Chapter 2
Distraction
"One must always maintain one's connection to the past,
and yet ceaselessly pull away from it."
-Gaston Bachelard
Hell had to have frozen over. That was the first statement Katie had made the moment she walked into her therapist's and took a seat for their first session. Now they'd been seeing each other for months and even she has to admit that it's actually helping. Sure she had to pad down some of her stories, leaving out secret government agencies, assassins and arrows, but that was actually the easy part. It was actually letting the memories come back, and spoken from her mouth that was always the hardest part. Today however Katie's mind was just on one thing and that was Werner Zytle. And well maybe Oliver Queen as well.
"You're quiet today." a voice said pulling Katie from her thoughts as she mindlessly stood, staring out the window. She turned, letting out a sigh before taking her seat across from the man. "I mean if you want to pay me to look out my window, that's fine, but I could leave you alone for that."
"Funny man Nick." Katie said but shook her head. "I mean Doctor Adams, I'm sorry I promised to keep this professional."
"What's on your mind?" Nick asked and Katie looked back up to him. "You're distracted, so what is it?"
"Last night, the explosion, I was there." Katie said and the man glanced to the bandage on her head and she shook her head. "I'm fine, just bumped my head. That's not what I was thinking about."
"So what is it?" Nick asked and Katie looked at him for a moment not wanting to say the truth and so she stood to her feet and walked over to once again stand by the window. "You know I thought we were way past this. You feeling ashamed to say something. It's fine and it's also why you come here. So just come out with it."
Katie continued to stare out the window, looking down to the busy city, floors below them and sighed.
"Oliver." she said unable to turn to the man. Oliver Queen had been the topic of many of her sessions, and after the last time she promised herself that she would just forget about him, not even speak his name, but now that had changed.
"He was at the dinner?" Nick asked and Katie nodded looking back over to him. "Did you talk?"
"Yeah, we talked and-" she turned back to the window. "And he told me he still loved me and told me that he knew I still loved him."
"Do you?" Nick asked and Katie turned to take her seat across from the man. "There is nothing wrong with still being in love with the man who was such a big part of your life."
"Yeah, but there is something wrong with being in love with the man who has broken your heart on more that one occasion. Oliver is a confused man who has absolutely no idea what he wants, and I refused to get pulled in again only for him to chicken out again." Katie shook her head. "I promised myself I wouldn't do this anymore. Wouldn't even give Oliver a sliver of thinking time and yet here we are."
"Yep here we are." Nick said with a shrug of his shoulder. "Talking about Oliver Queen once again, so tell me why is that?" Katie turned away from the man, sliding back in her seat. "Admitting it is kind of the first step, you know."
"Because I still love him." Katie replied simply turning back to the doctor. "Because I have always loved him, and probably will always love him. There, are you happy?"
"Katie, Oliver Queen can stop being a topic in these sessions the moment you stop making him a topic. For some reason he's still there, still inside of you, holding on." Nick replied and Katie closed her eyes knowing his words were true.
"He actually stopped by my loft this morning." Katie said opening her eyes. "I thought for sure he would avoid me like the plague, but he actually had the courage to knock on my door."
"Why?" Nick asked and Katie sighed. This was one of those moments she would have to twist the story, because there was no way she could say that he came by to ask her back to their super secret crime fighting team.
"There's this...charity that Oliver developed. It's supposed to combat the growing crime in our city and while we were together, I was apart of the team and then we broke up and-"
"You weren't sure if he wanted to kick you out of his life and the team?"
"No, I just-" she shook her head. "This team, it's what made me love him even more. Seeing how focused he was, how determined he was to bring justice to this city. I don't know how I could go back and try to ignore those feelings at the same time." she stood to her feet once again walking to the window, not seeing the doctor shake his head as she did. "I mean I'm supposed to be moving forward from the past, and that's where Oliver is."
"Fine, tell me this. This charity, does it really need you?" Nick asked and Katie shrugged. "Don't do that. Do you bring something to it that no one else does?" Katie turned back to look out the window. She thought over her time on the team and how being a doctor once was her necessity to the team, but now they had Ethan. And then for a while she was back up when Oliver got into tough situations, but now he Roy. She wasn't sure where she fit anymore.
"I don't think so. Not anymore, at least." Katie muttered before glancing over to the clock that hung on the wall. "Look at that, I think our hour is up." she looked back over to the man who looked annoyed. "What? We got a lot done. Got deep and stuff." Nick simply stood to his feet and walked over to the woman.
"For some reason you need others to validate your worth. You have to know your value Katie. So no I don't believe you brought nothing to this charity. I think you brought something, I'm just not sure what." Katie turned back out the window. "Do you want to go back?" she didn't say anything. "Because you going back doesn't have to be you running back to Oliver. There was a job before you and Oliver got together, and there is still job now that you're broken up. The question becomes whether you're able to get back to that job."
When Katie walked out of that office, and stood about to get into her car, she stopped. She let her eyes look over to street and the people of this city and she let Nick's words play in her head. She wanted to pretend as if she were simply moving forward, the more she thought about it, it seemed as if she were running away from something. Running away mean she was afraid, and Katie wasn't sure what she was afraid of. Fear was always something her father taught her to attack head first, and so at this moment Katie decided to stop running. She pulled her phone from her bag and dialed a familiar number.
"I knew you would be calling. It was just this feeling, like when your grampa's knee starts aching and he just knows it's going to rain, it's sort of like that. Or maybe it's not-"
"Smoaks, you're babbling!" Katie snapped.
"Oh, sorry. What's up?"
"Werner Zytle." Katie said as she moved to get into her car. "What did you guys get on him?" The line was silent for a few moments and Katie thought the call had dropped. "Smoaks-"
"No." Felicity said sternly.
"What-"
"No, if you want to be a part of this, then be a part of it. Don't try to half ass it, because you don't half ass anything. We're all meeting at the foundry in about a half hour to plan the next move. If you want to be apart of it, then be there." and with that Felicity Smoak ended the call.
Katie stood there for a moment, glaring to her phone before slipping into her car and speeding off.
Felicity was pretty good at stalling, but at the moment even she knew she was pushing it. So she may have created a tiny bug to create a glitch in the computers, so they wouldn't come on. The only problem, was it wouldn't last.
"Oh, there it is!" Roy said in excitement as the monitors started flicking on. They all turned to Felicity who had been fake typing to try to turn the computers on. "You did it."
"Yeah." the woman said with a smile. "I did do it." Felicity stood to her feet and walked over to where John stood, swiping at one of the monitor.
"Alright, what did you find?"
"Wait!" Felicity called and all three men turned to her and waited for her to explain her outburst. She glanced over her shoulder to the stairs, hoping Katie would magically appear.
"Felicity, what are we waiting for?" Oliver asked and the woman turned to him, about to come up with a lie she knows will just be terrible.
"Well, uh-" before the words could even come out of her mouth, she watched as all their eyes looked above her, and she quickly turned her head, a relieved smile came to her lips. "You sure took your sweet time, didn't you?" Katie simply sent the woman a glare, before turning to the guys who silently stared. Felicity turned to them as well and rolled her hand. "Weren't you about to start telling us what you found?" Felicity looked over to Oliver who still was just staring at Katie.
"Is it alright that I'm here?" Katie asked looking from Oliver to Felicity who nodded.
"Of course it is!" Felicity said walking up to stand beside Katie and send a look to Oliver, who seemed to have fallen out of the moment. He seemed to notice it as well, before clearing his throat and standing a little straighter.
"Roy!" Oliver says simply turning away and looking to the man. "What did you find?" Roy glanced over to Katie before turning and heading over to the monitor.
Katie was nervous, which was kind of a first. She never felt nervous when she was here, not when she was with her friends who were practically her family. She hadn't moved from her spot as she listened and watched as the others spoke. She suddenly felt as if she didn't have a place here. There was no added benefit of her being here.
Katie felt as if she had plopped into one of those bad prison movies, as she sat up and down in the middle of a set of sit ups. It was the only thing keeping her sane at the moment. It had been days since her talk with Agent Lockwood, and there was no visits since. She was beginning to think that maybe she pushed a little too hard. That's when the door to her cell...room opened. Katie stopped her sit ups and looked up to the blonde haired woman. Katie quickly stood to her feet, looking over the woman who wore a gray pant suit that had not even a wrinkle. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail that made Katie cringe slightly.
"Hello doctor." the woman said and Katie met her eyes. "Come with me." there wasn't even a pause for a reply, before the woman turned her high heeled feet around and stomped from the room. Katie took a deep breath before walking out into the hall, a bit surprised to see two armed guards who seamlessly stood waiting for her. She glanced between them before heading down the hall, rushing a bit to catch up to the blonde, who had yet to give her a name. She followed the woman into a room, that held a single table, and two chairs that rested on either side. "Please have a seat doctor." Katie didn't move as she looked around the room, her eyes looking from the camera the sat in the upper corner of the room, the blinking red light letting her know that she was being recorded. "Doctor-" she turned back to the woman. "Please, sit."
"What is this?" Katie asked, refusing to make a move. "Am I being interrogated?"
"Absolutely not." the woman said walking over to stand in front of her. "I just need to ask you a couple of questions."
"Agent Lockwood has already asked me plenty of questions." Katie replied before looking around. "Where is he?"
"You made it clear that you didn't want to work with Agent Lockwood. You want someone who can actually make things happen for you." The woman smiled before holding out her hand. "I'm that person. Special Agent Karin Grace." Katie stared down to the woman's hand. "You and me are going to have a little talk."
"I'm tired of talking." Katie says before turning and walking back to the door to open it, only to find it locked. She slammed her palms against the door, before turning back to the woman with a very darkened gaze. "Let me out of this room. Just let me go home."
"Doctor, you've been in the hands of terrorist for the past two years, something not a lot of Americans can say. There were no demands, no requests, hell there wasn't even any acknowledgment that they even had you. Something about this, your kidnapping just doesn't seem right and we refuse to believe that after all these years, you have no insight."
"That's exactly what I'm telling you!" Katie snapped. "I was put in a dark hole, and then they took me out and brought me here."
"I want to believe that, but there is something I just can't get past." the woman said walking over and sitting down in one of the chairs.
"And what is that?" Katie asked folding her arms over her chest.
"Every person you meet, you check for weapons, while walking down the hall you checked each door as if you're deciding if you should run or not."
"That's very uncharacteristic for a prisoner." Katie replied sarcasticall with a shake of her head.
"It's also traits I've seen in soldiers." the woman said looking to Katie. "Doctor, I feel we have much to discuss. Please sit."
"I'm not-"
"Right now doctor you're not a prisoner." the blonde says standing to her feet and stalking toward Katie, bringing her uncomfortably close. "You don't want to know what we do to our prisoners. You going home is totally and completely up to you, but it doesn't happen with lying." she walked back to take her seat. "He's still in the coma." Katie turned to the woman. "Still barely hanging on. It would be a shame if you didn't get to see him."
Katie turned away, her mind going back to that moment she was called about her father's stroke and then coming to the hospital to find that he was already in the coma. Too much time had passed and she needed to get back to him and so she walked over and begrudgingly took the seat across from the woman.
"Good." the woman said before taking out a tape recorder. "Interview one, Agent Grace, subject Doctor Katherine Robins." Karin looked up to the doctor. "Doctor do you give your permission to the interview that is about to take place?" Katie's eyes looked down to the recorder and sighed.
"Yes." she answered simply.
"Roy suit up." Oliver spoke and Katie looked up as Roy, rushed off.
"Where do you want me?" John asked walking over to grab his gun.
"Here." Oliver said. He gained confused looks from both John and Katie. "I can't have you in the field anymore."
"Really?" John asks walking over to the man. "What's changed?"
"You're going to be a father." Oliver stated simply.
Katie's phone rang, and she quickly grabbed it and stepped away from conversation.
"Hello?"
"Hey, where are you?" David asked. "I swung by your office, and they said you took a personal day."
"Uh, yeah. Yesterday just got me in a weird head space I guess. Explosions sort of warrant a R&R."
"I get that. Are you home, because I could stop-"
"Uh, no. I'm actually with Felicity. We're...shopping."
"You hate shopping."
"I know, but it's a distraction from thinking about almost getting blown to pieces." Katie replied turning back to see John turn and walk away from Oliver. "Oh, Felicity's in some sort of tug a war this with this old lady over a sweater, I should get going. I'll talk to you later?" Katie ended the call, before walking over to where Oliver stood.
"You actually won that one?" Katie asked and the man turned to her with a quirked brow. "No, it's just your argument, though sweet was a little hypocritical. We all have people who would miss us if something were to happened to us, but those are the people we're fighting for." Oliver didn't say anything, and Katie soon found herself nervous, she still wasn't sure why. "Sorry, it's none of my business." she inched back slightly. "You have Roy, and I'm not sure how I can even help-
"You may not know how, but you always do." Oliver replied with a smile. He glanced over to the case that held her suit. "I think it's time the Guardian returned to her city." Katie turned and walked over to the case, her eyes looking over the suit. She took a deep breath before reaching forward to open the case, only to find it wouldn't open. She gave a jerk, but still nothing. Soon a hand came around her and easily opened the case. "You have to lift and then pull." Katie turned a quirked brow to the man. "It wasn't my idea."
"Sure it wasn't." Katie muttered before grabbing her suit.
Werner Zytle wanted to be at the top and that meant getting rid of the competition in crime. And it just so happens that three of current big wigs in crime were all in one place. Katie stood in the far back of the Rockets Arena at tonight's heavy weight fight, watching the crowd cheer at the brutal fight happening in the ring tonight.
"I think it's warped how much society praises violence." Katie said randomly.
"That would make a great facebook status." Felicity replied through the comlink and Katie rolled her head before turning back and continuing her search for Vertigo and his bomb. "If only you'd let me create that profile for you."
"Wait, you don't have a facebook profile?" Roy asked and Katie shook her head. "That's so wrong."
"That's what I told her, but of course she didn't listen." Felicity replied.
"Guys." Came Oliver's modulated voice. "Focus."
"Well I assumed you had enough of that for everyone." Katie muttered, but realized she didn't turn off her comlink. "Shit, I said that out loud."
"Yeah, you did." Roy said, a chuckle behind his words as he found Katie. "C'mon, we found them." he nudged his head for Katie to follow and Katie simply shook her head, but continued behind him. Katie followed Roy, both stopping when they noticed Vertigo, with a couple of his men. They saw Oliver, who nodded to them, before stepping out and shooting an arrow through the back of one of the men. Vertigo and two more of his guys, ran.
"They're getting away." Katie says, and without another word runs after them.
"Shit." Oliver says, turning to Roy, "You take care of the bomb, I'll-" he was already moving to follow.
"Go back up the Guardian? Probably a good idea." Roy says turning and going to find the bomb.
Oliver ran, finding Katie on top of the roof now standing surrounded by Vertigo and two of his men.
"Awww, you're all alone." the Vertigo's accented voice taunted. "This is definitely not a position little girls should find themselves."
"I find it sexist that you think I'm the one who's outmatched." Katie's modulate voice spoke as she reached for her sais that were attached to her hips. "So while I'm handing your lackey's their asses, I'll let my partner and you finish your business." Katie nudged her head toward the Arrow, and Vertigo whipped around, pulling a syringe from his pocket and whipping it toward Oliver, hitting him right in her chest. Katie took a step toward him, only for the Vertigo's men to move to block her. She pressed a finger to her comlink. "Hey, whatever you see, fight it." the men surrounding her began moving and Katie smirked. "You're going to live after this, hopefully." she began spinning as well, looking between the two men. When something caught her eyes. "Shit, and here I was hoping to leave you guys with the epic story of how a girl kicked both your asses." both men turned at the sound of footsteps, and saw there standing was none other than the Canary.
"Need some help?" asked the Canary.
"No, but I wouldn't turn it down." Katie replied before kicking the man closest to her in the chest. He wasn't the best fighter, so it wasn't the biggest challenge. But Katie fought smart, met each attack with a counter attack. Ducking from every punch, and missing every kick. This fight was a piece of cake until she saw him. There standing on the other side of the roof was Lian, dressed in League clothing. The momentary distraction was enough for her opponent kick her in the side, knocking her to the ground. He tried to kick her again, but she rolled away, before jumping back to her feet. "You know what? This is actually boring me now." the man through another punch, but this time Katie caught his arm, pulling it before dropping her elbow into his arm, snapping it instantly. The man growled in pain, holding his arm before running at Katie, only for her to move out of the way, and throwing out a foot to trip the man sending him crashing to the ground. She took a step forward, sending a kick to his face knocking him out. The moment she did, she glanced back up, but Lian was gone.
"Hey, you alright?" Sara asked walking over to Katie who turned to her and sighed.
"I don't know." Katie replied turning to where Oliver stood standing over Vertigo, who he had tied down to the roof.
"There will always be a Vertigo, always someone to pick up the mantle." Vertigo yammered, his face bloodied from the fight. "You have given it the power. Don't you see?" he turned his head to the Arrow. "Don't you see?"
"You talk way too much." Katie replied with a roll of her eyes, before turning to Oliver and giving him a slap to the shoulder. "You alright?"
"Yeah." he replied turning to her before nodding. He looked her over, noticing something seeming off. "You?"
"Sure." she replied glancing over to Vertigo, before turning and walking off. She found herself standing on the edge of the roof, just looking up to the sky. She hadn't seen the little figment of her imagination in months, and she assumed that meant the therapy was working, that she was working through whatever was holding onto him.
"Hey." a hand touched her shoulder and Katie jumped in surprise before turning to see Sara and Oliver. "What's up?" she looked between the pair and shook her head.
"I think this was a mistake." Katie muttered before turning and walking over to the fire escape, and sliding down to the ground.
"I should-" Oliver moved to follow, but Sara caught his arm.
"I'm not sure what happened between you two, and I know it's probably none of my business, but I think you need to hear something." Sara replied before pulling off her mask. "We are not our masks." she glanced down to it with a shake of her head before turning back to Oliver. "We have to have lives without them. With people who see behind them anyways." Oliver didn't say anything, but nodded before placing a kiss to the woman's cheek.
"I should go." Oliver said and Sara nodded. "Is this permanent? You being back?"
"I hope so." Sara replied before nudging her head toward the latter. "Now go, I didn't like that look in her eyes." Oliver nodded before going to the ladder on the side of the building and sliding down.
She wasn't sure where she was going, but Katie knew she needed to get away. It was the mask, it just had to be. Katie hadn't gotten too far when she heard the footsteps behind her. She grabbed one of her sais, before turning about to attack, only stopping when she saw that it was only Oliver.
"What happened back there?" Oliver asked as Katie holstered the weapon in her hand. She shook her head about to turn around. "You want to know what I saw when Werner infected me with the Vertigo."
"No, not really." Katie replied turning back to him.
"It was me. Oliver Queen. He said that the drug showed us our biggest fear, and for me it was...me." Oliver replied with a shake of his head. "And that's when I realized that I think I'm afraid of letting myself just be Oliver Queen."
"Why?" Katie asked and Oliver didn't have an instant answer. "What's wrong with just being Oliver Queen?"
"People take the city captive, and people blow up things almost killing the woman I-" Oliver stopped, remembering that he couldn't say certain things anymore. She wasn't his anymore and that meant there were just some things he couldn't say.
"Except those things happened anyway." Katie replied. "Look this is the last conversation I would like to have right now, especially with you since-" she shook her head. "I will say this and then we will stop talking. Your fear is something only you can get over. Something you have to recognize, and then dive in head first to get rid of it. There's nothing wrong with being Oliver Queen, just like there's nothing wrong with being the Arrow. Both are possible, but that's for you to figure out." with that Katie turned about to walk away.
"Hey-" Katie stopped once again and looked over to him."There's also nothing wrong with being Katie and being the Guardian. Both are possible." Katie turned away. "I'm glad you're back."
"I'm not sure I am back." Katie said looking down to the mask. "I'm not sure I can." Oliver opened his mouth to speak, but Katie turned and just walked off.
That night Katie found herself standing on the balcony of her loft, the bright yellow domino mask in her hand. She traced the intricate design with her finger and sighed. Her mind traveled back to the hallucination she thought she'd gotten rid of, standing there...in league clothing. For some reason that part made no sense. She shook away the thought before turning and walking back inside her loft, heading for the room that held her current distraction. When she arrived at the door, she turned to the keypad beside it, that she had installed before moving in. After typing in the code, the green light flashes, and suddenly the door unlocks. Katie flicks on the light and looks around the room whose walls are practically covered in photos, and documents, and little notes. At the center of all the craziness is a picture of her parents. She walks over and looks at the picture for a few moments, always finding herself enamored by the two people in this world who hold the biggest mystery. Katie shook her head before grabbing her mother's journal, and taking a seat, making sure to grab a pen and her own notebook. She only opened the journal, when her cell phone rang. When she glanced down to the screen, she looked in confusion at Felicity's number.
"Hey, what's-" Katie couldn't even get a sentence out before the excited screeching of Felicity Smoak came through her phone. The newest member of the Diggle family was here apparently. "Oh, alright, I'll meet you there." Katie ended the call about to rush out, when she stopped and looked around the room. She would be back, that much she knew. She had to find out if her mother's words were true. She needed to know if the Demon's blood ran through her veins.
When Katie walked into the hospital, she didn't expect to run into Oliver standing in front of the elevator waiting for the doors to open. He turned to her, a small smile coming to his lips.
"Felicity called you?" Oliver asked and Katie simply nodded.
"Well I was able to decipher her message through her excited screeching." Katie said turning as the elevator doors opened. Oliver gestured for Katie to step on first, to which she did. There was never a more awkward moment then this, as Oliver and Katie stood alone in she small confines of the elevator that seemed to move at a snail speed.
"I need you." Oliver said suddenly and Katie turned to him in confusion. "That didn't come out right, look you may not know your place on the team, but I do. You're smart, and you think in a way that's different and that's what this team needs. We need your perspective." the elevator doors slid open, and they stood there unmoving for a few moments, before Katie turned and walked from the elevator. She was fully prepared to just walk to Lyla's room, and visit with the baby, but she didn't expect Oliver's words. When she got to the door, she stopped and turned back to the man.
"I saw him. Lian. Back on the roof, I was in the middle of fighting, and I saw him and-" she sighed with a shake of her head. "I haven't seen him in months, since we-" she met Oliver's eyes, a instant pang in chest hitting her. "I don't want to see him. I don't want the memories that come along with him and if the mask and you do that, then I can't do this." she didn't wait for him to argue before turning and walking into the room pulling a smile to her lips at the sight of Lyla holding the bundle in her arms. John sat on the edge beside her, as Felicity stood beside her making funny faces at the baby. They all turned to her and Oliver with smile. The moment she saw the baby in Lyla's arms, something happened. Something she really didn't expect, but a sudden sadness...and maybe jealousy hit her.
"There you guys are." Felicity said waving Katie over. "You have to come see this little ball of adorableness." the woman turned back to the baby. "I just want to eat her face." Katie walked over to stand beside Felicity to see just how cute the baby really was. She found herself back to that moment months ago when she thought she might be pregnant with Oliver's baby, and for a few brief moments she was actually kind of excited. There was a sudden tear that fell from her eyes, that she didn't expect.
"Are you crying?" Felicity asked with wide eyes. It was a very rare sight, to see Katie cry, and to say the people in the room were a bit surprised was an understatement. Katie wiped the tear from her eyes before smiling to the baby before looking to Lyla.
"Congratulations." she said with a smile. "I just remember that I have to-" she nudged her head toward the door. "I have to go."
"Hey, are you alright?" Lyla asked and Katie nodded.
"Absolutely. I'm fine. You just worry about that kid." Katie replied with a nod before turning to John and giving him a playful punch to the shoulder. "Congrats, Mr. Diggle. You did good."
"You leaving?"
"Yeah, it's late and it's been a long night." Katie replied glancing back over to Lyla and the baby. "I'll come back tomorrow with lots of gifts." she turned back to John. "Lots and lots of gifts."
"Why does that scare me?"
"It's should Johnny boy." she said before giving him another playful slap before walking out the door.
Katie's eyes were fixed on the elevator doors, fully prepared to just step inside and go back to her loft. Probably drink an embarrassing amount of alcohol and just pass out. There were heavy footsteps behind her, and she knew who they belonged to, but she didn't stop. The footsteps quickened, and a hand grabbed her arm and she jerked from his grasp.
"Will you stop for just one minute?"
"Why?" Katie asked looking to the man. "Let me guess, this is the part that you tell me that you still love me, that I still love you, but that because of who we are, because of who you are we can't be together."
"Katie-"
"Please don't." she said with a shake of her head. "We've done this before, and I'm tired of this. The talking changes nothing. Don't tell me that we can't be together in the same sentence that you tell me that you love me-" without warning, Oliver suddenly brought his hands to cup Katie's face, before slamming his lips into hers and God help her, she let him. Katie hadn't felt these lips in months, and it was very obvious as she grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer. She hated that she could describe this kiss. It wasn't just different. There were always fireworks, and butterflies, and her insides always felt like they were on fire. When they needed air, they pulled back, but barely with their eyes locked on each other.
"Please don't ask me to say I don't love you." Oliver whispered and Katie hated him for making her feel the sudden emotions that hit her. She pulled from his grasp, taking a step back. Katie shook her head before turning and heading toward the elevator. "Stop running from him." she stopped walking and glancing over to him. "From everything. That's how you finally overcome what you're afraid of. When you stop running from it." the elevator doors slid open and Katie stepped on, and turned to find his eyes still on her until the doors closed. Once they did, Katie closed her eyes letting out a heavy sigh.
As she walked out of the hospital, she was so distracted by Oliver's words, she didn't feel the eyes on her.
Sarab stood on the roof of the hospital, staring down to the woman as she slid into her car. The moment she pulled off, he moved to follow.
Author's notes:
Ummm, interesting. Maseo is still creeping. Katie and Oliver are still annoyingly adorable, but also annoying. Katie's finally facing something of those fears she's been trying to push away, and Oliver is finally starting to recognize his own.
Review Replies
: I'm so glad you like it! I totally agree that Twiver is everything, which I'm putting pressure on in this first part of the story, but I promised by the end you will like the direction their relationship take. Trust me.
ForeverFallingx: My motto will always and forever be trust the author. I know our fair twiver ending things sucked, but distance makes the heart grow fonder. And new boyfriends make for a jealous Liver. Stick with me here, because nothing is as it seems.
Adela: Thanks! I'm glad I'm keeping the stories interesting. There's nothing I love more with a good fan fiction is keeping the story both familiar, and different at the same time.
I'm so glad with the positivity surrounding the story so far. I want to thank everyone who has taken an
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And a special shout out to my lovely readers who left reviews. I love reading them, so please keep them coming.
As always, a sneak peek...
SNEAK PEEK
"You know I thought I got rid of you." Katie muttered with a shake of her head. "I mean I never figured out why I even see you, but I assume you were the past I just couldn't let go."
"Is that what that therapist is telling you?"
"No, Nick doesn't know anything about you. I'm afraid if he did, I'd be in a nice comfy padded cell." Katie sighed. "Go away figment of my imagination, die in the darkest corner of my mind."
"Figment?" he said and Katie let out a snort as the man's footsteps starting getting closer, and yet she didn't stop her pace. "You think I'm not real."
"I also think you're annoying." Katie muttered glancing over to him. "And now I'm imagining you wearing their clothes. This is really starting to become a classic PTSD episode. I may have to get medication or some-" the man's leg swooped underneath Katie's feet sending her falling right on her back, with wide eyes right on him. The man bent over, so the woman could see his eyes and he just smirked before standing up straight and stalking away. Katie watched until he was gone, and she wasn't sure how sane she was at this moment.