forward to wrap her arms around her shoulder. "You're the best, Lissy. I love you."