The day was ending, and night was beginning, and Josie was anywhere but close to being ready. She had managed to convince Tommy to go to his father's Humanitarian award ceremony, telling him that to be the bigger man is to not have any quarrel with anyone. Basically that he should support his father even if he didn't exactly like him. That sort of became a reality check for herself.
She realized that even though her father might be a flake, and puts his work before his children, Jonathan Wayland still cared about her. So she decided to call him, this time he apologized before her, and the two decided to accompany each other to Malcolm's award ceremony. It would be the first time she would have to dress up nicely, something she hasn't done for a long while. She found herself slowly falling back into the rich lifestyle.
She had a beautiful white dress that her father had bought for her laid out on her bed, and an idea of how to do her hair, but she didn't have anything done. She sat around her apartment, nervous about what to do. She didn't know if she could face paparazzi, to be able to get dressed and meet all of these high-class people that would only give her the Face and say their were sorry for her loss. She knew that was how the entire night was going to be, and she felt she wasn't ready for it. But with a little help from texting Tommy and listening to some good ol' up-beat nineties music, Josie finally was getting ready an hour before the ceremony.
She decided to have her hair pulled back into a milkmaid's braid with a few strands hanging loose. She put little pins with diamond accessories on the end in the braid. Her make-up was heavier than she usually did it and she decided to make her lips a flush pink. She finally slipped into the Alexander McQueen white dress with a jewel encrusted neckline. It was snug to her body and fit every curve perfectly. Lastly she topped it off with diamond studded white pumps. Looking herself over in the mirror, Josie let out a low whistle. "Damn I can clean up." She murmured as she marveled at her accomplishment.
A soft knock was heard at the door, and Josie hurried over as she looked through the peep hole at her guest. Smiling widely, she quickly opened the door to reveal Tommy in a tuxedo with his hands in his pockets eyes glancing around the hallway before they landed on the opening door. She expected him to smile and say something witty about how she looked, but instead he was dumbfounded. His mouth was slightly open and his light blue eyes were rather wide. "Wow." He mouthed as his gazed ran up and down her figure, soaking in all of the details of her apparel.
"I look awful, don't I?" She light-heartedly asked, trying to diffuse the oddness of his actions. For some reason she wasn't exactly liking how he observed her. It was the ogling she wanted to avoid for the night.
Tommy was quickly shaking his head, either trying to shake off how he was staring at her or he was disagreeing with what she said. Finally he raised his chin and gave her his classic smile, telling her that Tommy was himself again. "Sorry, is there a Josie Wayland here? She's about yay high," he said, raising his hand to where she usually stands when she's next to him which is about to his chin, "and she's probably wearing sweats since she doesn't like to dress up." Now Josie was chuckling as she swatted at his chest, causing Tommy to chuckle as well. He internally smacked his forehead for what he previously did.
It was bad enough he had told Laurel what happened a few nights ago, and now she is still giving him a hard time about accidentally staying the night at Josie's, but now its even worse that he was practically drooling over his best friend's little sister. He needed to clear his head, probably space himself from Josie for a few days and do something with Laurel to remind himself that she's the woman he loves.
He held his arm out, to which the young Wayland gladly looped her arm through, and lead her out of the complex and to an awaiting town car. The two idly chatted, avoiding what had happened a few nights ago. Josie felt awful about the fact that she fell asleep on Tommy, and that he was stuck trying to tell his girlfriend that he passed out at Josie's without sounding like he was cheating on her.
When they arrived at Merlyn Global, Josie gulped with fear. She could see through the town car's window that there was paparazzi lined up outside the doors of the building. She felt Tommy's hand intertwined with her's, and she snapped her eyes down to their hands before glancing up at him. He gave her hand a light squeeze and nodded. "You can do this." He quietly said. Nodding to herself, she turned back to the door as the chauffer opened it and helped her out of the car.
Tommy's hand had released hers and instead found the small of her back as he lead her to the double doors. The cameras were flashing, the paparazzi was roaring with questions at the two. "Josie, how are you after Colton died?", "Are you two together?", "What's your father's next move with his company?" So and so forth. She tried to ignore it all as she let Tommy escort her inside the building and away from the flashing lights. She blew out a huff of air she had no idea she was holding in.
"At least that's over." She said turning to Tommy. His eyes were watching something else, though. She followed them to find his father talking with a few people. Malcolm wore a practiced smile and he seemed rigged with all of these people around him. She caught a glimpse of Tommy stiffening beside her. She leaned closer to whisper, "You're doing the right thing by being here for him. And I promise I'll be right beside you." This caused the brunette to cast his eyes over to her, and smile warmly. She was surveying him with a sparkle in her eyes. Just the way she looked up at him, the playful smile she wore, the close proximity between the two became too much for him.
"I'm gonna go talk to him." Tommy said quickly as he gave her arm a light squeeze before he weaved himself through the crowd towards his father. Josie watched from a safe distance. She could see from the corner of her eye her father approaching with two glasses of champagne in his hands.
"You look stunning, sweetheart." Jonathan said as he handed his daughter a glass and kissed her cut temple that she tried to cover up with foundation. "I'm sorry about what happened a few nights ago. By the time I got there your mother already picked you up and I really didn't want to deal with her."
"It's quite alright. I doubt she'll be seeing me anytime soon, anyway." She grumbled as she took a swig of her drink. Her eyes gazed among the crowd of older people, not recognizing a single face. She immediately let her eyes fall back onto Tommy and his father, where the two were having a rather personal looking conversation.
"What did you do, Josie?" Her father asked, and she quickly glanced over at his concerned face. She pinched her eyes shut and placed her hand on her forehead.
Biting her lips, she frowned. "I may have said some harsh things to her."
Jonathan groaned softly. "I understand that you still dislike her. Our divorce was brutal, and I wish we never had to put you and Colton through that, but sweetheart, sometimes we need to learn to forgive and forget. Corrine and I were not very happy when we were married. I practically drove her into another man's arms because I cared more about my work. But I learned to get over the past and focus on the now." He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, "you should start doing that too." Josie drank the rest of her drink, not wanting to look at her father anymore. He made it seem that it was so easy for him to just get over everything, but she didn't think she could. She was known to be one to hold a grudge, and trying to get over how her mother abandoned her family was going to take a while. A long while.
Many people came and went to Jonathan and Josie, many of them doing exactly what the blonde had predicted and gave her the Face, all the while saying their condolences to the family. The last one to see them was Malcolm. He shook her father's hand and greeted her like he always does. "I'm glad you could make it, Joscelyn."
"As am I. Congratulations on being honored for such a great award." She replied with a forced smile. She excused herself from the two men, as she made her way over to one of the servers with a tray of champagne glasses. Josie plucked two and began her trek over to Tommy, who was stood alone on one side of the room. She approached him without a word and handed him a glass. The two drank in silence before the microphone rang out and everyone directed their attention to the stage. Josie could spot Malcolm making his way towards the front, situating himself between two other men.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." Stated a dark skinned man who had taken the podium and was waiting for the crowd to quiet down.
Josie continued to watch the man, but she leaned over to Tommy. "How did your talk go with your father?"
"Way better than how it was on my birthday. I'm glad you talked me into coming." And she grinned with pleasure. "I guess this is where you say 'I told you so'." Josie giggled softly as she shook her head.
"I'm actually starting to regret coming tonight. My feet are already aching and if it weren't for the endless supply of champagne I probably would already be booking it out of here." She said a little too loudly and a few people in front of them turned around and glared at the two.
Tommy placed his hand on the small of her back, and lightly rubbed it. "Remember that we're both here for our fathers." He said lastly before the man at the stage began to introduce Malcolm as the recipient of the Humanitarian award. The two clapped along with everyone else, and Josie felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She glimpsed around the room, and locked eyes with a Chinese woman wearing a white dress as well. She was striking, but there was something sinister in her smile that she gave the young blonde.
"The true humanitarian in the Merlyn family was my wife, Rebecca." Malcolm began in his speech, already causing Josie to feel uneasy. She expected some cliché thank you, talk about his company a little, say he couldn't do this without his son and his work, then maybe dedicate it to his wife and Tommy, and that was that. But already his speech was going south. "Many of you here knew her. She tirelessly devoted herself to helping those less fortunate in the Glades. I like to think that if the man who murdered her knew her; knew the work that she did, knew the person that she was, he would have helped her to her car, made sure she was safe instead of stealing her purse and shooting her." Now Josie was getting shivers as goosebumps rose all over her arms and legs. Something definitely was not right. Her eyes remained on Malcolm, who was now watching his son and giving him an apologetic smile for bringing up his mother. "The truth is, I haven't done enough for this city. My city. I failed it, but I promise you, I am not finished yet. I promise you that this city will be better for all of us." Josie glanced at Tommy, who was smiling proudly up at his father, soaking up all the older Merlyn was saying. "And on that day, I will look at this beautiful award, and feel that I have earned it. I thank you." And with that he was done.
Everyone gave him a round of applause, and Tommy felt more than happy to know that that was his father. Josie, on the other hand felt more than uncomfortable about the whole speech. Besides that, she also felt completely unsafe of where she was. That's when the alarm went off and the lights dimmed. Everyone remained calm as they slowly made their way out of the building.
"I need to find my dad." Josie told Tommy as she twisted around to face the crowd. Her eyes scanned amongst the sea of people, but for some reason she couldn't find a tall man with light brown hair and wired glasses. She began to call out for him as she weaved through people, but no one responded. From behind her, Josie could hear an odd noise, and swiveling around she saw just in time one of the servants stab a man from behind. He snapped his head up to find Josie seeing the whole thing. The man dropped the body on the ground and rushed off. Her hands flew up to her mouth, and she surveyed the crowd in a panic, desperate to find her father.
She wasn't going to leave until she was beside her father.
Jonathan Wayland wasn't showing up, and when she looked outside the large glass walls, she couldn't spot him from out there either. Besides a few stragglers, Josie was one of the only people left in the building. She tried calling her father, but he wasn't picking up. That's when she saw Tommy and his father rushing up the stairs. She thought about following them, but ended up heading towards the doors and hoping her father was already outside. Unfortunately, she saw two servants standing by the double doors, inspecting each person going out of them. She saw that one of the Chinese men was the same one that stabbed the man from earlier.
Making a rash decision, she decided to go up rather than out in order to avoid the men. She clambered up the stairs, nearly tripping a few times on either her dress or her own heels. She called out for Tommy, but he was long gone from her sight. Once she had made it to the top of the stairs, she was given two paths to choose from. She choose the right, which lead her to a few steps before a long hallway with elevators was shown.
She arrived at the wrong time. There stood the Vigilante, and the Chinese woman she saw earlier, except now she had white hair, two knives in each of her hands. The two were fighting as punches and kicks flew everywhere. Josie felt frozen where she saw, somewhat mesmerized by the way these two were combating, as if they've fought each other before.
When she finally managed to pull her head out of her ass and tell herself to get the hell out of there, it was too late. The woman in white had grabbed a hold of Josie, her arm wrapped around her neck, the blade of the knife on the blonde's throat. The Vigilante had an arrow already notched and ready to be shot, but it was the way his jaw was tightened and his body was rigged that told her he wasn't going to do it. Not until he knew Josie was safely away from the woman.
"Let her go!" He roared out, and the Chinese woman laughed. It wasn't just a simple 'let her go', as if Josie were just any civilian caught in the cross-fire. No it was an angry yet terrified 'let her go'. A demand that someone makes when a person they care about is the one with the blade at their throat.
"Reveal yourself." The woman said, as if it were a compromise. I'll let her go if you show me who you are. Josie thought of what she could do that would help herself and the Vigilante without getting herself hurt. She knew there was nothing she could do if she didn't want to get her throat slit. Instead she was trapped in the woman's hold, the cold blade cutting a little harder against her skin.
The Vigilante was conflicted as he debated on what to do. He was beginning to lower his bow when Josie shouted, "No!" She knew that even though his face was covered by his hood, his eyes were on her. She gave him the slighted shake of her head. She didn't think she was worth having him reveal himself in order to save her.
"Freeze!" And that's when McKenna Hall had joined the party. Her gun was pointed on the Vigilante before she saw the whole ordeal before her. Her eyes landed on Josie and the woman. "SCPD. Let the woman go." The barrel of the gun was now pointed at the Chinese woman, and while the Detective Hall and the woman in white were distracted, Josie glanced down at the woman's hand, trying to advise the Hood to shoot it. He gritted his teeth, and she knew that if he let the arrow fly, then McKenna would shoot.
Josie tried to find something to help the Vigilante distract the cop, and her gaze locked onto a fire extinguisher behind him. She gave the faintest nod towards it, and the two had finally come up with a plan. In a flash, the Vigilante shot at the fire extinguisher, as the contents within it rushed out, blinding the cop from the stand-off before her. As quickly as he could, the Hood reloaded an arrow, and quickly shot at the Chinese woman's hand. Josie threw her head back and head butted the woman. She instinctively shoved the blonde as a last resort, causing Josie to slam against the wall.
The Vigilante quickly went to check on her, before he took off in pursuit of the woman in white. A gun shot rang out, and all that was left in the hall was an injured Josie and the bodies of the servant men. "Damn it." Josie could faintly hear Hall hiss before the cop rushed to her and helped her roll onto her back. "Your cut on your head reopened but you didn't get much else." McKenna reported as she helped dab a little at the blood. She decided to help Josie back down the stairs and out of the building, losing her trace on the Vigilante. The blonde knew she was a little pissed at her for helping the Vigilante get away, but they both knew there was definitely going to be more chances of Hall catching him.
Once outside, the two women were confronted by Detective Lance. "Found her in a chokehold of some Chinese woman, the Vigilante having an arrow pointed at the woman. They both got away, but Ms. Wayland here managed to get herself free, with a little help from the Vigilante." Lance frowned a little from the news, but faced Sara's best friend with a worried look on his face.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, and she nodded. "Good. I know your father is around here, freaking out about not knowing where you are. Why don't we find him, and then get you check by a medic, okay?" She nodded again as he wrapped his arm protective around her shoulders and lead her into the crowd, where they finally came across a crazed Jonathan, who engulfed his daughter in a tight hug and told her to never leave his side again.
The medics ruled her injuries as a minor concussion and possibly more bruises, but she was very lucky about how she got away. They told her father the best thing to do was to keep her awake since she could slip into unconsciousness and that's not what they want. They said to keep her talking, and when she reports not having anymore headaches or dizziness is when she can rest.
All attention was directed towards the building, though, as Malcolm Merlyn was wheeled out on a stretcher with Tommy right beside him, and the Detectives following him. He seemed annoyed with what they were asking him, and finally turned to them and growled one last thing before he followed his father to an ambulance where they put Malcolm in. Josie, clueless of what was going on, got up from where she was on the back of another ambulance, and made her way over to Tommy. "What happened?" She asked.
The younger Merlyn turned around to face her, and was shocked to find her bloody and damaged. "What happened to you?" He inquired, as he shrugged off his coat, and placed it on her shoulders. He then took her face in his hands, as he examined the gash. Her own hands wrapped around his as she slowly took them off her cheeks.
"Never mind me, Tommy. What happened to your father?" She asked, and he explained everything. That they were trying to get to his father's panic room, but two guards stopped them and his father killed them. That when they finally did get into the room, a window was broken and his father was shot even though he had on a bulletproof vest. That the Vigilante had come and talked Tommy into giving his father a blood transfusion if he wanted to save his father's life. But Josie felt like he was leaving out something.
Jonathan had come over, and offered to drive Tommy to the hospital. Josie decided to tag along since she wanted to be there for Tommy. The car ride was filled with silence, and when they arrived at the hospital, Josie could clearly tell that there was something bothering Tommy, and it wasn't just about what had happened to his father. Jonathan had run into Moria as they were entering the hospital, and the two had stepped off to the side to talk.
"What's going on, Tommy?" Josie asked softly as the two made their way to the front desk to see where Malcolm was taken. He merely shook his head as the two got a room number and headed to the elevators. She grabbed hold of his arm, causing the two to abruptly stop, and forced him to face her. "Why have you been so odd tonight? First you don't talk to me very much during the ceremony, and then after the whole thing with your dad…I just feel like you're not telling me something."
He clenched his jaw, and she frowned when he shrugged her off. He entered the elevator when it opened, but she stayed where she was. The doors shut on a frustrated looking Josie and a guilty Tommy.
Josie decided to wait for her father, but Oliver came before he did. Josie was planted in one of the chairs near the elevator, chewing on her nails. She still had on her dress, Tommy's coat around her shoulders, and her hair was falling out from where she had it pinned up. Oliver quickly went over to her, silently sitting in the seat beside her. "My mom told me what happened, how are you?" He asked with a kind tone. She expected it to be all formal and polite sounding, but instead it was his causal voice he uses when he's talking with his friends.
Her eyes never went to his. She looked anywhere but him. "I'm fine. I just have a concussion." There was a pause before she finally did gaze up at him, her green eyes searching his. "So are you suddenly going to act as if nothing happened? That you've been avoiding me for the past week and then once I get hurt you pretend as if you had just spoken with me yesterday?"
He exhaled, knowing sooner or later he was going to have to face her. He plastered on his poker face, something he usually did when he tried to talk about something personal with someone, but it left his face when he saw how hurt she looked. She had butterfly band-aids on her cuts, and her eyes were red and watery. He really did mess up with her, especially since he didn't face the problem sooner. She was left feeling guilty after what happened that morning of Tommy's birthday, and him avoiding her only made things worse. "I'm sorry. I was being childish of the fact that I didn't talk this out with you and instead just avoided you." He was now the one to look anywhere but at her. "It's my fault that I didn't try to stop you sooner, and it's my fault for leaving you feeling guilty and not trying to explain to you…" He trailed, not really knowing what he was saying. He raked a hand through his hair before it went down his face. "Okay…you know I've never been good with talking about…feelings." She snorted, nodding with raised brows. "But it's just that I am in a committed relationship, and I really didn't want to ruin it. I do care about you, Josie, it's just that I don't want to mess up anything."
It was enough for her to hear. She was already torturing him by making him try to explain why he was avoiding her. "Look, I should be apologizing too. I tried to kiss you, and I wasn't really thinking, and I'm sorry for putting you in that situation. Just, please, if anything like that happens again, lets try to talk it out like adults instead of acting like children and avoiding each other." Oliver chuckled and nodded, and she leaned over, wrapping her arms around him. He held her as close as he could while still sitting.
"I should probably go. I want to check in with Tommy and see how he's doing, and apologize to my girlfriend since I ran out on her because something came up with the club's lighting situation." Josie nodded in understanding, and let him go. He leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek before getting up and heading towards the elevators.
She was overpowered with tiredness, and couldn't help herself as she leaned her head back against the wall, and slowly drifted off into unconsciousness. All of which her dreams were filled of Oliver.
So she and Oliver made up, and Josie found herself in more danger. I promise I'm going somewhere with this whole Tommy, thing, just trust me.
To answer your question, highlander348, yes she is. She'll find out Oliver's secret in Season 1, that I can promise. And seeing from this chapter, she'll definitely be developing her badassery through the later chapters.
Finally finished with Dead to Rights, and next is Huntress Returns! Helena is back in town!
Anyway, favorite and follow if you havent, and review please! I love getting feedback from you guys! It really does make my day!