A Queen for a King

by Secksbecks

"The name of the island they found us on was called Lian Yu. It's mandarin for "purgatory". We've been stranded here for 5 years. For 5 years, we've only had one goal…survive. Survive and one day return home. To live, we had to make ourselves more than what we were, to forge ourselves into weapons. Our names are Oliver Queen and Amelia Kingston."

1. Pilot - 1

Running, that was all that was heard as they felt the soft dirt beneath their feet as they pounded against the ground, trying to make it to the top of the cliff in time. Two pairs of feet quickly claimed up the cliff where they spotted a fisherman's boat not too far off in the sea. Sharing a brief look, the two nodded swiftly before one took off down to the shore while the other stayed upon the cliff, striking an arrow like a match before firing it, igniting the pile of wood that was waiting in a neat pile at the shore attracting the attention of the boat. The small figure waited patiently in the tree line as the boat slowly began to make its way to the shore. Soon, the archer joined the small figure, both of them sharing a relieved look, almost not able to believe that the boat was really coming to save them. Finally, after so long, someone had come close enough to the uninhabited island to see their signal.

After 5 years, they'd be off this island, but suddenly they were both struck with the same thought. Could they really go back to the real world? Would things ever really be the same?

When the boat finally hit the shore, the fishermen quickly scrambled off the boat, looking around frantically while speaking to each other in Mandarin. The pair quietly showed themselves to the fishermen, their bare feet and worn down clothes reflected how they felt, torn up and scarred, wanting desperately to return to the place they once had called home. The man pulled his hood down first before he falls to his knees, revealing his long beard and over grown, sun-bleached hair and his blue eyes. The second figure, a woman, lowers her hood as well, showing her long, wavy blonde hair, her blue-green eyes pleading as she was kneeling next to the man.

Oliver Queen and Amelia Kingston were finally going home.

"The name of the island they found us on was called Lian Yu. It's mandarin for "purgatory". We've been stranded here for 5 years. We've dreamt of our rescue every cold, black night since then. For 5 years, we've only had one goal…survive. Survive and one day return home. The island held many dangers. To live, we had to make ourselves more than what we were, to forge ourselves into weapons. We are returning not the boy and girl who were shipwrecked but the man and woman who will bring justice to those who have poisoned our city. Our names are Oliver Queen and Amelia Kingston."

---

"Oliver Queen and Amelia Kingston are alive. The Starling City residents were found by fishermen in the North China sea 5 days ago, 5 years after the two were missing and presumed dead following the accident at sea which claimed "The Queen's Gambit." Queen was a regular tabloid presence and a fixture at the Starling City club scene. Shortly before his disappearance, he was acquitted of assault charges stemming from a highly publicized drunken altercation with paparazzi. Queen is the son of Starling City billionaire Robert Queen, who was also on board but now officially confirmed as deceased. Kingston, who wasn't as much of regular in the tabloid's as Queen, is the daughter of the Starling City billionaire Maddox Kingston. The two had announced their engagement before they had gone on The Queen's Gambit, which surprised most people as Oliver's reputation was never a secret—"

Amelia switched off the television that was playing the local news which had their rescue story on repeat since the media found out, unable to take the drone of the anchorman's voice any longer. Instead, she was met with the deafening silence as she waited in the adjoining room to Oliver's at the hospital for one of the doctors to come back and tell her she was cleared to go home. What is home anymore? Running a hand through her now clean and freshly trimmed hair, she looked to the door for the thousandth time, willing it to open. The room was starting to feel like a cage compared to the open island she'd become accustomed to over the years. Sitting here, waiting, was about to drive Amelia to insanity, especially since the doctors had thought it'd be best to examine her and Oliver separately. She couldn't imagine the last time she'd be away from Oliver this long without knowing what was happening to him.

Sighing, not able to wait any longer, Amelia stepped out of the bed, her hospital pants hitting the floor around her feet, and made her way over to the door. Quietly opening it, she heard the voice of her doctor talking to someone.

"20% of his body and 18% of Amelia's are covered in scar tissue. Second degree burns on his back and arms as well as her torso. X-rays show at least 12 fractures that never healed properly in each of them." The doctor explained to who Amelia now recognized as Moira Queen, Oliver's mother, who has barely changed over the past five years.

"Have they said anything about what happened?" Moira asked, looking towards her son's room with a sadness in her eyes. She twirled the pearl earring in her ear without thinking. The stress of the situation clearly getting to her. Though she didn't know what real stress was.

"No. They've barely said anything. I'm honestly surprised they let us separate them. Those two put up a fight when they realized they'd be staying in separate rooms." The doctor paused, asking a deep breath before he continued. "Moira, I'd like you to prepare yourself. The Oliver you lost…might not be the one they found."

"Has anyone heard from her father yet?" Moira asked, glancing over her shoulder at Amelia's room.

There was another long pause before the doctor spoke again. "No. The nurses and myself left word for him, saying that his daughter was alive but there hasn't been any response from him."

Moira pursed her lips before she spoke, having an internal debate with herself. "May I take her home then? Before the accident, her father and Robert were best friends. She stayed at the house often when her father was out of town. She's like a daughter to me and her and Oliver were engaged after all. I guess technically they still are." Moira added as an after thought.

Nodding, the doctor left Moira to reunite with her son. Amelia closed the door, leaning against the cold wood, and felt nothing. It didn't surprise her that her father wasn't there, as he wasn't there for most of her childhood and teenage years. The Queens had become her family after her mother died, her father always traveling for business or just too busy to notice when she was around. Oliver had always been her best friend, and on the island, he became her only family and that wasn't going to change now.

The Kingston and the Queen families had been friends for generations, and since each had a child around the same age, Oliver and Amelia grew up together. Their fathers had been best friends, each having their own successful company and since one family had a son and the other a daughter, their fathers had come up with the brilliant idea that the two were to be married to keep the families close and so the companies would be even stronger. Amelia couldn't believe there were still arranged marriages in this century but the two agreed. They fought it at first but their parents threatened to cut them off, which was the worst possible thing they could think of at the time.

Amelia knew of Oliver's reputation as a playboy but she didn't care. She told him at the beginning that he could do who and whatever he wanted in private, as long as she had the same freedom. As far as they were concerned, their marriage would only be for show, almost as more of a publicity stunt. After 5 years, would they really be going through with that now? So much had changed for them and for things back in Starling City.

Sighing, Amelia decided that would be something to think about for another time as her head was beginning to hurt. Turning to glance out the window Amelia saw Moira starting to walk to her door. In a flash, Amelia turned and got into bed, making it seem like she never got up just as Moira was walking through the door.

---

After a few more hours in the hospital, Oliver and Amelia were finally released and able to go home. Moira thought it would be a good idea if Amelia stayed with them for a while, considering that she had no one to go home to, and the doctors wouldn't release her unless they knew someone would be able to keep an eye on her. The black sedan they were in came to a stop in front of the Queen Mansion, Amelia and Oliver stepping out of the car with Moira right behind them.

Oliver went around to the trunk, stopping the driver from removing their wooden suitcases, the only thing they had to bring back.

"I've got it." Oliver told him with a smile, taking each suitcase in his hands.

The three walked into the house, both of them taking in how much it hadn't changed.

"Your room is exactly how you left it." Moira told Oliver. "I never had the heart to change a thing. And Amelia, I'll have your room set up right across from Oliver's. Is that alright?"

"That's perfect. Thank you again for having me." Amelia meant every word of that. She couldn't imagine being so far away from Oliver. Especially with their plan having to be put to action.

"Oliver! It's damn good to see you!" A man with a British accent announced as he entered the room, interrupting the conversation, as he held out his hand for Oliver to take. "It's Walter… Walter Steele."

"You remember Walter, your father's friend from the company." Moira reminded as Oliver walked right past her. She placed a hand on Walters shoulder which Amelia noticed how sincere and very intimate the gesture was and she was sure that Oliver noticed as well.

"It's good to see you Raisa." Oliver said warmly to their maid as she made her way into the foyer.

"Welcome home, Mr. Queen. Mr. Merlyn phoned. He wants to join you for dinner." Raisa told Oliver but he wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

"Wonderful. Oliver? Did you hear that?" Moira asked, seeing Oliver's attention being elsewhere.

A noise from the staircase made Amelia look up to where Oliver was already staring to see the one person they were most excited to see. Oliver's little sister, Thea. Since Amelia stayed here a lot when she was younger, her and Thea had become extremely close, almost like sisters themselves.

"Hey, sis." Oliver greeted with a huge smile.

"I knew it." Thea said as she began to run down the stairs. "I knew you were alive! I missed you so much."

Oliver hugged Thea tightly. "You were with me the whole time."

After the small family reunion, Amelia excused herself to get cleaned up for dinner. Walking up the stairs, Amelia found her room easily, remembering which one was Oliver's. Opening the door, she found that it was a plain guest room that seemed too big for her yet too confined at the same time. The walls were a shade of deep red, a color that matched the dark cherry wood panelling around the room well. The bed was in the middle of the room, already made and ready to sleep in. However, it looked too comfortable for Amelia after her and Oliver had taken to sleeping on the ground on the island. After 5 years, she had gotten used to the firm feel of the earth beneath her as they slept and looking at the bed with the thick blanket and the fluffed pillows, she couldn't imagine herself actually being able to fall asleep on something so soft.

Looking to her left, Amelia noticed a door that hopefully led to a bathroom and she was happy to find that she had been right. Smiling to herself, she admired the huge glass shower as she started to rid herself of her clothes. Turning the water on hot, she stepped in, the heat not phasing her at all. As the water ran over her body, she glanced down at her torso only to see the scars that covered her once smooth skin. She remembered the pain of each one and she knew Oliver did as well, as she knew the pain each of his scars held. Seeing herself in this lighting, she noticed that her skin had just a touch of sun to it. She remembered how her pale skin didn't take to the sun very well before, but after being on the island, the sun finally managed to sink into her skin giving her that sun kissed look the she used to envy so much.

Sighing, she continued her shower, just standing under the water until it turned to ice. Turning off the water, Amelia wrapped herself in a big, fluffy towel as she stepped onto the cold tile floor. Walking back into her room, she realized that she didn't have any clothes of her own and that meant she had nothing to wear to dinner tonight or tomorrow. Groaning to herself, Amelia opened up her door slightly, making sure no one was in the hallway, before she darted over to Oliver's door and began to knock frantically and impatiently.

"Oliver, open the door." Amelia pleaded to herself as she kept knocking. "I'm freezing out here."

"Just a minute!" Oliver's frantic voice came from the other side of the door.

Unable to wait in the hallway in just a towel, Amelia opened the door and saw that Oliver was standing in a pair of sweatpants, looking over his scars in the mirror. He let out an audible sigh of relief when he saw who it was but his expression turned to confused when he noticed her lack of clothes.

"Why aren't you dressed?" Oliver asked, confused by Amelia's actions, which wasn't something that happened often.

Amelia looked to the ground, grumbling to herself, before she answered. "I have nothing to wear."

Oliver laughed which only caused her to get more frustrated as she smacked his arm.

"It's not funny!" she told him, "I have nothing except the clothes from the hospital and I can't wear that!"

Oliver rubbed his arm where Amelia hit him as he walked over to his dresser, pulling out an old pair of sleep pants and a shirt.

"Here." Oliver said, handing Amelia the clothes. "I'm sure Thea has something better you can wear for tonight and tomorrow until we can get you some clothes of your own."

"Thank you, Ollie." Amelia replied as she turned her back towards Oliver, pulling the sleep pants on under her towel before she let it drop to the floor so she could put the shirt on.

Oliver took in the scars on her back, slowly walking over to touch the one on her shoulder that mirrored his own. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Ellie." He whispered as the shirt fell over her small frame.

"Hey," she said forcefully, turning around to face him, "I'm alive and well, for the most part." She joked, eliciting a small smile from Oliver. "You did that. You protected me the best you could given the circumstances. If you weren't there, I'd be dead. So you did a damn good job protecting me." Amelia told him forcefully, leaving him no room to try to argue with her.

Oliver gave her a small smile before she spoke again. "Now get dressed! We have a dinner to get to that will consist of delicious food we've been missing for 5 years."

Amelia gave him another smile before heading to Thea's room. She knew coming back and returning to their normal lives after everything they've been through was going to be difficult but she hoped that together, they could make it easier.

As she made her way down to the end of the hall, Amelia noticed a light on under one of the doors and remembered that this was Thea's room years ago and she hoped that is still was. Knocking, Amelia waited until she heard Thea's voice tell her to come in instead of just barging in like she did with Oliver. Opening the door, Amelia noticed that Thea's room had changed a lot since she was last here but then again Thea had gone from being a kid to a teenager in that time and it still shocked Amelia that this teenager was still the little girl that used to ask her to play dress up when she would come over.

"Hey." Amelia greeted once she was inside, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey!" Thea returned, moving to give Amelia a hug.

Once she pulled away, Thea looked over Amelia's appearance and gave her a questioning look. Raising an eyebrow, Thea waited for Amelia to say something.

"I know, I'm not dressed for dinner but once I got out of the shower, I realized I didn't have any of my own clothes so I had nothing to wear. Oliver let me borrow this," Amelia explained, gesturing to her current outfit, "but I was hoping that you had something I could borrow for tonight and for tomorrow until I can get some of my own clothes."

Thea smiled, nodding as she pointed to her closet. "Of course! Feel free to borrow anything you want! You are basically my sister after all."

"Thank you!" Amelia said gratefully, immediately going over to Thea's rack of clothes to find something.

Looking through Thea's clothes, Amelia noticed that she had a lot of things that showed a lot of skin around the shoulders and upper back. Normally, Amelia wouldn't have minded those things at all but with her scars, she didn't want people to ask more questions than she already expected. Frowning, Amelia kept up her search until she found a simple black dress that had no sleeves but covered her shoulders and back so no scars would be exposed.

Pulling the dress out, Amelia quickly found a pair of light blue skinny jeans that had some holes in them, and continued her search until she found a plain grey v-neck shirt and a maroon leather jacket. Happy with her choices, she turned back to Thea and gave her another hug.

"Here!" Thea said, handing Amelia a pair of ankle high black boots. "These should go with both outfits."

"Thank you so much, Thea!" Amelia was truly grateful that she finally had some clothes other than the ones that the hospital had provided since her father didn't show up, unlike how Moira showed up and had clothes for Oliver to change into.

"It's not a problem!" Thea smiled at Amelia. "How about you and I go shopping for new clothes together? I have missed you over the years."

Amelia nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! I will need you to show me what is now in style as I've been unable to keep up with the fashion trends."

"Good!" Thea replied as Amelia headed out of the door to change for dinner.

Once Amelia had gone back to her room and changed, she was making her way downstairs when she noticed Oliver at the bottom looking at a photo of him and his father from when he was little. Amelia sighed, knowing how hard it was for Oliver to lose his father, when the front door opened.

"What did I tell you? Yachts suck." Tommy Merlyn announced as he entered the foyer, causing Amelia to smile, happy that Tommy hadn't changed.

"Tommy Merlyn." Oliver greeted with a huge smile as he went over to hug Tommy.

"I missed you, buddy." Tommy told him once they came out of their hug. "Amelia!"

"Tommy!" Amelia greeted back, being pulled into Tommy's arms.

"Don't think I haven't missed you, too." Tommy said as he pulled away from her. "I'm glad to have my two best friends back."

"Glad to be back." Amelia replied with a big smile, happy to see her other best friend as well.

After all the hellos, everyone made their way to the dinning room, taking their seats before they started spooning food onto their plates. Amelia and Oliver eyed the food hesitantly. It smelled delicious to them, but they hadn't had food this rich and decadent in years. Not wanting to offend Raisa, Amelia filled her plate as she listened to Tommy talk about what they've missed.

"Okay. What else did you miss?" Tommy continued, contemplating on everything that had happened the last 5 years. "Super Bowl winners... Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. A black president, that's new. Oh, and "Lost," they were all dead...I think."

"What was it like there?" Thea asks abruptly, causing the entire table to go quiet.

Amelia's head quickly shot up as she looked at Oliver, wondering what to say to the question.

After a long pause, Oliver finally replies. "Cold."

"Tomorrow, you, Amelia and I, we're doing the city. You two have got a lot to catch up on." Tommy says with a smile, changing the subject.

"That sounds like a great idea." Moira said with a smile, looking between Oliver and Amelia, who had barely eaten anything off of their plates.

"Good. Then I was hoping to swing by the office." Oliver announced, causing everyone to look at him, including a confused Amelia.

Walter was about to take a sip of his wine but stopped upon hearing Oliver's statement. "Well, there's plenty of time for all that. Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere."

Raisa had come out of the kitchen to set a bowl of pears on the table, Amelia immediately taking one as soon as the bowl made contact with the table. However, upon her leaving the room, she tripped and almost fell but Oliver caught her and helped her regain her balance.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Oliver." Raises apologized, visibly upset that she had embarrassed herself.

"Eto ne bespokoit'sya." Oliver replied in perfect Russian, causing Amelia's eyes to practically bulge out of her head as Tommy and Raise both look at him completely baffled.

"Dude, you speak Russian?" Tommy asked, slightly sounding impressed.

"I didn't realize you took Russian at college, Oliver." Walter commented.

Before Amelia had the chance to cover for him, Oliver spoke again. "I didn't realize you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter."

Silence enveloped the room again, the tension returning to the table. Amelia watched as Moira looked from Oliver to Thea, confused by Oliver's sudden outburst. Oliver's face remained unchanged, waiting for some kind of answer from the two sitting at the head of the table.

"I didn't say anything." Thea announced, unable to take her mother's gaze any longer.

"She didn't have to." Oliver said quietly, looking at his mother.

"Oliver...Walter and I are married, and I don't want you to think that either one of us did anything to disrespect your father." Moira explained to the table, trying to make everything better like she always did.

"We both believed that Robert, like you, was, uh, well, gone." Walter finally said, having trouble wording the last part.

"It's fine." Oliver told them, getting up from his place at the table. "May I be excused?"

"Hey, don't forget about tomorrow, buddy." Tommy told him with hope in his voice.

Oliver nodded and winked at Amelia before he left the quiet dinning room, leaving her sitting there awkwardly while everyone was just staring at her. Amelia definitely didn't have this kind of drama back on the island, nor did she miss this type of drama. Everyone resumed eating after Oliver walked out, in silence. It was almost deafening. Amelia felt for Oliver though. His entire world has changed, yet again.

"So," Tommy singsonged, trying his best to break the glacier that had formed in Oliver's absence. "Tell me, did you and Oliver, ya know," he raised his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner, "on the island?" He whispered it across the table to Amelia, like everyone couldn't hear him still.

"Tommy!" Moira scolded glaring at Tommy while Walter just shook his head as Amelia choked on the drink of water she just took.

"That's gross! Not to mention insensitive!" Thea suddenly jumped in, trying to save Amelia from any embarrassment but the side glance she was giving Amelia showed that she was wondering the same thing.

Amelia was about to just refute the statement outright but decided to make everyone feel just as awkward as they made her feel. "Oh yeah, Tommy. It was just sex island for five years! We did it on the beach, against trees, on the rocks, that was a bit painful, but we made do." Amelia responded casually, taking another drink of her water as if she just told them the weather.

Everyone's mouths dropped open, all of them completely stunned by Amelia's admission, no one quite sure of what to say next.

"Really?" Tommy finally got out, impressed and amused.

"No, you idiot. Of course not. Why is your head always in the gutter?" Amelia snapped at him, "If you ask me something like that again, I'll stab you." She said in the sweetest voice she could muster, pointing her fork at him.

"Easy! Wow, island life really made you hardcore." Tommy joked, trying to lighten the mood again. He shot Amelia one of his cocky award winning grins and dug into eating his steak.

"Fighting to stay alive tends to do that to a person." Amelia retorted back, trying not to show how true her words were. She couldn't help being short with Tommy. As far as she knew he hadn't done anything remotely hard or athletic his entire life. He wouldn't have made it five years on the island.

"Okay, well, now that Tommy has made things awkward for everyone... why don't we pick a new topic to talk about!" Thea jumped in, saving the remainder of the hellish dinner, thanks to Tommy.

"That's a wonderful idea." Moria added, sipping her wine.

The rest of dinner went smoothly, even without Oliver and he was about to get an earful from Amelia about that. Not even bothering to knock, Amelia burst through his door only to find him sitting on his bed, looking through the book his father left us.

"You, Oliver Queen, are an ass." Amelia announced as she flopped onto his bed next to him.

"What did I do now?" He asked, laughing slightly at Amelia's discomfort.

"You left me alone to eat dinner with your family!" She explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"They're basically you're family, too, Ellie." Oliver pointed out, thinking back on all the time Amelia had stayed at the house when her parents would travel, which was more often than not.

"Well, yes," Amelia admitted, "but that doesn't mean I want to be left alone with them after not seeing them for 5 years."

Oliver gave her a sympathetic smile, understanding where she was coming from. He really shouldn't have abandoned her at dinner but he felt like he couldn't breath sitting there at that table, hearing how much that had changed since they'd been gone.

"You're right. I shouldn't have left you there alone. I'm sorry." Oliver apologized, leaning back to lay next to Amelia on the bed.

"Can you repeat that for me?" Amelia teased, happy to see that Oliver was started to feel better.

"Not a chance." Oliver teased, shaking his head. "So tell me, how did the rest of dinner go?"

Amelia then told Oliver about all the weird questions Tommy tried to ask her once he left the table and then the started to make a plan for tomorrow, trying to figure out how they were going to get what they needed done with Tommy around until they were both yawning, exhausted from the last few days. Deciding that they probably shouldn't stay in the same room, Amelia reluctantly said goodnight to Oliver before heading into her own room to try to get some sleep. However, sleep did not come for either one of them.

---

The rain was pounding against the window, the thunder echoing through the house as the lightning flashed every couple of minutes, causing Amelia to have a dream, though it was really a memory, about what happened right before The Queen's Gambit went down.

The boat was rocking hard, Amelia could hear the storm outside her window, counting the thunder and lightening, trying to determine how far away the storm was. Storms had always terrified her, but this one was more frightening than any she had witnessed in Starling City. When the thunder clapped again, loud enough that Amelia felt her bones vibrate in her skin, she decided she had check on Oliver and Sarah. She knew that he was playing a dangerous game with the Lance sisters but it wasn't her place to judge. He was her best friend and she had tried to warn him about bringing Sarah before they got on the boat, but she knew once Oliver made up his mind, there was no changing it. Especially when it came to women.

As Amelia made her way to Oliver's cabin, the boat rocking so hard, it was making her sway, she could hear Sarah's panicked voice through the door before the power flickered. As she lifted her hand to knock on the door, she was suddenly thrown to the wall, the whole boat tipping over. She could barely hear Oliver calling Sarah's name before the boat was ripped in half as if it were made of paper, and she was dragged down in the freezing cold water.

Amelia tried to kick and claw her way back to the surface from under the dark abyss but she was having no luck, the current being stronger than she was. She was running out of air fast and she knew that if she didn't fight her way to the surface soon, she'd be left to rot at the bottom of the ocean. Fear suddenly racked her body at this thought and she violently trashed, trying to get herself to the surface. All too soon, her eyes were starting to tunnel and she could feel her body start to slow in their movements without her wanting them to. About to give up, she suddenly felt a hand under her arm and pull her up through the water and onto a lifeboat.

Coughing up the water that had seeped into her lungs, Amelia could hear Oliver still calling out for Sarah. "No! Dad, she's out there!"

"She's not there." Robert's somber voice reached Amelia's ears.

"Sarah!" Oliver cried again and Amelia felt him try to make his way to the edge of the lifeboat.

"She's gone." Robert insisted in his firm voice as everyone in the small lifeboat watched as the yacht they were just on sink into the dark abyss of the ocean.

Sitting straight up after her dream, Amelia swallowed hard, trying to shake the memory of that night as she laid back down in the bed. She honestly didn't know how she even managed to fall asleep, finding it much too comfortable after sleeping on the ground and if she was honest with herself, she was having trouble sleeping without Oliver. Finally giving up on sleeping in her own room, Amelia climbed out of bed and made her way to the door leading into the hallway. Poking her head out, Amelia checks to make sure no one else is awake before she headed towards Oliver's room. Carefully and quietly, she opened the door to his room only to find he wasn't the only one in there.

Laying in the floor, soaking wet by the open window, was Oliver with Moira kneeling by his side, Walter standing protectively behind her. Amelia was immediately alert, fearing that something is wrong with Oliver, but then realized that Moira is the one she should be fearing for.

"Oliver?" Moira called, reaching out for him. "Wake up. Oliver?"

Oliver's eyes shot open and in one swift move, thinking he and Amelia were in danger and still on the island, he flipped Moira onto the floor and kept his hand on her throat, unaware he was attacking his own mother.

"Oliver!" Walter exclaims, shocked by what he just witnessed.

Snapping out of his instinctive state, Oliver looked upon his mother, horrified by what he had done. Quickly releasing her throat, he moved back to the wall, tears starting to come to his eyes. In a split second, Amelia had crossed Oliver's room and immediately pulled Oliver into her arms, trying to help him the best she could.

"I'm sorry. I'm so... I'm so sorry." Oliver whispered as he wrapped his arms around Amelia, taking comfort in her presence.

"Oh, it's okay, Oliver." Moira tells him as Walter helps her up from the floor. "It's all right, sweetheart. You're home. You're home."

"Everything is okay, Ollie." Amelia whispered, trying to calm Oliver down. "We're not on the island anymore."

Moira looked at Amelia, feeling a wave of jealousy wash over her as she wanted to be the one that comforted her son. She wanted so badly to be the person Oliver ran to again but after being gone for 5 years, things were definitely going to be different.

---

The next morning, the sun was streaming through Oliver's bedroom window, causing Amelia to stir in her sleep. Slowly waking up, Amelia felt Oliver's arms wrapped around her in the same way they used to sleep on the island. The last thing Robert Queen had told the two was to survive and Oliver had vowed that no matter what he would protect Amelia, even while they slept. Every night, Oliver would hold onto Amelia, wanting to be sure that nothing happened to her. If she was honest with herself, Amelia had gotten used to sleeping this way, having trouble sleeping alone while they were in the hospital.

After a few minutes, Amelia noticed that Oliver's deep and slow breathing had stopped, and she knew that they would soon have to be getting up for the day, however, she didn't want to. For a brief moment, she wished they were back on the island, the place they had grown accustomed to, where she knew what to expect each day. Now that they were back in Starling City, everything had changed and she wasn't sure what to expect once she left the safety of Oliver's arms.

"I know you're awake." Oliver announced, not moving to remove his arms from around Amelia.

"Can't we hide out just a little longer?" Amelia asked, looking behind her to meet Olivers eyes.

"Nope. We've got work to do today." Oliver reminded her, slowly untangling himself from Amelia.

Groaning, Amelia reluctantly stood up and stretched, knowing that he was right. After agreeing to meet up after they both got ready for the day, Amelia made her way back to her room, making sure that no one saw that the room she was leaving was Oliver's. Quickly changing into the clothes Thea has lent her, Amelia then went into her bathroom only to find that it had been stocked at some point during the dinner she assumed. A new toothbrush with toothpaste sat next to the faucet of the sink, a hairdryer was already plugged into the outlet by the light switch with a brush next to it, and there was even a small bag of brand new makeup that was sitting in the middle of a counter with a note on it. Picking it up, Amelia immediately recognized Moira's perfect handwriting on the piece of paper with the words thank you. Smiling, she brushed her hair, watching as her usual natural waves bounced right back into place, and then she put on a light layer of make up.

As she applied the last layer of mascara to her lashes, Amelia took in her reflection and noticed how she looked more like herself than she had in 5 years. From the looking at herself in the mirror now, you almost couldn't tell that anything bad had happened but there was a hardness in her eyes. One that only came with having to endure what her and Oliver had gone through and even though they weren't visible, Amelia could feel the weight of each of her scars, the weight of everything that had happened and knew that no matter how similar she looked to her old self, she would never be that girl again.

Breaking her stare from her own reflection, Amelia walked out of her bedroom to meet up with Oliver only to find that his own door was open but he was no where in the room. Frowning a little, Amelia was about to make her way downstairs when she heard voices coming from the end of the hall and turned just in time to see Oliver knock Thea's door before opening it. Quickly, Amelia made her way to Thea's room.

"Ollie!" Thea exclaimed as Oliver opened the door, looking a little nervous as she quickly turned around in her desk chair with some girl standing next to her.

Oliver laughed a little, and gave Thea a smile. "It's nice to hear you call me that, Speedy."

Thea scoffed at the use of the childhood name they had given her. "Worst nickname ever."

"What, always chasing after me as a kid? I thought it fit pretty well. Maybe it still does." Oliver told her and Amelia watched as he eyed Thea carefully, knowing that she definitely wasn't fooling him.

Thea's friend saw the tense look that Oliver was giving her and decided to make her exit. "See you at school, Speedy." She said as she brushed by Amelia, keeping her head down.

"Sorry about her." Thea said, giving Amelia a small apologetic smile.

"I have something for you." Oliver announced pulling out the small rock Amelia remembered him keeping to give to Thea.

"You did not come back from a deserted island with a souvenir." Thea said, disbelief coloring her voice as she eyed the rock.

"It's a Hozen and in Buddhism, it symbolizes reconnecting." Oliver explained as he handed Thea the arrowhead rock that he had been holding onto for years. "I kept it in hopes that one day, it would reconnect me with you."

"A rock! That is sweet." Tommy's voice boomed from next to Amelia where he had just joined the group. "You know, I want one of those t-shirts that says "My friend was a castaway, and all I got was this crappy shirt."" Tommy joked which made Amelia scoff at his attempt at humor.

"Don't let him get you into too much trouble. You just got back. Take it slow." Thea wanted Oliver as he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry, Thea." Amelia reassured as she hugged Thea goodbye as well. "I won't let these two get into trouble. Can't go getting arrested on our first day back, can we?"

"Says you!" Tommy exclaimed at Amelia, a bright smile on his face. "The city awaits!"

The three exited into the hallway, making their way downstairs when Tommy spoke again.

"Have you noticed how hot your sister's gotten?" Tommy asks Oliver but when all he gets is a stern look back, Tommy quickly cleared his throat. "Because I have not."

---

The three of them had somehow crammed themselves into Tommy's silver Mercedes. Well, Tommy and Oliver were in the front while Amelia had squished herself in the back, glaring at Tommy for not bringing a bigger car when he knew that the three of them were going to be together today. Amelia as watching the city she used to call home fly by the window, wondering what had all changed since they've been gone when Tommy's voice broke her from these thoughts.

"Your funeral blew." Tommy told Oliver, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Did you get lucky?" Oliver asked, knowing his best friend all too well.

"Fish in a barrel." Tommy replied with disappointment. "They were so sad."

Amelia feigned a gasp. "No."

"And huggy." Tommy added, giving her a look in his rearview mirror. "And I am counting on another target rich environment for your welcome home bash."

"At our what?" Oliver asked, quickly looking at Amelia who wore the same puzzled expression as he did.

"You came back from the dead. This calls for a party. You tell me where and when. I'll take care of everything." Tommy told the two, excitement clear in his features at the reason to through a party. "Man, this city's gone to crap. Your dad sold his factory just in time. And why'd you want to drive through this neighborhood anyway?"

"No reason." Was Oliver's reply as he looked at the window at his father's old factory that had been abandoned long ago before shooting a look back at Amelia who nodded, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

"So what'd you miss the most, steaks at the palm, drinks at the station, meaningless sex? Unless you got some of that on the island." Tommy's eyes glanced up at Amelia only to see the glare that she was giving him. "Or not!"

"I already told you, that didn't happen, Tommy." Amelia said casually, watching Oliver and hoping he wasn't going to say what she knew he missed the most.

"Laurel." He replied, a sad look crossing his features.

Tommy sighed loudly, looking over at Oliver briefly. "Everyone is happy you're alive. You want to see the one person who isn't?"

Tommy had made his way through the busy streets of Starling City to an abandoned looking warehouse where he pulled in and parked his car. Tommy had tried to talk Oliver out of coming to see Laurel during the drive but the look that Oliver shot his way made him stop any arguments he had ready. Amelia knew that this was a bad idea and had hoped that Oliver would've waited longer than a day to see Laurel but she knew that it was going to be inevitable. She also knew that soon she was going to have to face Laurel as well and Amelia wasn't sure how that was going to go. However, she figured it wasn't going to go any better than the meeting between Oliver and Laurel.

The two girls had been great friends until Amelia's father had come up with the idea to arrange a marriage between her and Oliver. Amelia knew that Laurel had feelings for Oliver, and she had even told her that Laurel was free to date Oliver for as long as she wanted, that the marriage would be nothing more than for show. Laurel had agreed and been okay with that, at first, not realizing how much she would actually care for Oliver. Once things started to get serious between the two, Laurel started to treat Amelia differently, she had started to become jealous of Amelia, wishing that she could be the one to marry Oliver. However, the two girls knew that there was nothing they could do to change things and even though Laurel continued to date Oliver, the longer they were together, the bigger the wedge between Amelia and Laurel got until Laurel stopped talking to her completely, resenting Amelia for what she could never have; a future with Oliver.

Trying to shake away the thoughts that plagued her mind, Amelia looked at the once familiar buildings as she, Oliver and Tommy made their way down the busy street to where Tommy had told them Laurel worked, a place called CNRI. Tommy had fallen back a little as they got closer to the building but Amelia wasn't ready to give up on trying to change Oliver's mind. She knew that seeing Laurel was going to cause Oliver pain and she was going to try to hardest to keep that from happening for as long as she could.

"Oliver." Amelia had grabbed Oliver's arm. "Please don't do this."

Oliver gave her a look that instantly told her she would lose this fight. "You know I have to."

Amelia sighed and shook her head. "You don't have to do it right now. Give her time."

Oliver looked between the building and Amelia before shaking his head. "I have to, Ellie. I'll be okay."

Amelia exhaled deeply, letting go of Oliver's arm as he gave her a small reassuring smile before walking into the building. Amelia watched as he went before turning back and going to where Tommy was waiting for her. He gave her a small grin before gesturing towards the coffee shop that was across the street. Amelia smiled, and nodded eagerly, realizing as her mouth watered, how much she had missed the simple things of her little city.

After Tommy had gotten their coffee, he walked over to where Amelia was outside of the little shop where they waited for Oliver to rejoin them. Smelling the wonderful dark liquid in her cup, Amelia took a big sip and let out a slight moan at the delicious taste that hit her tongue.

"Do I need to leave you two alone?" Tommy joked, eying Amelia sighed deeply in content.

Amelia smirked and took another drink. "I've been without coffee for 5 years and I hadn't realized how much I've missed it until now. Don't start with me."

Tommy laughed at the mock glare she was giving him over the rim of her drink. He held his hands up in surrender before taking a sip of his own coffee, staring at the doors to CNRI. The both of them were wondering how things were going with Oliver and Laurel as neither had come out yet. Amelia hoped that was a sign that things were going better than she expected.

"Have you heard from your father yet?" Tommy questioned, carefully watching Amelia for he knew her father wasn't her favorite subject.

She shook her head. "No and honestly, I'm not surprised. He probably won't call until he needs something from me, like usual."

Amelia knew that Tommy understood what she meant by that statement, having a distant father himself. Their friendship had began by the two of the bonding over the fact that they felt unwanted by their own fathers. The Queen family had been kind enough to take them both in when they were little and their fathers would just leave them alone to go away on business. It was during this time that the trio became best friends and Amelia was glad that even after 5 years, they could talk as if nothing had really changed even though everything had.

"Do you think he'll make you go through with the engagement?" Tommy wondered aloud as he and Amelia had begun walking aimlessly down the street.

"Oh definitely." Amelia responded without hesitation. "I would bet now more than ever. The two young billionaires found after years being thought dead, only to finally be able to have their dream wedding and a family!" Amelia said the last part with venom dripping from her words.

Tommy laughed darkly at this. "Yeah, I don't see him passing up this opportunity. I can practically see the headlines now!"

Tommy glanced over at Amelia to her face was blank as she sipped on the last bit of her coffee. He knew her well enough to know when that happened, she was trying not to show how hurt she really was. Slinging an arm over her shoulders, Tommy pulled her into his side and gave her a squeeze.

"Well I'm glad you're both back." Tommy told Amelia, causing her mouth to turn up a little. "It had gotten extremely dull without you."

Amelia laughed and pushed him away playfully, throwing her now empty coffee cup into a nearby trash can. She was about to comment on how dull his life must have been until she saw Oliver and Laurel stopped in the street, neither of them looking very happy.

"Uh-oh." Amelia said, moving a little closer to try and hear some of the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, too. I'd hoped that you'd rot in hell a whole lot longer than 5 years." Amelia heard Laurel say to Oliver before she stalked towards them, brushing her shoulder with Amelia's. "How did you think that was gonna go, Tommy?"

"About like that." Tommy replied, looking between Laurel and Oliver.

Oliver had rejoined Amelia and Tommy and the three started to make their way back to where they had left Tommy's car. Most of the walk was silent, Amelia glancing at Oliver wondering what had happened, but knew it'd be better to discuss it later, if he even would tell her about it at all. The building Tommy had parked in was just a few feet away when he broke the silence between them.

"Okay, so we took care of that. Good call. Now we can make up for lost time. If you're not too sick of fish, I suggest we find some leggy models and eat Sushi all day. Don't worry, Amelia, we'll find you a male model, unless you want to try a female with us." Tommy said with a smirk. "What do you say?"

Screeching tires caused the three to look behind them only to see a van coming to a halt, blocking their exit.

"What're they doing?" Tommy exclaimed as a masked man had jumping out in front of them. "What the hell?"

Amelia and Oliver quickly looked at each other, both confused but suddenly on alert as to what was about to happen. The masked man in front of them suddenly pulled out a small gun and shot each of them in the neck with a tranquilizer. Tommy went down immediately but Oliver pulled out the dart to examine it, trying his best not to fall to fight the drugs that were making their way into his veins. Amelia looked to her left to see a man come out of a door, holding a bag of trash, and she tried to yell at him to get down, but her vision was already starting to get hazy and she knew it wouldn't be long before the darkness took over.

"Hey!" The man yelled, looking frantically at the scene before him.

One of the masked men quickly shot him down, and Amelia watched as he fell down, dead, on the landing he was on. Amelia looked over at Oliver who was trying to hold himself up on the bumper of Tommy's car. Amelia couldn't remember when, but somehow, she was on the ground and Oliver's blue eyes were the last thing she saw before her whole world went black.

---

Amelia was huddled into Oliver's side on the small lifeboat while Robert had his arm around Oliver, trying his best to keep them from freezing to death in the still raging winds of the storm. Amelia wasn't sure how long they had been floating in the sea but how dry her mouth had gotten, she guessed it must've been hours, if not days. Oliver's arm tightened around Amelia as another wave shook the lifeboat with such force, no one knew how they were still staying upright. Amelia watched as Robert slowly pulled out their only water bottle and handed it to Oliver.

"Here, son. Drink." Robert commanded, forcing the bottle into Oliver's shaking hand. "Give it to Amelia next."

Amelia took the bottle with her own shaking hands, taking a small sip, even though her throat was begging for more, knowing that this bottle of water was going to have to last a while. The crew member that was aboard the lifeboat, Amelia had remembered his name to be Gus, looked at the sight with horror.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Gus demanded as he pointed to the bottle of water between Amelia's small hands. "That's all we've got."

"If anybody's making it out of here, it's gonna be them." Robert told Gus, giving him a look that said there was no room to argue with the statement. Robert then put his hand under Oliver's arm and pulled slightly, causing both Oliver and Amelia to look at the man. "I'm so sorry. I thought I'd have more time. I'm not the man you think I am. I didn't build our city. I failed it and I wasn't the only one."

---

Amelia eyes snapped open as the black hood that the kidnappers had put on her head was ripped off. Her eyesight was little blurry but she could make out a voice not too far from her trying to get Oliver's attention. Blinking a few times, she looked up to see Oliver, zip-cuffed to a chair just like she was, only a few feet away with a kidnapper in his face.

"Mr. Queen." The kidnappers voice was a little high pitched as he tried to get Oliver's attention. "Mr. Queen!" The man lifted up a taser to Oliver's eye level, making it buzz threateningly. "Did your father survive that accident?"

Amelia watched as Oliver surveyed the room, just as she was doing. From the surrounding, she could see that the kidnappers had taken them to a desolate warehouse and by the lack of street noise, she figured it was in an area that no one would be able to stumble upon them. She guessed Tommy was behind her was his eyes lingered on something behind her but all the kidnappers were between herself and Oliver. There were only three and they didn't look like they really knew what they were doing, nor did they look like they were meant to hurt any of them or else they'd be using something other than a taser to get them to talk.

"I ask the questions. You give me the answers." The kidnapper said, waiting for Oliver to respond but after a few minutes of silence, the kidnapper turned to the one farthest to Amelia with his arm out before turning back to Oliver, driving the taser into his chest.

Amelia jerked in her chair as Oliver cried out in pain, wanting nothing more than to show the kidnapper what real torture was. Oliver's heaving breathing echoing in the empty warehouse. After a few moments of silence, Oliver caught Amelia's worried stare and nodded telling her that he was alright. However, this little exchange didn't go unnoticed by the kidnappers. Looking back behind him at Amelia, the man with the taser slowly made his way over to where she sat, eying her evilly.

"If I can't get you to talk, maybe she can." The kidnapper said, holding the taser close to Amelia's chest. "Did he make it to the island? Did he tell you anything?"

Amelia held Oliver's gaze, knowing that he wasn't going to say anything, as she prepared for the pain that was about to come. All too soon, the kidnapper shoved the taser into her chest, and the shockwaves of electricity coursed through her body which jerked against her will. She kept her mouth clamped shut, not wanting to give these men the satisfaction of her scream of pain. After what felt like minutes but must've really only been seconds, the kidnapper removed the taser from her body and looked expectantly at Oliver, waiting for an answer.

"Yes, he did." Oliver's voice held a note of defeat in it before locking eyes with Amelia again, giving her a slight nod.

"What did he tell you, Mr. Queen?" The kidnapper demanded, thinking that he was in control of the situation.

Oliver glanced behind Amelia again, looking at Tommy's unconscious form, before replying with a deadly tone. "He told me I'm gonna kill you."

The kidnapper laughed at Oliver's statement. "You're delusional. You're zip-cuffed to that chair."

Oliver lifted his hands from behind the chair, shocking all the kidnappers in the room. "Not anymore."

Amelia lifted her own hands from behind her chair, having gotten out of her own zip tie hand cuffs, and watched how in a flurry off movements Oliver took out the first two kidnappers in only a few quick movements. Flipping his chair out form under him, Oliver bashed it into the kidnapper with the taser, knocking him out before he turned to the second kidnapper and quickly disarms him, then with an arm around his neck, turns him around as a human shield against the third kidnapper with a gun. The third kidnapper ran quickly passed Amelia who had gone to Tommy's side to make sure he was okay.

Oliver started to bend down to check on them himself when Amelia shook her head and jerked it in the direction the third kidnapper went. "Go. I got him."

Amelia watched as Oliver ran in the direction that the last kidnapper had gone, knowing that it wouldn't take him long to catch him. She also knew what Oliver had to do once he caught up to the man. If the man got away and told whoever hired him what had really happened here, there would be an endless amount of questions and they wouldn't be able to hide in plain sight like they had planned. Oliver and Amelia had already promised each other what they would do if something like this were to happen, what they would need to do. No one could know their secret.

---

After everything had died down from the kidnapping, Detective Lance had come over to the Queen mansion to take the statement of the three, who were not sitting on the couch across from Moira and Walter. Amelia knew that this was not going to end well, no matter what they said, due to Lance's opinion of Oliver and she wished that there was a different detective in Starling City for she did not want her headache to get any worse than it already was. However, she knew that luck was not one her side today.

"So that's your story." Detective Lance said, his voice laced with disbelief. "A guy in a green hood flew in and single-handedly took out 3 armed kidnappers. I mean, who is he? Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Find him and you can ask." Oliver replied with a slight smirk, his voice light and nonchalant.

"Yeah. What about you?" Detective Lance directed his gaze at Tommy, holding up the sketch. "You see the hood guy?"

"I saw…" Tommy trailed off and looked at Oliver before he continued, "just movement. Everything blurry. I was kind of out of it."

Lance turned his gaze to Amelia, waiting for her answer. "I was still unconscious from when they had tasered me. I have no idea what happened after that."

"Yeah. It's funny, isn't it?" Lance said with no humor, but with a hint of malice. "One day back, and already somebody's gunning for you. Aren't you popular?"

"Were you able to identify the men?" Moira cut in, trying to keep the tension in the room from getting any higher.

"Scrubbed identities, untraceable weapons. These were pros." Detective Hilton told her from where he stood behind Lance.

"Yeah. Well, they probably figured you'd pay a king's ransom to get your boy back or a Queen's ransom, as it were." Lance said, before turning his attention back to Oliver. "After all, a parent would do anything to keep their child safe."

"I don't find your tone appropriate, Detective." Moira was always protective of Oliver, Amelia thought as she watched Moira stare down Lance.

"If Oliver can think of anything else, he'll be in touch." Walter announced as he stood, glancing between the two detectives. "Thank you, gentlemen, for coming."

Lance chucked as he stood up, Oliver standing up as well. "Your luck never seems to run out, does it?"

Detective Lance and Oliver held eye contact for a long moment then both of the detectives left the room, while Oliver made his way to the seat that Lance had just vacated, turning around to glance at Amelia and Tommy. Amelia noticed that Tommy had a weird look on his face, like he didn't quite believe the story that they had given the detectives, but just as quickly as the expression appeared, it disappeared and Tommy was back to his old self.

"Well," Tommy breathed out as he stood up, "that was awkward. Now that it's over though, I can get back to planning the party that you two so desperately need."

Amelia looked over at Oliver, wondering what they were going to do now. After today, she knew that their plan had to be sped up and that was going to take a lot of work, none of which involved planning a party. Moira pursed her lips, looking between Oliver and Amelia, before she spoke.

"Tommy," she said carefully, "I think that Oliver and Amelia should get some rest after what's happened today, and so should you."

Tommy laughed as he came to stand next to Oliver, slinging an arm around him. "Oh don't worry Mrs. Queen. These two won't have to lift a finger. I'll take care of everything! I'll let you know all the details once I get them straightened out."

Tommy gave Amelia his signature grin before he left the room, going to plan the bash he had promised them. Moira sighed, but she had a smile on her face as if she enjoyed things getting somewhat back to normal.

"Why don't you two go rest and I'll have Raisa bring you both up some lunch soon?" Moira suggested, even though her tone gave them no room to argue.

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Queen." Amelia was truly grateful for all this woman had done for her, especially since her own father wanted nothing to do with her.

"Please, Amelia, call me Moira. I don't know how many times I have to tell you that!" Moira chuckled as she said this, causing Amelia's face to turn slightly pink. "Now get rest you two!"

Oliver nodded, giving his mother a hug before he grabbed Amelia's hand to lead her up to his room. The two said nothing as they made their way up the stairs, waiting until they were in Oliver's room before either one of them said anything, lest they be overheard. Once in his room, Oliver closed the door as Amelia took a look around his room. She had slept in here last night and had even changed in here before the dinner but she hadn't really taken a look at it until now. Moira really wasn't kidding when she said nothing about Oliver's room had changed. It was almost like she was transported 5 years into the past.

Oliver's room still had those blue walls that matched the color of his eyes that blended perfectly with the light beige color of the carpet. There was even the same motorcycle poster that sat behind his desk that she remembered being there the last time she was in his room. Smiling slightly, she made her way towards Oliver's bed, flopping face first onto the comforter in the most ungraceful way. Oliver watched as she did this, grinning a little bit despite himself. He had felt so helpless as he watched that man use the taser on Amelia. Even though he knew that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, the need to protect her was still as overwhelming as it had been during those first days on the island. Walking over to his desk, he sat in the chair, turning in it so he could face Amelia who was still face down on his bed.

"I'm sorry, Ellie." Oliver said quietly, wondering if she even heard him but knew that she had.

Turning her face in the blanket towards him, Amelia furrowed her eyebrows at him. "For what?"

"Not protecting you." Oliver admitted, feeling a pang of guilt as he remembered the look of pain on her face as the electricity from the taser surged through her body.

Amelia shook her head and smiled slightly, sitting up to turn her gaze fully on Oliver. "You couldn't have guessed that our first day back, we'd get kidnapped and tortured. I mean, I thought that'd at least happen on day three or four." Oliver smiled at her attempt to cheer him up before turning back his face turned serious again. "Besides, I can take care of myself, Ollie. You know that better than anyone."

"I know, Ellie, but—" Oliver started, but Amelia held up her hand to cut him off.

"No. No buts." Amelia got up from her place on his bed and made her way over to his desk, pointing at the small book his father had left them. "Now come on. We have work to do."

Oliver nodded, pulling up information on Adam Hunt while telling Amelia what he and Laurel had discussed before their conversation had turned sour. Amelia knew that his choice was partly due to Laurel's connection with the man and not just the fact that his name was in the book. However, she figured this was a good as a place as any to start, not knowing who they would've chosen otherwise. Amelia unfolded the newspaper article that was on Oliver's desk, skimming it quickly before putting it aside, only to reveal the picture of Laurel and Oliver that was still sitting on his desk. Oliver's eyes lingered on it for a few extra moments, not unnoticed by Amelia, before he picked up the small leather-bound book on the corner of his desk. Already opened to the page with Adam Hunt's name on it, Oliver looked up at Amelia who just nodded in agreement, both of them too lost in their thoughts to hear Raisa come in.

"You are different." Raisa nodded at Oliver, holding a tray of food. "Not like you to read a book."

Oliver leaned back in his chair and smiled. "I missed you, Raisa."

"No kitchen on the island." Raisa commented with a smile.

"No. Not many friends either." Oliver stood up walked over to Raisa, taking the tray of food from her.

"Thank you." Amelia said, eying the food with a hand on her stomach, remembering that they hadn't eaten breakfast.

"Do I really seem different?" Oliver asked as he sat the food down on the trunk at the foot is bed.

"No. You're still a good boy." Raisa replied with a kind smile.

Amelia tried to hide the snort of laughter that threatened to come out behind her hand, earning her a glare from Oliver and a smile from Raisa. "Oh, I think we all know I wasn't." Oliver reminded her, moving to stand in front of her.

"But a good heart." Raisa reached out and squeezed Oliver's shoulder.

"I hope so." Oliver admitted. "I want to be the person you always told me I could be."

"Oh I'm sure with Miss Amelia here, she'll be able to help." Raisa said with a knowing smile, winking at Amelia before she left the two to their lunch.

---

After finishing their lunch, Oliver and Amelia had decided that they needed to up their plans, as the abduction was unexpected and had messed up the timeline they had previously planned. Amelia had already ordered their supplies, all untraceable of course, and now they just need to pick them up and head to the old Queen Factory to get everything ready. As the two exited the Queen mansion, Moira and Walter were waiting with someone Amelia didn't know.

"Oliver, I want to introduce you to someone…" Moira gestured to the mystery man standing next to her. "John Diggle. He'll be accompanying you from now on."

"I don't need a babysitter." Oliver replied, his tone clearly unhappy about this situation.

"Darling, Oliver's a grown man. And if he doesn't feel he needs armed protection—" Water began but was quickly cut off by Moira.

"Yeah, I understand, but this is something I need." Moira then turned to Amelia. "Amelia, Mr. Diggle will also be here for you as well, so please try not to go anywhere without him and Oliver."

Amelia nodded her thanks to Moira and Walter before walking to the car with Oliver. Oliver opened the door to the backseat for her before sliding in himself while John got into the drivers seat and began to drive with now destination in mind. Oliver had told him to go to some random place, both him and Amelia knowing that they wouldn't even make it there. Most of the ride was spent in silence until Amelia noticed they were nearing the drop off for their supplies and they'd need to make their escape. Oliver already had a plan for that, for he broke the silence, hoping to distract John with small talk.

"So...What do I call you?" Oliver asked in a causal tone.

"Diggle's good. Dig if you want." Dig replied, looking at them in the rear view mirror.

"You're ex-military?" Amelia questioned, a little shocked that an ex-military man was now a bodyguard for what he probably assumed were spoiled rich brats.

"Yes, ma'am. 105th airborne of of Kandahar, retired. Been in the private sector a little more than 4 years now." Dig focused his attention on Oliver now, looking at him in the mirror again. "I don't want there to be any confusion, Mr. Queen. My ability to keep you from harm will outweigh your comfort. Do we have an agreement?"

However, there was no response to his question because at that moment, Oliver had nodded to Amelia, signaling her that it was time. In one swift motion, Oliver open his door and rolled out onto the road before leaping up and breaking into a run, followed closely by Amelia who was right on his heels. She vaguely heard the screech of the tires as Dig had slammed on the brakes but they were already too far away for him to even see where they went.

Oliver and Amelia made their way through the slums, each of them now carrying a duffle bag full of the supplies that Amelia had ordered and had ready at a drop point. As the two reached Oliver's father's old factory, Amelia eyed the tall fence in front of her before tossing her bag over it. Oliver did the same before gesturing for Amelia to go first, interested to see how she'd make her way over the fence first.

Amelia looked at the stack of shipping pallets to her right, quickly deciding on her course of action and she ran up, grabbed the edge of one before quickly pushing herself off of it, her small hands curling around the top of the fence using her own weight to throw herself over it and landing gracefully on her feet. Turning on her heel, she threw a mock curtesy to Oliver, causing him to smile, before he copied almost the same movements to join her. Grabbing their respective bags, the two started towards the abandoned building again.

Oliver reached forward and pried the doors opened, causing them to groan and grind against years of disuse. They both walked into the old factory and Amelia noticed how run down it really was. Old machines were still lined up against the walls, a layer of dust covered everything she could see and there were still papers littering the floor. Oliver bent down, picking up an old annual report that had his father's smiling face on it.

Amelia reached a hand out, placing it on Oliver's shoulder before giving it a squeeze. Oliver lifted his own hand to grab hers, squeezing it back, but still looking down at his father's face, hoping that he'd be able to make him proud.

"Let's get to work."

---

The first day was consisted of Oliver demolishing the factory, making them a big enough space to work, while Amelia had gone out and to get more of the supplies they need. When she has gotten back, Oliver was wielding a pick axe, hacking away at the concrete to reveal an underground area they could use. Amelia put her bags down and sat on one of the dusty chairs, perfectly content with Oliver doing more of the heavy work.

"Are you just going to watch or are you going to help?" Oliver commented, turned to face Amelia.

"Oh I thought I'd just sit here and admire how good of a job you're doing." Amelia teased with a smirk.

Oliver scoffed, picking up another pick axe and tossing it effortlessly to Amelia. Standing up, she caught the tool, swinging it over her shoulder as she walked over to help Oliver.

The second day consisted of Amelia setting up the lights and computer she had gotten while Oliver organized all their equipment and everything they could possibly need for their plan. Once he was done, Oliver decided to train, waiting on Amelia to finish, by using the salmon ladder he had gotten and sharpening his arrows to an even deadly point than they were.

Amelia, who was cleaning her daggers after finishing setting up the computers, had turned around in her chair to see that Oliver had released tennis balls from the ceiling, pinning each of them to the wall with his newly sharpened arrows. Just as he was pulling an arrow from his quiver to shoot the last ball, Amelia picked up one of her daggers and threw it easily into the tennis ball, smiling at her still perfect aim. Oliver turned back to look at Amelia who just smiles innocently at him.

The third, and last day, Amelia and Oliver had everything set up and were now planning how to approach their target. Amelia had one of the computers on the news, only half listening to what was coming through the speakers, until a name caught her attention.

"The suit alleges that Hunt committed multiple acts of fraud and theft against the city's underprivileged. Laurel Lance, an attorney for the city necessary..." the anchorman continued to drone on, but Amelia had tuned him out again, glancing over at Oliver who was looking at Adam Hunt's name in the little leather bound book.

"What are we going to do about Hunt?" Amelia asked, drawing Oliver out of his thoughts. "He's been able to bully, bribe or kill anyone who's gotten in his way and it seems like Laurel might be next."

"He hasn't met us yet." Oliver replied, his tone deadly as he got up and grabbed his green hood.

Amelia stood up, grabbing her dark blue, almost black, hood and following Oliver lead as they both changed into their respective outfits. As Oliver grabbed his bow and quiver, Amelia started putting her daggers on, making sure she'd have enough in case things went south. In truth, Amelia knew she was only going to be back up for Oliver if he needed it, knowing that the longer they were able to keep her involvement in it hidden, the better.

The two of them quickly made their way to the parking lot that Oliver knew Adam Hunt would be leaving. Amelia stayed hidden in the rafters, watching to make sure nothing went wrong as Oliver made sure he was out of sight before making his move. The two stayed silent as Adam Hunt, another man, and two bodyguards started walking to his car.

"You remind Grell I put him on the bench, I can take him off. I will turn him into a cautionary tale." Hunt's voice barked out at one of the men.

"Yes, Mr. Hunt." The man replies.

"And this attorney Laurel Lance...you said she wasn't gonna be a problem anymore. I told you to fix that situation." Hunt walked towards the man. "Why are you still here?"

The man quickly scurried off as Hunt and his two bodyguards resumed walking to his car when Oliver killed the lights with an arrow before putting another in the first bodyguard. He groaned, holding his hand over the wound, before crumpling to the ground.

"Get in the car!" The second bodyguard yells as he shoves Hunt into the car, firing his gun blindly into the ceiling.

"Hey. You missed." Oliver's voice came out from the darkness, terrifying the bodyguard even more.

Amelia threw two daggers into the bodyguard, causing him fall to the floor with his own groans of pain as Oliver shot an arrow through the back window of Hunt's car, pulling him out through the newly shattered window.

"What? What? Just... just tell me what you want." Hunt said, from his position on the concrete as Oliver was perched in the hood of Hunt's car, bow aimed at his chest.

Oliver jumped down and grabbed Hunt by the collar, holding him against the side of the car. "You're gonna transfer $40 million into Starling City bank account 1141 by 10 P.M. tomorrow night."

"Or what?" Hunt asked, his tone more defiant now.

"Or I'm gonna take it, and you won't like how." Oliver had shoved him away, and started to walk away.

"If I see you again, you're dead!" Hunt called out after him.

Oliver shot an arrow through the back windshield of Hunt's car, causing him to look at the small hole now there. Oliver took his chance, jumping back up into the rafters with Amelia before the two took off into the night.

---

Amelia stood in front of Thea's closet in her robe, looking through the massive amount of clothes the girl had, feeling a little guilty that she kept borrowing her outfits instead of going out to buy her own. With having to move up their plan. Amelia didn't have time over the last few days to go shopping, and with Thea having school, she wanted to wait until the weekend so they could go together like they planned. Tommy had called Oliver the day before, saying that their welcome home bash was tonight and they should get there at 9, giving them an hour before the deadline Oliver gave Adam Hunt. She hoped that they corrupt man would come through, but she knew that wasn't going to happen and her and Oliver were going to have to take it from him.

Sighing, she pushed a skimpy dress aside, a little shocked that Thea was wearing these things out, but she hadn't dressed any better before the island so she had no room to judge. Almost ready to give up and wear jeans and a shirt, Amelia stumbled upon the perfect dress, thankful that none of her scars would be too visible in it. Grabbing it out of the closet, Amelia smiled at Thea before running off into her room to get ready.

Quickly, Amelia went into the bathroom, applying more make-up than she normally would on her face. She applied a light smokey eye look to her pale lids, contoured her face with bronzer to accentuate her already prominent cheekbones, and finished it with a dark red lip. Pulling back from the mirror, Amelia pulled only a little bit of the top layer of her hair back, a few pieces falling down to frame her face. Satisfied with her look, Amelia went into the bedroom where she had put the dress on the bed, and pulled it on.

Looking in the mirror to make sure none of her scars were too visible, she admired at how gorgeous the dress really was. The black dress came down to the middle of her thighs with a small amount of lace at the bottom. The long sleeves were lace, as were the shoulders, which hid her scars well and she knew that it would be dark in the club so no one should be able to see them. It had a low neckline, going to the lower part of her sternum, with a crisscrossing tie, almost like a corset. Slipping on her plain, black heels, she hurried out into the hallway, only to bump into Oliver who was about to knock on her door.

"Whoa." Oliver said, steading Amelia as she rubbed her nose.

Holding her at arms length, he took in her appearance and his eyes widen slightly. Seeing this, Amelia's cheeks turned pink, before she noticed how handsome Oliver looked in his suit. After not seeing each other in anything other than the clothes they had worn on the yacht for 5 years, they both were taking in how the other looked.

"Ellie," Oliver was the first to speak, "you look…stunning."

Amelia smiled, composing herself. "Well, you don't look so bad yourself. Come on. Let's not be late for our own party."

Oliver stuck his arm out for Amelia, chuckling as she took is with a fake swoon, and they made their way down the stairs. Saying a quick goodbye to Moira and Walter, Oliver and Amelia went outside to see that the car was already waiting for them. Opening the back door for her, Amelia was a little shocked to see Dig waiting for them, in the backseat. Amelia blinked, shocked that they were all supposed to fit back there, but slid in nonetheless with Oliver getting in next to her.

"Put on your seat belt, sir. Wouldn't want you to miss your party." Dig said, causing Oliver and Amelia to smile at each other while feigning innocence.

The car ride to the building that Tommy booked for the party was quiet, no one saying anything as the three of them were sitting in the backseat. When they pulled up to the front, Amelia could hear the beat of the music from outside, and through the glass windows, she could see the packs of people that were already there. Oliver led Amelia inside, Dig following close behind them, until they reached the top of the stairs that led down into the party.

As Oliver and Amelia started down the stairs, Dig staying in the background to keep on eye on them, Oliver pulled out his phone which read 9:07, showing it to Amelia who shook her head. Tommy noticed that the two guests of honor had arrived and immediately bounded up the stairs to meet them, signaling for the DJ to stop the music.

"Everybody, hey!" Tommy yelled, putting an arm around Amelia and Oliver. "Man-and-woman-of-the-hour! And, ladies, please give this man a proper homecoming."

Oliver and Amelia had made their way to the center stage by now. "Thank you very much, everybody!" Oliver said as he helped Amelia up on the stage with him.

"Ollie, Ellie." Tommy said, handing each of them a shot, while the crowd is staring up the two of them waiting to see what happens.

Oliver looked over at Amelia before smirking, turning on his playboy facade. "I missed Tequila!"

Amelia quickly threw back her shot, the familiar burn of alcohol hitting her throat, as the crowd erupted into cheers. Tommy held out his hand and helped Amelia off the stage as Oliver jumped down next to them. Tommy led Amelia over to the bar with Oliver following close behind them.

"You look amazing." Tommy complimented, looking over Amelia. "I would have never guessed you haven't seen civilization in 5 years."

Amelia laughed as Tommy handed her another shot. "Well, that is the wonder of a hot shower and hair products."

Tommy looked behind Amelia to see Dig standing feet away, watching her and Oliver closely but keeping his distance. Tommy moved so he was now standing in between her and Oliver before he spoke again.

"Hey. Does he wipe for you, too?" Tommy joked, nodding his head in Dig's direction. "Now, by my rough estimate, you have not had sex in 1,839 days. Unless…" Tommy trailed off, looking pointedly at Amelia. At Oliver's glare, he shrugged and continued. "As your wingman, I highly recommend Carmen Golden?"

"Which one is she?" Oliver asks, as Tommy turns him around to face three woman dancing on the stage.

"The one who looks like the chick from Twilight." Tommy responded.

"What's Twilight?" Amelia and Oliver asked in unison.

Tommy laughs a little. "You're so better off not knowing."

Amelia noticed Oliver's gaze was no longer on the women dancing on the table but behind them at Thea who was clearly buying drugs and not supposed to be at this party.

"Back in a minute." Oliver said, already making his way to Thea with Amelia close behind him, Dig hot on their heels.

"Ollie, hey!" Thea exclaimed. "This party is sick."

"Who let you in here?" Oliver asked, his anger clear on his face.

"I believe it was somebody who said, "Right this way, Miss Queen."" Thea laughed, not noticing how upset Oliver was.

"Thea, you shouldn't be there." Amelia told her, trying to calm the situation.

"I'm not 12 anymore." Thea was quickly getting defensive.

"No. You're 17." Oliver replied, as if that was enough of a reason for her not to be here.

"Ollie, I-I love you, but you can't come back here and judge me, especially for being just like you." Thea pointed out, and Amelia hates to admit it, but she was right.

"I know that it couldn't have been easy for you when I was…away." Oliver struggled to get the words out.

"Away?" Thea laughed dryly before continuing. "No. You died. My brother and my father died. I went to your funerals."

"I know." Oliver replied.

"No, you don't. Mom had Walter, and I had no one. You guys all act like it's cool, let's forget about the last 5 years. Well, I can't. For me, it's kind of permanently in there, so I'm sorry if I turned out some major disappointment, but this—me, is the best I could do with what I had to work with." Thea had turned to her friends at this point who stood not too far away. "Let's bounce."

Amelia turned to Oliver, showing him that she had gotten the drugs Thea had bought and threw them into the trash can, both of them deciding that they had made an appearance for long enough and could leave. As they were headed to the exit, Oliver bumped right into the last person Amelia thought would be at their party, Laurel.

"Oh!" Oliver says, stealing Laurel, realizing who he bumped into. "Oh. You're here."

"Tommy. He made the point that we have too many years between us to leave things the way we left them." Laurel explained before throwing Amelia a look. "Is there someplace quieter that we could go?"

"Yeah." Oliver responded, nodding at Amelia who walked back over to where Tommy was standing at the bar.

"Where'd Oliver go?" Tommy asked, seeing Amelia alone for the first time that night.

"To talk with Laurel." Amelia said, pointing up towards the observatory floor where she could see the two talking.

"Oh." Tommy sounded a little disappointed by the answer, taking another shot.

Amelia quirked an eyebrow at him. "Is that jealously I hear in your voice, Mr. Merlyn?"

Tommy laughed, throwing his arm around Amelia's shoulders. "Of course not! You know me, I'm not a one woman type of guy."

Amelia smiled but she wasn't believing anything Tommy was saying because the look in his eyes was completely different. Amelia was about to comment on that when the alarm on her phone was going off, indicating that it was 10P.M. Opening the bank account on her phone, she saw that it was still empty and Adam Hunt had missed his deadline. She had wanted to go with Oliver to confront Hunt, but he had convinced her that it would be better for her to stay at the party to distract from his absence. Glancing up from her phone, Amelia saw Oliver making his way down the stairs with Laurel no where in sight. Catching his gaze, Amelia watched Oliver nod to her slightly, trying to reassure her that he'd be okay as he made his way towards the service hallway. Clearing her throat, Amelia turned back to Tommy, putting on a smile to play her part.

"So, what have you been up while I've been away?" Amelia asked, moving from under Tommy's arm to lean against the bar, watching his eyes carefully.

"Oh you know." Tommy replied with a shrug as he downed another shot that he had ordered. "Just the usual partying, mostly missing my best friends."

Amelia frowned at the sudden emotion coming from Tommy, as he usually wasn't one to show this side of himself. "I'm really sorry you went through that."

"Oh, it's not your fault. It's not like you meant to go missing for 5 years." He joked as he pushed a shot towards Amelia. "Now drink up! This is a party and you have a lot of partying to make up for."

"Cheers to that." Amelia smiled and downed the shot, looking around the room for Oliver in hopes that somehow he would be back already. "Now, tell me. Who of the men in here are worth my time?"

"In this crowd?" Tommy asked, gesturing to the crowd of people around them. "Absolutely no one. Besides, I don't think Oliver would let me live if I let one of these guys put their hands on you."

"I told you, Tommy." Amelia sighed out as she rolled her eyes. "Nothing is going on between Oliver and I."

"You say that but I see how protective he is of you, Ellie." He replied, shaking his head at her.

Amelia was about to reply when she saw men in tactical gear pushing through the crowd, with Detective Lance and Hilton leading them through, one of them walking up to the DJ booth to stop the music. She sucked in a breath, looking around for Oliver, hoping that nothing had gone wrong, but she couldn't see him anywhere and that worried her. The entire crowd had turned to look at what was stopping the party, all of them just staring unaffected at the detectives.

"Starling City Police!" Lance yelled over the murmur's of the crowd. "The party's over kids!"

Everyone started booing as Lance finally saw that Amelia and Tommy were standing right in front of him. A dark look came over his face and he locked eyes with Tommy for a moment before his gaze fell to Amelia.

"Ms. Kingston. Where is your protector, huh?" Lance spat at her, hatred in his voice. "He abandon you like he did my daughter?"

"Hey!" Tommy snapped at him, causing Lance to direct his rage at him now.

"Oh, Mr. Merlyn. Imagine my shock at finding you here. Did you roofie anyone special tonight, huh?" Lance spit at Tommy, poking him in the chest.

"Detective!" Oliver's voice rang out from behind them, Amelia sighing in relief at his presence. "It's a private party."

"Yeah?" Lance's voice held nothing but distain as he spoke to Oliver. "Well, there was an incident at Adam Hunt's building tonight. You know anything about that?"

"Who's Adam Hunt?" Oliver asked casually.

"He's a millionaire bottom feeder, and I'm kind of surprised you aren't friends." Lance spat.

"We've been out of town for…a while, Detective." Amelia reminded, earning a smile from Tommy.

"Yeah. Well, he just got attacked by the guy with the hood, the guy that saved your ass the other day, and he had a friend." Lance supplied, hatred still evident in his tone.

"The hood guy. You didn't find him? I'm gonna offer a reward." Oliver turned to the crowd. "Hey, everybody. $2 million to anybody that can find a nut bar in a green hood!"

Lance stepped closer to Oliver, only inches between them now. "Did you even try to save her?"

"Okay. Let's go, partner." Hilton said, trying to pull back Lance.

"Did you even try to save my daughter?" Lance turned to Amelia. "Or were you too busy with this one?"

Hilton was backing Lance away now. "Sarah wouldn't want this."

"It's not–" Lance stopped, allowing himself to be pulled away by Hilton.

"Partner, let's go." Hilton said, him and Lance now leaving.

Amelia didn't miss the pained look Oliver had before he quickly composed himself, walking over to the stage and steading in-between two women who had stopped dancing when the police came in.

"It's way too quiet in here! This is a party!" Oliver shouted, a huge smile on his face now.

Getting down off the stage, Tommy pulled Oliver and Amelia to the side. "Some coincidence, I mean, you asking to have your party here, and Hunt getting robbed right next door and by the same guy who rescued us at the warehouse."

"If I were you, Tommy, I'd just be glad you're alive." Oliver replied, his voice still having the same light tone as before.

"What-h-happened to you on that island?" Tommy asked, looking between Amelia and Oliver.

"A lot." Oliver replied, his tone turning dark and Amelia knew that he needed to get out of here.

"Ollie…" Amelia slurred, pretending to be drunk. "I don't feel so good…"

"You probably should've slowed down on the alcohol." Tommy told her, feeling guilty that he had been feeding her shots all night.

"You were the one who kept giving it to me!" Amelia laughed out, stumbling into Tommy slightly.

"Come on, Ellie." Oliver said, pulling her away from Tommy and into his side, holding her up. "Sorry, man, but I got to get her home."

"Yeah, no problem." Tommy waved them off, still a little shaken by his exchange with Oliver but trying not to show it.

Oliver tucked Amelia into his side as they made their way through the crowd of people, Amelia still keeping up the appearance of being too drunk to walk properly. As she leaned into Oliver's side, she heard him inhale sharply, her eyes immediately going to his face to see a small wince that he tried to hide from her. Moving her hand to the inside of his suit jacket, Amelia ran fingers across his shirt where she felt a small difference in thickness. Frowning, she could tell that it was a bandage as she laid her hand over it, sighing at Oliver who merely shook his head at her.

"Not here." He told Amelia as they continued to make their way out of the party.

Once out on the street, which was still filled with people, found the car that had brought them here, noticing that the driver had left it unattended. As Oliver went to get in the driver's side, Amelia stopped him and pointed to the passenger side with a look that told him that this was an argument that he was not going to win. Sighing, Amelia climbed into the seat and started the engine, quickly pulling away from the party and taking them back to the lair in silence. Once they arrived, Amelia immediately went to get the medical supplies to help patch Oliver up properly.

"Ellie…" Oliver finally spoke as he sat down on one of the stools.

"Take off your jacket and shirt." Amelia told him, pulling up her own seat next to him.

"Ellie, talk to me." Oliver said as he did what she asked.

"I should've been there." Amelia sighed out, the anger evident in her voice as she looked at the bullet wound under his ribs. "I could've helped you."

"We needed to keep up appearances tonight and I'm sure someone would've noticed if we both went missing." Oliver explained as she pulled away the makeshift bandage he had hurriedly placed on his side.

"Screw appearances, Ollie." Amelia snapped as she took a cloth and cleaned up his side properly, thankful that the wound didn't look as bad as she had initially thought. "You could've been really hurt tonight and maybe if I was there…"

"This isn't your fault." Oliver told her sternly, watching her carefully as she grabbed a small needle and thread from the small bowl she had brought over with the supplies in it. "We need to make sure that no one finds out what we're doing so it was good that you stayed behind tonight."

Amelia frowned as she carefully pushed the needle through Oliver's skin, causing him to let out a grunt and give her a hard stare. She was quick with the work on his wound, only needing to put three stitches in his side which she knew would heal fairly quickly. Placing a clean bandage over it now, Amelia stood up and moved to dispose of the materials she had used and put back the rest. She knew that Oliver was right, that they needed to keep up appearances, but she didn't want to hide anymore.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you come with me." Oliver apologized, pulling his shirt back over his shoulders as he stood up and walked closer to her.

"I'm not sitting out again." She told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I know you said that I should stay out of sight but I can't. I can't just stay hidden and not help you."

Sighing, Oliver knew that there was no way he was going to talk her out of this, so he conceded. "Okay, Ellie. I'm not going to stop you."

"Damn right you aren't." Amelia nodded, a small, triumphant smile on her lips. "Not like you could stop me anyway."

Oliver smirked at her, shaking his head, turning his attention to the computer on his desk, making his way over and sitting down in front of it. Amelia came and stood next to him, leaning her hip against the side of his chair, watching Oliver as he pulled up the account that they told Hunt to deposit the money in. Turning to a second computer that was set up next to the first one, Amelia leaned over and quickly pulled up the accounts of all the people that Adam Hunt had robbed of their pensions. Within minutes, Oliver's computer screen was draining the $40 million from his account and Amelia's screen was showing the money being put back into the proper accounts. Smirking slightly, Amelia handed Oliver a pencil as he opened up the small leather-bound book to the correct page, crossing out Adam Hunt's name.

"One down."

---

Amelia had stopped keeping track of how long they had been on that little life raft. The storm had died down long ago, but there was still only vast amounts of sea around them, no land in sight. Amelia was curled up against Oliver's side while he had one arm around her and the other holding onto his light jacket as he leaned into his father's side. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, not sure how much longer she'd be able to hold on, when Robert's voice caught her attention.

"There's not enough for all of us." Robert whispered to Oliver and Amelia.

"Save your strength." Oliver told his father, his eyes growing heavy again.

"You can survive this, make it home, make it better, right my wrongs, but you got to live through this first." Robert shook Oliver, making sure he was awake enough to listen. "Protect each other no matter what. You hear me, son? Protect her."

"Just rest, dad." Oliver replied before starting to drift off again.

Amelia could feel Robert moving Oliver over away from him, for he was now leaning against her side and she was up against the opposite side of the raft. The next few moments will forever be burned into Oliver and Amelia's minds. Amelia heard the first gunshot, snapping her eyes open as Oliver tightened his hold on her shoulders, pulling her closer to him while also leaning back into the raft, terrified. Gus flipped over the side of the raft, falling into the ocean with a splash.

"Dad?!" Oliver's voice cried out, confused.

"Survive." That was the last thing Robert Queen said before he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

"No!" Oliver and Amelia voice rang out across the empty waters.

---

Days passed while Amelia and Oliver grew weaker and weaker with hunger, neither of them able to hold themselves up for longer than a few seconds. That's when Oliver leaned over the side of raft, seeing an island in the distance. Pulling Amelia tighter to his chest, he pointed, watching her gaze land upon what he had just seen. Amelia leaned into Oliver, not sure if she should be grateful or terrified for what lay ahead of them.