Title: Slipping Past His Defense (Without Granting Innocence)
Words: 2613
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver
Genre: Comfort/Romance
Status: Done.
Summary: Oliver has another argument with Moira and there's only one person who can make him see the light.
"That's very well and everything, but you cannot see her right now. I promise you when this is all settled and you pop back up in the news you may see her," A voice came from the library.
No one had gone in there for years. It was the first place that he and Laurel were supposed to go when they met, but no one else really had an attachment to the room.
He pushed open the door and saw his mother. with Malcolm Merlyn. "I see I've interrupted something," He said with a blush. He walked back out of the doorway and down the hall again. Malcolm Merlyn was alive. Really alive.
"Oliver, wait," His mother yelled as she walked down the hall. Moira never ran, nothing was ever important enough to run. And when she did, you should to, because it was life and death. "I can see your upset."
"Upset doesn't begin to cover it, mom," He let out. God, how could she let that monster back into their home? Granted all he was here to do was to pick up a few things and get his laundry done, but she didn't have the right. He killed 503 people.
Moira looked him in the eye and sighed, "I haven't been the best mother to you and I'm sorry for that. But I'm thinking about Thea right now. Her biological father is alive and you want me to stop lying to her. So I'm going to let him back into her life. When he comes forward about being alive. I see no other way she can possibly know," She stated in a cool voice that begged that if he defied her that he would see no mercy from her hand.
"Thea's father is Robert. I don't care what some DNA says. She is his daughter, not Merlyn's. And I'm certainly not gonna let him try to corrupt her the way he tried to corrupt Tommy," He yelled.
Moira didn't flinch. "This is not about you, Oliver. You don't get to decide what Thea knows and what she doesn't, because you've already proven yourself to be just as unflinching as I am in that regard. This is about me doing what is best for her. And you can stay out of it."
"This isn't over," Oliver muttered as he turned and left.
Moira shook her head. "No, it's definitely not," She smiled to herself. Her son didn't know who he was trying to play, but it wasn't going to work. She had worked far too hard for far too long learning to play the game that he was just barely getting out of the box.
She returned to the library and smiled. "So it's settled then? You are going to make a public declaration of being alive again?" She asked him.
"Are you okay? I mean it looked like your son wasn't so keen on having me back." He asked with a bit of a goofy smile.
No one would believe that Malcolm Merlyn could have a goofy smile and a warm heart, but she saw it. Maybe it was just under more layers than people liked to go through, but it was there and in the rare moments that you saw it, it was a beautiful thing. "My son doesn't take to any decision I make. But I know the one person who has always been able to change his mind," She told Malcolm. "Now, if you'll give me a second, I need to make a phone call,"
"Take as long as you need, I've got all day." He said as he hopped on the counter space between the books and the large living space.
The next day, he went to bed at the Queen Mansion for the first time in weeks and it felt glorious not to sleep on something that had a little bit of cushion. He couldn't get too used to it, because softness came if you got too comfortable, but he loved the occasional luxury.
That was till he woke up.
"Come on, time to get up, you curmudgeon. Time to greet the day," She said as she stole the blanket from him and pushed the curtains wide open.
He blinked a couple of times and looked at his watch. "What time is it? I thought it was Saturday." He groaned.
"It's about nine AM and it is indeed Saturday." She said as she looked down on him, "Doesn't mean that we don't have things to do and talk about," She told him.
"Laaaaaaurel," He begged. "I just want to sleep,"
She shook her head, "Tough tomatoes, sweet cheeks. I know all about you and your mother's latest argument."
He groaned again. "That's why you're here. She called you," He said as he looked at the ceiling and contemplated his life. He could get away easily, but she'd never let him live it down if he tried.
"Not the only reason. I asked Felicity and Diggle too. They say it's affecting all aspects of your life. And you need someone to talk about it with, so we're going for brunch and you're gonna talk about it. Get dressed," She told him.
He moaned one more time. There really was no getting out of this. If Felicity and Diggle had told Laurel that he wasn't doing well, then that meant they were on her side and he'd never hear the end of it if he skipped out on this. He could just lie to her, but given that she already knew about the problem, it probably wouldn't help. Dammit. Why? That was the question. He grabbed some jeans and a nice button up and put them on before getting his shoes and heading to find Laurel.
She was reaching out to touch something and he looked over it, it was a picture of her, him, and tommy. They had her on their shoulders and it looked like she was a queen with her two princes. It wasn't necessarily untrue. He looked back from the picture and looked to her. She was beautiful, impeccably dressed, in a fitted corseted cheetah print top with some studs accentuating the right areas and naturally situated things in a pretty way and then a skirt that was shorter than she would have used for work, but fitted around her like it was made for her by the gods. "Like the view?" She asked him, with an eyebrow quirked.
He blushed and turned his attention to the floor, caught was never a good look on him. He adjusted his belt, "Let's go," He said as followed her out of the house.
Oliver opened her door for her and let her get in and he was about to shut the door for her, but she stopped and looked back to him, up at him. He shouldn't think about that too hard. Seeing Laurel look up at him with a good sparkle in his eyes, he took a deep breath and put his hand on the car. "You know I'm not really in the mood for brunch. Stuffy people. Not enough space to talk. Your mother's idea. I think we should ditch it. Maybe that place by the pier?" She asked him and licked her lips. He didn't know what to say. She put her legs in and smirked at him, "Just a thought,"
He pushed her door closed and got into the car on his side. That place by the pier was always their code. It was when they wanted to get away and no one could know. There were plenty of restaurants next to the pier. "Sounds good," He said as he buckled himself in and pushed the accelerator down to the ground.
He took down to "that place by the pier" which was not actually a restuarant at all. It was an apartment that Tommy had paid for with his trust fund money that they all came down to when they needed time away from everyone. It was a no cell phone kind of place. Which is the first thing he did, put his cell phone in the bowl and Laurel did too. "Nothing's changed with this place," He said, "God, he did us such a solid getting us this."
Laurel smiled to him and kissed her fingertips and pressed them to Tommy's picture's lips. "Well, he always did like watching," She joked a little. He chuckled, it came a little closer to the truth than he admitted with anyone else. "Now, come on, you're supposed to be cooking me food," She told him.
"Fine fine fine." He said as he went to the kitchenette and she slipped off her shoes, something so simple and yet it was an act of supreme trust. She hated her feet and when she let someone else see them, it was huge. He still had her trust. He started working on the food, pasta and garlic bread.
She couldn't believe how domestic it was. The only way it would have been better was if Tommy had been their to cuddle them both and tell them they were avoiding the issue. She didn't want to get to it quite yet, but Tommy always knew what was up. It still felt like a huge hole to not have him. She turned on the TV and got the dishes out and started setting the table.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked about it," Oliver said, stirring the noodles and looking over to her as she stood at the table.
She shook her head. "We have time," She said to him as she crossed the threshold and kissed his cheek, "Besides, I don't want you burning the garlic bread," She told him with a smile.
And the timer went off and he winked at her. "Yeah, well, the sauce is gonna be done in about two minutes," He replied to her. They did have time. They had all the time in the world. This was the home that built them. They were different people in here. They never lied to each other here. He didn't know why they hadn't decided to move in here when she wanted to look into apartments. Yeah, it probably would have still been for nothing, but she wanted something that was so theirs back then. And he was ready to be a man.
They ate their pasta and watched trashy television, the formal settings on the table all but forgotten as she laughed brazenly at Dewey in School of Rock. God, the movie wasn't great, but it made her laugh in that way that she always did when she didn't think anyone was looking, genuine.
"Malcolm is alive." He said to her and she looked to him as she lowered the volume on the TV. She was quiet and he went on. "Slade told Thea that Malcolm is her father. And that I was keeping that secret from her. So was my mother. But now she wants to tell Thea that he's alive again."
"And you think that would be bad because Dad was her dad?" She asked him as she teared up a little. They hadn't talked about this in a long time, but she had been excited about coming into the Queen family. Robert asked her to call him Dad too, for at least a year before he died.
He nodded.
Laurel scooted over and hugged him. She closed her eyes and felt his body close to hers. She felt his breathing regulate and he sighed. She smiled to him a little. "Ollie, you know that Robert will always be her dad?" She asked him. He shook his head. "He will. He will always be her dad. He will always be the one who watched her learn how to ride a bike. And got her first bank account. And went to her first recital. And the first one to say no to a crazy tattoo idea she had when she was thirteen. Even if Malcolm come in now, he can't ever take that way, okay?" She asked him as she let him out of the hug and put her hands on the sides of his face so that he had to look her in the eye.
He nodded and hugged her again. "How are you so level headed about this?" He asked her.
"Because for me, it's about Thea. And what she deserves. And she deserves someone who takes care of her. And you just needed someone to shift the perspective," She told him, grinning as she looked into his eyes. "You've always needed me for that,"
He chuckled. "You were always the one who knew me best," He said and he took a chance. He saw a look in her eyes, that sparkle that suggested she liked this more than she was letting on, and maybe he wasn't crazy.
The longing hadn't been unbearable before, but he realized he missed this, missed her lips on his, the cherry taste of her lip balm, so subtly placed underneath that immaculate lipstick. He got lost in her perfume, the clever daisy scent of marc jacobs. Her arms went around his neck and she climbed into his lap and he smiled. She was perfect.
When she pulled away she had the stupidest grin on her face and he grinned right back, closing his eyes just a little. "You think he would be happy for us?" He asked, looking over to Tommy's picture.
She nodded. "He would. You know he willed this place to me. Because and I quote, 'You and Oliver won't have me to work it out for you, so I bequeath to you the one place you are both nakedly honest with each other, the place by the pier.' I think he knew that something was gonna come up. And he'd be happy your keeping Thea's best interests as your main priority."
"Only with your help," He said.
She shrugged. "You always were pretty stupid."
"You always were the only one stubborn enough to change my mind," He said as he held her in his lap.
She wiggled and the look of shock on his face was absolutely priceless. "Are you...?" He asked, not quite sure what he was asking.
"I want to do what like Tommy would tell us to do. I want to try again. Because you never give up on true love." She beamed at him.
He nodded. The idea wasn't terrible. "He always believed in us,"
"Do you believe in us?" She asked him, because really that's what this was about. It was about them.
He laughed to himself. God, she was so stubborn sometimes. She was his only one. "I've always believed in you. It's why I even got out of bed for you this morning. It's myself that I sometimes have a problem with believing in."
"I've always believed in you." She said, kissing him on the nose.
He smiled and put his forehead on hers, "Well, then to honor Tommy's memory, we should preserve the one Merlyn legacy that mattered the most to Tommy, being true to the ones we love. " He said. It was cheesy, but it didn't really matter to him because she was the only one he liked to be cheesy with. "I love you, Laur,"
"I love you too, Ollie," She nuzzled her nose into his neck and he twitched. Ticklish. God, she forgot how much she loved just being in his arms. "I guess we should say a toast to the Merlyns."
"To the Merlyns, bringing us together and showing us love is the answer." He said.
She nodded. "To the Merlyns."