After passing out at the hospital and not waking up for about twelve hours, Jonathan decided that after Josie was discharged from the hospital, she would be staying with him. He also decided that day to hire Josie a bodyguard so that nothing horrible happens to her. Ever again.

Moira had suggested a man named John Diggle to be looking after Josie. Jonathan decided to do a background check, and declared that this man would be perfect. It was about two days after the Humanitarian fiasco, Josie had gotten up early and showered quickly. She wanted to make a quick trip down to Starling City East to see if any teachers were considering for a student teacher or substitute anytime soon. She bustled down the stairs in navy blue dress pants, an off-white blouse tucked into them, and tan pumps, a file of all paperwork needed in one hand, purse in the other. She passed the living room to rush to the kitchen to get a quick snack when something caught her eye.

Back tracking, she saw her father conversing with a dark skinned man. The man was broad, bald, and professional looking in a black suit. Jonathan grinned at his daughter's arrival, and waved her into the room. "Josie, this is a friend of Moira's and Oliver's, his name is John Diggle." Josie plastered on a smile, greeting the man and shaking his hand. "He'll be accompanying you from now on." Her smile immediately dropped, and she swiveled to face her father.

"As in a bodyguard? Look, Dad, I know that I've been unfortunate lately with-" She began, trying to talk him out of it, but Jonathan was stubborn. He shook his head furiously, frowning.

"We cant take anymore risks, Jo." He crossed over to her, before placing his hands on her shoulders and staring deeply into her green eyes. "I don't want to lose you too, sweetheart. I cant." He mumbled the last part, and leaned forward, kissing her forehead. "Please just do this, for me." He begged, and she sighed.

"Okay." She muttered, before turning to face Diggle. "So what do you prefer? Diggle, Mr. Diggle, John, bodyguard?" She asked in a charismatic tone, and Diggle chuckled, already liking her more than he liked Oliver at the beginning.

"Diggle or John is fine. Whichever you prefer." He nodded towards her outfit and folder. "Going somewhere?" He politely asked.

Josie held up the folder, inspecting it. "I've been trying to get a teaching position as a student teacher or substitute around here, but I've had no luck lately. Trying my fourth choice for a high school." She groaned out.

"Well hopefully four is the magic number." Jonathan said before he kissed his daughter's temple and shook hands with Diggle. "I've got a meeting in twenty minutes that I don't want to be late for. Hope all goes well, Josie, and thank you again Mr. Diggle for agreeing to do this."

"I'm more than happy to be here, sir." Diggle stated comfortably to his new employer. Jonathan had left the mansion, leaving Josie and Diggle alone together.

Josie glanced at her watch, and saw that she needed to get moving if she wanted to talk with some teachers before the school day started. "I'm going to grab a snack from the kitchen then head on out. Is there a possibility we could stop at Starbucks before we go to Starling City East?"

"Sure. But might I suggest a place that is better than Starbucks and cheaper?" Diggle offered as he followed her to the kitchen. From there Josie picked a red apple and small blueberry muffin, handing one to Diggle.

"As long as you're driving than I am fine with it." She stated as the two headed out the front door.

"It's my job, Miss"

Josie turned around to face him with a scowl. "No 'Miss', just Josie. Then, when we know each other better, maybe Jo."

…

The day went well. Josie had come at the right time. A teacher was in desperate need for a long term substitute since she was going on maternity leave, but she had been having a hard time finding the right sub for her class. She set up a mini interview with Josie before stating that she was perfect for the job. Best part being that the teacher was an English teacher, the subject Josie had majored in and specified her credential for. It was only for two months, but she was happy to get the job. She called Laurel to share her good news, and Laurel suggested for lunch the next day to celebrate. She said she really needed to talk to Josie anyway, but wanted to do it face to face. When Josie asked why they couldn't do it tonight at Verdant, the opening night to Tommy and Oliver's nightclub, Laurel said that lunch would just be better.

Josie offered to take Diggle to lunch, and the two agreed upon Big Belly Burger rather quickly. They had ordered and seated themselves, chatting lightly about Diggle's time in Afghanistan, which Josie was very interested in. She loved hearing about adventures and risky experiences people had in their lives. It made her realize that while life was precious, it shouldn't be wasted. She wanted to value her time, and spent it doing exotic and wild things. Create memories and go on adventures. She was so in tuned to hearing about how Diggle and his ex-wife had met while on a tour, that when he broke character to call someone over, she thought he was still talking about his story. Quickly glancing up, she faced a woman with her blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail, square glasses, and a lavender dress shirt tucked into a black pencil skirt.

"Josie, this is my friend Felicity Smoak. Felicity this is-"

"Josie Wayland, I know. I've heard a lot about you, from Oliver, because he is my boss, and kind of my friend, and he likes to talk about you. You actually prettier in person…and I'm going to stop babbling now." She quips, wringing her hands. Diggle slid further down the booth to offer her more room, and Felicity gladly took the spot. Josie was smiling the whole time.

Looking towards Diggle, she directed a finger towards Felicity. "I like her." She gladly said, and Felicity grinned as she adjusted her glasses. "I wish Oliver told me about you. He's probably keeping me from you because he doesn't like to share." And the two girls laughed while Diggle intuitively nodded.

"Sounds like him." He muttered, as their food was settled before them. They all dug in, and Felicity soon joined in with their conversations, talking about work, and a few memories from college. Soon enough, the two girls had delved into the topic of boyfriends, by that time Diggle had excused himself from their conversation to go talk to a woman who was working at the bar.

"I dated this guy my sophomore year. He was six foot four-" Josie began, as she popped a fry into her mouth, Felicity watching her with delight as she drank from her cup of water.

"Oh god!" Felicity had chimed in, causing Josie to chuckle.

"He played on the basketball team, and I remember they won a small tournament. So, of course, the students storm the court and he's towering over everyone. I cant seem to worm my way to him, so he told his teammates to crowd surf me to him." Felicity snorts hard, inhaling her drink and started to choke on the liquid. She laughed hard after she could catch her breath, and Josie soon joined in too.

"That reminds me of this one time when-" But their conversation as soon interrupted when Felicity saw the time on Josie's watch. "Oh god, I've got to get back to work." She grumbled as she gathered her purse and coat.

"Sorry for having you lose track of time." Josie sincerely apologized as she too gathered her belongs, waving Diggle back over to the table.

Felicity rounded on her, catching Josie by surprise. "Don't apologize, this is the most fun I've had in a while. I actually don't have very many friends so this is nice, being able to just chat for a while." She then mentally kicked herself for making her sound like a loner.

Josie warmly smiled. "I don't have very many friends, either. So why don't we get together again sometime, because I really enjoy you're company, Felicity."

Pushing her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose, Felicity gave her a wide grin, feeling relief and joy because Josie doesn't discourage her rambling. She had made a new friend. "That would be amazing. I'll have John give you my number, but right now I've gotta go." The blonde waved good-bye to John, and hurried out the door.

"I'm guessing you two are going to be good friends." Diggle has observed as he pulled the keys out of his pocket.

"Very good friends." Josie said happily.

…

Josie told Diggle to have the rest of the day off, and that she would see him later that night. There wasn't much she was going to do expect lounge around the mansion until the club opens.

She immediately went into her father's study, and plopped down into his office chair as she started up his computer. She hadn't been able to shake off the Vigilante from her mind. She was curious, like everyone else, who this person was. More so, she was curious about why he suddenly appeared and what he was doing.

She began with looking up the people he was targeting, almost all of them were rich people who had red in their ledger from the past. Each person he went after, he played the role of Robin Hood by taking from the rich and giving to the poor. He seemed to be cleaning the blood off their hands for them, but not without making them pay for what they did.

Josie had found a picture of one of the arrows that he uses, and examined it closely. It looked somewhat similar to the kind that she used when she was younger.

When Josie and Colton were younger, their parents had encouraged them to participate in sports, but Corrine refused to let them go into any sort of contact sport. That ruled out basically everything. Colton decided to follow his father and picked up quickly on golf. Josie hated it, though. She didn't have the patience for putting. She loved long range, though.

That's when their butler, Gerard, had suggest to the parents archery. It was becoming popular in Scotland at the time, and he thought that it would be the perfect sport of Josie. She loved being precise, but couldn't stand patience. The process of learning it was difficult for her, but once she picked up on it, she was good. She loved setting up four targets, then would walk as she shot at each target. Each time she did it she was getting closer and closer to the center of the target. She'd try shooting two arrows at once, and loved using the Mongolian draw.

It became a therapy for her. Whenever she was stressed, frustrated, or annoyed, she'd flee to the shooting range set up in their gardens, and would practice for hours. Sometimes she go without any protection like her arm guard, leather shooting jacket and finger tab, which resulted in many injuries.

There were plenty of times where both Corrine and Jonathan tried to get her involved in a different sport, but Josie was too stubborn to listen or care. She began at the age of seven. By the time she was eleven, she was as good as she could get. Gerard attempted to persuade her parents to let her compete in tournaments, but both Corrine and Jonathan would never allow it. She managed to enter herself into one, with the help of Robert Queen, but her parents were quick to find out. She had easily taken home the first place trophy, and she cherished that trophy more than anything else in her possessions.

Josie could remember trying to get Colton to shoot, but he stated that he liked to watch her more than to actually participate. He loved to pull up a chair and just watch her shooting for hours, and he never got tired of it. He knew that it made her happy, so it made him happy. She also tried to get Oliver and Tommy to practice with her. Tommy never played any sport in his life, and he wasn't going to start by having an eleven year old teach him. Oliver got frustrated easily.

"Ollie, you need to move you feet apart more!" Josie would hiss as she kicked at his ankles so he would have his feet shoulder width apart. He would glare at her, but she would merely shrug him off. Her tiny arms then would hold his own so that he was positioning the bow correctly. "Okay, now just pull back and let the arrow go." He did as instructed, but the arrow kept falling from it's place. She would take his hands and force him to hold the back of the arrow in a certain way.

Soon enough, in a fit of rage for not getting anything right, Oliver gave up. He would thrust the bow into her hands, and storm off to distract himself from his failure. After those couple of times, Oliver would only join Colton as he watched his best friend's little sister gracefully move from target to target, releasing the arrow at the right time, and hitting each target in the center. He was always mesmerized with how calm and peaceful she was when she would shoot.

He knew it was her serenity.

After her parent's divorce, though, Josie had dropped the sport completely. She used it when she wanted to get away from her horrible life, but it seemed that her horrible life had consumed her and she no longer found any sort of relief from archery anymore. She only trained when she was angry, but it wasn't even a distraction anymore. It was just too hard for her to even look at her bow without thinking of her parents screaming at each other, or not talking to each other at all.

When she went to college, Gerard had slipped the bow and small sheath of arrows into one of her suitcases, as just a little present that she would hopefully use. But not once did she while she was in California. She would gaze at it for an hour, but never used it. Then, a few nights after Colton died, when she returned to California after his funeral, she snapped the bow in half and gave it to a fraternity house to burn in one of their big bonfire parties.

At that moment, staring at the picture of that arrow, Josie decided she was going to pick the sport back up. She promised herself she would.

And maybe, she could do more than just walk back and forth shooting targets. She could do something meaningful with that bow and those arrows.

…

Josie was lucky that she managed to get into the club before it opened. Thanks to Diggle, and even Oliver, she had already gotten a drink and could observed the place in all of it's glory before it would be bombarded with young people trying to escape from their lives, if only for a night. She was seated at the bar, sporting a tight, dark red lace dress and black stilettos. Her hair was in tight curls, and were tossed about on her head.

"Miss, I'm going to need to see an I.D. You look a little young to be drinking." Swiveling around in her chair, Josie smirked at Oliver as she sipped on her greyhound. If there was one thing she and her mother had in common, it was their choice of drinks.

"You know, it's odd." She said, placing her drink on the counter as she crossed her legs in the tight skirt of the dress. She noticed Oliver's eyes trail down to them before taking a quick peek at the exposed cleavage of the dress before those beautiful blue eyes were staring at her green ones.

"What is?" He asked as he moved closer to her, leaning against the counter.

"You would waste your money at a place like this, now you own one. And you even get money from it!" She said with a pointed look, taking another sip of the drink.

"Guilty as charge." Oliver said, as he raised his hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. He glanced at his watch, and did his little chin raised gesture before he would plaster on a forced smile. "Looks like we'll be opening in a few minutes, gotta make a few last minute changes." He reached over, taking her hand and giving it a quick squeeze. He was going to slip away and do as he said, but not before leaning forward and kissing her cheek. He gave her a real, genuine smile.

"I'm proud of you, Ollie." She softly said, and returned the smile.

"Thanks, Jo." And with that he had taken off.

Twenty minutes after the club opened, it was completely swarmed with people. Steve Aoki was going wild at the stage, and everyone was grinding, swaying, and jumping to the music. Josie had forgotten what places like this were like. She wasn't much of a partier to begin with. Her parents resided to more of the sophisticated side, and they made sure their children were prim and proper like them. So when it came to parties, clubs, etc., Colton and Josie were more of spectators rather than doers. However, when they did feel like they wanted to let go for one night, they would.

Tonight, Josie didn't want to be Jonathan Wayland's daughter, heir to Wayland Trades. No, she wanted to be a college graduate looking for a one night stand and to not remember a thing the next morning.

It was not even thirty minutes since the club opened and she had three guys already offering to buy her a drink. She was talking excitedly to one guy, her hands moving while her mouth was, and she had a permanent smile on her face as she talked with him. He was creeping close and close to her while the two conversed, and he had that charming smile guys wear right before they kiss a girl, but suddenly everything stopped when Josie felt an arm wrapping around her waist and someone in a black suit blocking her view from the guy she was talking to.

"Excuse me, I'm going to need to have to take her from you." Tommy stated as stared down the guy. Josie's acquaintance narrowed his eyes, but got up and left the two. Tommy continued to scowl at the man as he leaned back against the counter.

Josie slapped his chest as she glared him. "You going to tell me what the hell was that about?"

"He's an asshole, you should be thanking me." Tommy retorted, as he looked out at the crowd of people.

"I don't need your help. I can take care of myself. I am a grown woman, you know." She growled at him before snatching up her drink and leaving the bar. She passed Laurel with a mumbled 'Hey', which the other girl couldn't even hear over the loud music. Josie was making her way to one of the standing tables when her path was blocked by a woman with long, brown hair, and perpetuating blue eyes. She had a cynical smirk, and wore a tight black dress that clung perfectly to her body. "Excuse me." Josie tried to yell over the music.

The woman continued to block her path, her blue eyes raking of the blonde's figure. She gave her a half smile, and finally stepped aside to let Josie pass by. The woman continued to watch the girl, before she glanced among the crowd and caught sight of Tommy.

He'll do.

…

Josie had entered the small coffee shop just down the road from the CNRI. She was exhausted from the night before, and didn't even get to fulfill her goal of finding a one-night stand. She came a little earlier than anticipated for both her and Laurel. She ordered her coffee, and took a seat at one of the booths next to the window. Maybe five minutes into sitting at the table did she see Laurel storming to the shop, her hands raking through her brown hair in frustration.

When the older Lance stepped inside, Josie could practically feel her distress from across the room. Laurel looked around until she spotted her blonde friend in the corner. By the time she reached the table, Josie was already standing up to greet her. She reached out, and pulled her friend into a tight hug without saying anything. Laurel reluctantly accepted the embrace, neither of them releasing for a good half a minute. When Josie pulled away, she gave a faint smile. "You looked like you could really use a hug." She said.

"Yeah." Laurel replied, pushing her hair out of her face. "Yeah I really did." The two seated themselves, and a waitress came over to fill up Laurel a cup of coffee.

Josie rapped her fingers against the counter, watching her friend's slightly trembling hands try to put sugar and creamer in her coffee. "So you said that this lunch was more than just a celebration of my job…and I'm guessing it's bad." She remarked with a quirked brow.

Laurel sighed, dropping her hands onto the table and sighing. "Everything going on with me has turned to crap the last couple of days, and the reason for this lunch is just the cherry on top." She snapped out. Josie didn't even flinch, she just continued to observe the brunette, following her movements. Laurel shook her head a little. "The reason I wanted to have this lunch was because my-"

"Laurel, I'm sorry I'm late." The two girls' heads turned to where the newcomer was greeting them. There, standing before the two, was Dinah Lance. She looked very much like Laurel and Sara, but she was a little plumper. To Josie, she was practically her mom since she gave up on her real mom. For some reason, most likely a psychological one due to the attachment she felt for the older woman, Josie found herself getting a little misty eyed to see the woman that really did care about her when she was growing up.

"Mama Lance?" Josie asked with a goofy smile smearing across her lips as her eyes were watering more. She quickly began to scoot out of the booth to embrace her.

"Hi, Jo." Dinah replied happily, as she held her arms out for Josie to walk into. The blonde finally got to her feet as she leapt into the older woman's arms, wrapping her thin ones around her, holding her tightly. She could feel the tears threatening to escape her eyes, and she fought them back, but when Dinah began to stroke her hair and rub her back, a tender touch she yearned for for so many years, she lost it and let them all go. She hadn't seen the older brunette since Sara and Oliver's funerals. As much as she needed her at Colton's funeral, Dinah couldn't make it, but she sent her condolences through a beautiful bouquet for Colton and a heartfelt letter expressing her sorrow for not just the family in general, but for Josie specifically.

When she pulled away, Dinah pressed her hands to Josie's cheeks, holding her face. "God, you have grown up so much!" The older woman's voice cracked a little, and she too held back her own tears. "My beautiful, young girl…even if you aren't my blood, you're still my daughter." She told her with a little laugh, and Josie inaudibly chuckled as well.

They soon joined Laurel at the booth, Dinah sitting beside her daughter and across from Josie. "What brings you to Starling?" Josie asked, folding her hands on the table.

Dinah's green eyes flickered from her daughter's hazel ones to Josie's dull green ones. Laurel gave a small shrug and a slight nod towards Josie, as if she were telling her mom to just break out the truth. "I think I might have found Sara." She finally slipped out, and Josie didn't seem to register it at first. She gave a confused chuckle, squinting her eyes at the two Lance's.

"What do you mean 'found Sara'? She's-She's gone." Josie replied, not seeming to accept what she was hearing.

"Maybe she isn't. Oliver had gotten washed up on that island Lian Yu. What if Sara had washed up on an island as well." Reaching down into her purse, Dinah pulled out a map, as she spread it out across the table. There were places on it marked in red. One was a small circle around an island off of the coast of China. "There are hundreds around this island, and no one would have know that she had made it."

"So what makes you think that she's still alive?" Josie harshly retaliated, not okay with any of this. How could Dinah just come back into her life to try and tell her that Sara, her best friend since elementary school, was still alive? And how was Laurel okay with this?

Dinah was going back into her purse, as she tugged out a photo. She presented it to Josie. On it was a girl with long, tangled dirty blonde hair. She wore a baseball cap that had a red rocket on it, a green jacket with a red plaid scarf and torn jeans. Her head was bowed, so her face couldn't be identified. She had every possible resemblance to Sara, though, even if her face couldn't be seen. Josie felt her hand reaching out as it traced over the baseball cap. She remember going to that Starling Rockets game. It was ninth grade and Quentin had taken the girls because he only had three tickets, and Dinah and Laurel both didn't like baseball. Josie had never been to a game before, so it was exhilarating for her. She remembered her and Sara begging Quentin to get them caps. Josie's was still in her room, only worn when she went to the beach back in California.

"It really is her." She let out in a breath, her wide eyes scanning the picture.

"That was exactly what I thought when I saw that picture. I have been doing some research and even got in contact with the photographer. They said that the girl was suspicious acting, but he didn't watch her for very long." Dinah had reached out, pointing to the cap. "That cap right there is the key. I have been calling around to see if anyone else had seen a blonde girl with that cap, but nothing yet. That doesn't mean that she wont turn up. We just need more searching. That's where you come in, sweetie." Laurel was anxiously shifting her eyes from her friend to her mom, not liking how ecstatic the two were about just one photo. She felt it wasn't enough evidence, and it scared her that the two were so convinced so quickly about it. She was afraid that if it did turn out that that isn't Sara in the photo, the dejection the two would feel would be heartbreaking to see.

"What can I do to help?" Josie asked as she took Dinah's hands in hers and squeezed them gently.

…

The following day after her meeting with Dinah and Laurel, Josie had gone to her father for help. Dinah felt that in order to get more connections and contact more people in the area, that her father's trading partners in China might know some people that might help. She spent the entirety of the day at her father's office, his assistant sitting beside her as the two made phone calls and sent out emails and faxes to the connections in China. They received a few responses, but all turned up as dead ends. She left the office building at 7 empty handed on the research, but that wasn't going to stop her from continuing to look for anything that might lead them to Sara.

She was heading into the parking garage with her keys in her hands. She moved to unlock the car when something odd sounding came from behind her. Swirling around, there stood a woman with a black mask and a crossbow in her hand pointed directly at Josie's heart. The woman tilted her head slightly as her eyes narrowed.

Holding her hands up in a sign of surrender, Josie tried to calm her racing heart. "What do you want? My money?" She asked in a rather cool voice, which kind of shocked her since she was completely terrified at the moment.

The woman gave a low, sultry laugh. "No, I just need your car." Josie sighed a little, not really caring on whether or not the woman takes her car. But when she held her hand out to give the woman her keys, she saw that the crossbow wasn't lowering. In fact the woman approached her, the bow now pressing against her chest. "And you." She followed up with. She could feel the tip of the bolt stabbing against her skin, and she flinched from the pain.

"Please, just don't kill me." She begged, and shut her eyes as she saw the woman's finger began to rest a little tighter against the trigger. Josie opened her eyes, reminding herself to be strong and not look small and inferior. She stared down the woman, who she could see had perpetuating blue eyes. Ones that were icy, and felt oddly familiar.

"You know, we never got properly introduced. I was going to do it the other night, but you didn't seem to be in the mood." She was the woman from the club! Josie saw how unprotected she was since this could have happened to her just a few nights ago. And at that moment, with a bolt pointed at her heart, ready to pierce it, Josie felt useless. But she was going to change that.

And now she understood why her father wanted her to have a bodyguard. When the woman was reaching her hand down to grab the keys from Josie's hand, the blonde took that moment to attack. She kicked out at the woman's knee while moving to the left. On instinct the woman pulled the trigger, and the arrow grazed Josie's arm. She screamed out in pain, but continued to full out sprint away from the masked woman. She only got so far before another bolt struck the back of her calf. While she was down, the woman jabbed a tranquilizer into her neck. "You've got some fight in you. Just not enough to get away." That was the last she heard before blacking out.

…

When Josie was regaining consciousness, the first thing she registered was the sound of a car door slamming. When she opened her eyes to take in her blurry surroundings, she saw the woman starting up her car and furiously backing up. Staying as silent as possible, she attempted to move her arms, but they were held together with a zip-tie. When she tried her feet, she found they too were bound. Finally, Josie's senses were coming back as she received a pounding headache and a horrible stinging pain in her arm and leg. Crying out with tears running down her face, she saw through watery eyes that she had alerted her captor. "Finally you wake up. It's been about an hour." The woman lipped as she yanked the car into a hard left turn.

"Why are you doing this?" Josie pleaded in a croaky tone, still trying to come out of her hazy state.

The woman glanced at her, pursing her lips. "Leverage."

"Against who?"

Glaring a little at her, the woman looked like she wanted to say something, but held back. "Let's just say we have a mutual friend, and I need you to distract him. See, he knows that I'm trying to kill someone, so if I leave you in this car tied up, then he'll come save you, giving me time to kill the person I'm targeting." She told her.

"Who?" She inquired as she let her eyes scan her car to see if anything in it can help her get free.

The woman only smirked, her eyes never leaving the road. "Let's keep that a secret." She took a hard right, and the tires of the car could be heard squealing. "You know, I like you. You've very tough and curious. Reminds me of myself." She remarked, and Josie only rolled her eyes.

"Great, I love it when I'm told that I'm similar to psychotic, murderous people. Makes my day." She muttered lowly.

The rest of the ride was silent. Mainly Josie was trying to wiggle her wrists out of the zip-tie and avoid the woman, and the woman drove quickly and harshly to get to her destination.

When she did she arrive, she slowed down a little, before throwing open her door and bailing out of the still moving car. Josie yelled out as she shifted around, trying to get into the driver's seat but she was buckled into her own.

"Jesus, no!" She cried, more tears streaming down her face as she leaned forwards, moving her arms to the left to try and unhinge her seatbelt buckle from the latch. Glancing back up to see the speedometer, she noticed it was gaining speed. Her eyes snapped to the road, and noticed that it was progressing downhill. "Come on!" She begged, her finger barely hitting the red button. She moved her arms more, and could have sworn her shoulder had popped out of it's socket. Her arm was killing her after the graze, and her leg still shot out excruciating pain.

When she did get the buckle to unlatch and the seatbelt to recede, Josie was now confronted with opening the door. She saw it was locked, she felt her heart pounding out of her chest. She was going to die.

She closed her eyes, and waited for the car to crash as it gained speed. "Please, someone save me." She quietly mouthed as she tasted her salty, fresh tears and sobbed in her seat.

She could feel the car moving on a flatter surface, and saw she was on normal road. Glancing to the speedometer, she saw the speed decreasing from fifty to forty, but it wasn't slow enough. In the nick of time, she heard a loud gunshot ring out, and felt a pop in the car. Suddenly it began to swerve a little, and then she heard more gunshots and popping. Finally, the car rolled to a stop, and someone raced to the driver's side door which was still open.

Popping his head inside, Diggle let out a loud sigh of relief, and Josie cried out in joy to see him. He climbed into the car, pulling out a pocket knife as he undid her zip-ties. Immediately, she twisted to him and hugged him tightly. "Please don't tell me you're that mutual friend with that psychotic bitch!" Josie asked as she released John.

John chuckled as he leaned over and unlocked her door so she could get out. "Believe me, I would never be friends with that woman." He got out of the car, before rushing over to the passenger side as he opened the door, and reached inside to carry out Josie.

"Who is she?" Josie asked, leaning her head against his chest as he carried her bridal style.

"Helena Bertinelli. If you ever see her again, run." Diggle informed her.

"I'll make sure to do so." Josie muttered.

…

Diggle had gotten her to a van and tended to her wounds. He wanted to take her to the hospital just to have them get checked over as well. They didn't need much checking, but due to her being sedated, they wanted to held her over for the night to keep an eye on her vitals incase they could have been effected. Of course her father was right beside her in a chair, watching her like a hawk since this was the third time in a short amount of time when she was faced with death. He demanded to have Diggle by her more often, and he wanted her to turn down the long-term subbing job offer because he was scared she'd be in danger again.

It took some convincing from both her and Diggle, but they managed to calm down Jonathan and explained that this was just a coincidence and wouldn't happen again. They let her have the rest of the night to sleep off her pain, and the next morning her was released.

Her first visitor that came that morning while she was trying to get dressed was Felicity. She had a small bouquet of flowers and a shy smile on her face. "I heard what happened. I brought you these, Oliver said these were you're favorite." The flowers were a mixture of different colored daisies.

Josie returned the smile, as she examined the flowers. "Thank you, Felicity. I have to ask: how well do you know Oliver?" She said with furrowed brows, and Felicity went wide eyed.

"Uh-well…he comes to me a lot when he's having computer problems or other help." She pointed quickly towards the bouquet with a nervous look on her face. "He saw that one of my pens in my pen jar had a fake daisy taped on it and randomly said that they were your favorite flowers…and I kind of remembered that…and you probably think I'm some creepy stalker who knows personal things about you. I-I mean I did my research on you, but I wasn't looking for any sort of-you know what? I'm going to stop talking." She quipped as she pinched her eyes shut in embarrassment. Josie only replied with a laugh as she set the flowers down on the table beside her and pulled on Colton's Starling City Rockets sweatshirt.

"Thank you for the flowers…and for remembering. Your memory is actually quite remarkable." Josie stated in a surprised tone.

Felicity snorted lightly. "Oliver said that to me once. Speaking of him, he's here if you want to see him. His-uh-his girlfriend got shot last night after trying to go after the woman who shot you."

Josie slowly sat on the edge of her hospital bed as she faced Felicity. "I should probably go see him." She responded, wiping her palms against her jeans. Felicity nodded as she moved to get Josie's crutches that she would be using until her leg heals. She handed them to the younger blonde, who gladly accepted them and got up to use them.

Felicity helped her out of the room, and bid a good-bye before the two went their separate ways. But she didn't leave without giving her new friend a quick hug. When Josie got the directions from a nurse to the room of Detective Hall, she only managed to get halfway before coming across Oliver.

His eyes were bloodshot and had deep bags under them and she felt awful to see him like that. He released a deep breath as his glassy eyes fixated on Josie, his expression softening to basically regret. He watched her steadily as she walked with her crutches closer to him. "Oliver, I heard about McKenna. Is she going to be ok-" But the blonde never finished what she was going to say. Instead she was enveloped in a tight hug, as Oliver held her closely to him.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you. McKenna's fine, she was just doing her job and got caught in the line of fire; you however, you didn't deserve what happened to you." He said softly, as he leaned to her ear. "I should have been there for you."

"Oliver, this isn't your fault." She told him as she lifted her chin to look up at him. He glanced down at her angelic face, and so badly wanted to say that it was, that he was stupid and didn't see what Helena was going to do. That for a second time almost got Josie killed, but he bit his tongue and only gave her his pokerface.

Oliver rubbed her back, and she lowered her chin to press it back against his chest, loving this sign of affection. She missed this from him. Out of him, Colton and Tommy, Oliver was always the one to express his affection through touches. Being in his arms was something she needed for so many years, and being in them now, she never wanted to leave.

"Don't you ever wish we could just freeze time and stay like this forever?" Josie asked, speaking her thoughts out loud.

Oliver's hands never stopped as they rubbed her back and stroked her hair. "Yeah, all the time." He replied with a sigh. With you. He thought to himself as he continued to hold his best friend's little sister, whom was sure he had feelings for.

…

When Josie got home, her dad helped her get situated in her room, where she would be spending the next couple of days as she recuperated. Once Jonathan left to go back to work, Josie decided to spend her time reading the book the kids she'll be teaching are reading now and catching herself up on their circulars. .

When a knock emitted from her door about an hour later, she glanced up to find Diggle poking his head into her room. "You're father said that I needed to check up on you. You doing okay?" He asked politely, and she nodded with a smile. Diggle took that as his signal to leave, but Josie called him back into her room.

"I want to ask you something." She sheepishly said, and he leaned against her doorframe as he waited for her to continue. "Three times now I have been stuck in a life or death situation, and each time I felt utterly defenseless. I had to rely on the vigilante and you to save me." She paused as she wrung her hands in her lap. "I hated that feeling." She glanced up at him with pleading eyes. "I was wondering if you could train me. I know you had learned combat while you were in the army, and I should probably learn self-defense anyway."

John mulled over the idea a little. He wanted to refuse and just say it'll be his job to protect her, but he also knew that he wasn't always going to be able to save her. That if she did end up in another situation at gunpoint, and neither Oliver nor he could get to her, she should know how to save herself. "Alright." He agreed, and he couldn't contain his smirk as he saw how she lit up after he said that. He was liking this girl more and more every time they were together.

He could see why Oliver liked her so much.

First off, ONE HUNDRED FOLLOWERS! HOLY SHIT! Sorry I screamed when I saw that and did a little dance. You guys really do make my day!

Well that is The Huntress Returns. I don't know for sure if I'll be doing one chapter per episode or not, but this one I just couldn't piece Josie in very well. But I did get to reveal more about her, and most definitely those things from her past will come back in the future.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed it! If you're new to the story, please follow and favorite, and if you have time, maybe maybe MAYBE review. Tell me what you think about this story, how I'm doing, anything really. It really makes my day to hear from you!