A couple of weeks later.
Emma was awakened by Oliver's caress on her back. Actually he was following the lines of the tattoo on her back.
He smiled when he saw her open her eyes. "Good morning beautiful".
"Morning".
"It's a very beautiful tattoo. I was wondering what the significance behind it was".
She turned to her side, letting his hand slide down and rest on her hip.
"They are the names of my brother and sisters. Because I will never forget them".
He saw a combination of sadness and nostalgia make its way on her face.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I'll understand".
"No. its Ok. It was a long time ago". She closed her eyes reliving the moment.
"I never knew who my father was. My mother wasn't really a one-man type of woman. My older sister and I had different fathers and my younger sisters and brother, had one different from us. My mother was a drunk and when she sobered up, that's when she would meet a guy and things went back to normality, then it would go downhill again, she'd break-up and start drinking again. She died when Kate, my youngest sister was three. We were raised by my grandparents after that in Central City".
"How old were you"?
"I was fifteen. Zoe my oldest sister was twenty and had moved out by then with her boyfriend. One Sunday, Zoe had gotten tickets to go to the circus, we were all supposed to go. Unfortunately, I got sick and ran a very high fever, so I couldn't go. Zoe decided to bring Steve, her boyfriend to fill in my seat and they headed off, all of them in Zoe's car. The following morning when I came to, my grandparents were crying. They had been in a car accident. A drunken truck driver burned a red light at a very busy intersection and hit Zoe's car at full speed. They went and got sandwiched between another truck that was on the other side of the intersection. Zoe, Kate and Liz died on the spot. Steve and Evan died two days later in the ICU. Liz was nine and Evan was six".
Oliver was in shock, it was true that he had never, till this point, really asked much about Emmaline's family. He felt bad. "I'm sorry. It must have been hard for you".
"It was. I was angry and I also felt guilty".
"Guilty"?
"Yes. If I hadn't been sick, then Steve wouldn't have been in the car, and he'd still be alive. I know his parents never said anything about it being my fault, but that is how I felt".
"Did the guy go to jail"?
Emma bit her lip. "No. There was an investigation but in the end, they said there had been a vice in procedure and that apparently some evidence went missing and the charges were dropped. He got off scot free".
He frowned. That seemed so typical and at the same time unacceptable. She had lost those she loved and had not even gotten any kind of compensation in return. She had never really had any closure.
"So anyway, this tattoo is to always remember them and the infinite love we had for one another even if we were raised in a broken home.
He looked at his chest. "Well, it sure it prettier than my scars".
She touched his chest. "Oliver, we all have scars. Some of them are more visible than others. Mine are just hidden more easily".
When Oliver arrived at the lair, Felicity looked behind him.
"Where's Emma"? she asked.
"She and Thea went shopping together. I'm glad that they are getting along".
"Well I'm sure you are. It's always easier when your family gets along with your wife".
He walked over to her. "Felicity, I need you to investigate something for me".
"Sure. What do you need".
He took a deep breath. "I need you to investigate something about Emma's past".
"Wait? What? Ah no way. Why would I do that"?
He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I think Emma was wronged in the past and I want to see how, who did this to her managed to get away with it".
Felicity's eyes softened and she seemed pained at the same time. "What are we talking about exactly"?
"You know about her brother and sisters"?
She nodded. Emma had told her about it but not in thorough detail. "I thought you knew", she said.
"I found out this morning".
She turned towards her computer. "Ok so what are we looking for exactly"?
"I want you to see if you can find any details about the car accident and its investigation, maybe a report or pictures that can help us out".
Felicity started typing away. "Does Emma know you are doing this"?
Oliver shook his head. "No and until I see what we come up with, I'd rather keep it that way. I don't want to have things resurface if not necessary. You should have seen her just talk about it this morning".
"I don't like having secrets Oliver, you know that. Especially when it comes to Emma".
"I know".
He walked away and started training with John who had come back from running an errand for him at QC.
Felicity clicked and clicked away, she had found a news article about the accident and some bits of the expert report and the police investigation. It was an old file and had apparently just recently been scanned into the server but it was obvious that they had done a piss poor job at doing it considering some of the missing pages.
Oliver headed back towards her after an hour.
"Did you find anything"?
"Not much. There are lot of missing pages to the available documents. I don't know if it's done on purpose or not, but obviously, it doesn't help. I've found a few pictures".
She sent the pictures on the big screen and all three of them looked at them.
"I can understand why, most of them were killed on the spot", said Oliver as he looked at the wrecked car. "Do we know how fast the truck was going"?
Felicity took the tablet and flipped through the documents she had. "The experts estimated it at 80 mph"!
"That's way too high for a city road! Why would anyone drive that fast"? asked John.
"Emma said that the police stated he was drunk".
Felicity flipped through the pages again. "There is no indication here that he was drunk, but the blood test results I have here say that they were corrupted and that it was apparently too late to do another one".
"Does that kind of thing happen a lot"? asked John.
Felicity shook her head. "Even back in those days, being able to corrupt a blood sample was extremely difficult, it was easier to lose one. This doesn't make any sense".
"It is starting to make sense to me", said Oliver narrowing his eyes. "Losing the blood sample would have drawn too much attention, but it's obvious that someone wanted to cover their tracks".
"Yeah but who and why"?
Oliver looked at her. "That's exactly what I need for you to figure out. Keep digging".
He took his jacket and walked away.
"Where are you going"?
"I promised Emma and Thea I would join them for lunch. Call me as soon as you find something".
Oliver was sitting down at the table when Emma and Thea walked in talking and smiling. It was apparent that they'd had a good morning as they were both carrying shopping bags.
Emma kissed Oliver and Thea hugged him before sitting down.
"So", Oliver said smiling at them. "How was your morning? Did you leave any for the others"?
Emma laughed. "It's been fun. And don't worry, all of those are Thea's shopping bags".
"Guilty", grinned Thea. "I did try to coerce her into buying things but she categorically refused! I'll have to work on that, but at least she's got great taste! I'll be right back".
She stood and headed for the ladies' room.
Oliver took Emma's hand. "Why didn't you buy anything"?
"I don't need anything".
"Women always need something", he said mocking her.
"Well not me".
"Look if it's about money, you can charge it to my account".
She looked at him surprised and diminished at the same time and he realized he had just made a mistake.
"What I mean is that we are married, my money is your money. I don't ever want you to worry about that".
"Well that's what you may think but not only is it not the way I see it, but I know it's also the case of your mother".
He looked at her puzzled. "What are you talking about"?
Emma bit her lip for a moment. "This morning when I went to pick Thea up, I overheard your mother and Walter talking. She asked him to investigate if it was possible to set up a prenuptial agreement post marriage".
His blood started to boil. Why would his mother go about this behind his back? Even if he had asked Emma to marry him in the proper way, he would never have wanted her to sign a prenup.
Seeing his wordless reaction Emma put her hand on his face.
"She's just worried about you, I get that. Your mother doesn't know me or anything about me. If anything happened, she'd want to protect you and your assets. So, I'm going to make things really easy for her… your money is not mine and I will never use it or need it".
"But I want you to. All the money in the world means nothing to me, if I can't let the woman I love benefit from it".
"Ollie, I grew up with practically nothing and I managed just fine. I learned the value of money at a very young age. I've got my own little nest egg. If you want to buy me a present or something, then that's your choice and it's fine but I won't".
Their conversation stopped short when Thea joined them. They had a quick lunch and it turned out to be a great time. Thea begged Emma to continue shopping for a while before heading home and Emma agreed. She promised Oliver to drop Thea home and meet him at the apartment.
"Felicity? Do you have anything"? asked Oliver as he paced back and forth behind her.
"Maybe if you would stop doing that and making me feel extremely nervous and pressured, I might be able to work faster"!
He threw his arms up in the air and leaned against the table. "I'm sorry".
"What if we don't find anything"?
"Then we don't and it'll be over".
She stopped typing and said nothing for a moment, then she swallowed uncomfortably.
"And what if we find something that could change everything"?
"What are you talking about"?
"I managed to retrieve from the pictures the container number and hacked into the archives of the Transport Department to search for the logs and up till now I didn't have anything. But now, when I see this, I wish I hadn't".
Oliver and John walked towards her work station. "Why"?
"Because, I have the feeling I've just opened up Pandora's Box".
"Felicity, you are either talking in code or not making any sense? What did you find out about the container"?
She turned around. "That container belonged to Queen Consolidated"!
"No…. Felicity tell me there is a mistake, please I beg you"!
She showed Oliver the screen. "No mistake about it, even the manifest has the QC logo on it. I'm sorry Oliver".
Oliver walked away and left the club. He hadn't had to say anything. They were all thinking the same thing. Robert Queen had most probably paid off a couple of people so that the case would be dropped and he would not only save his company and reputation, but also his money!