Title: Stay, Instead
Words: 2315.
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver.
Genre: Hurt/Romance.
Status: Done.
Summary: Laurel buries Sara for the second time and she goes to the bar to drink herself into oblivion, but Oliver follows her and stops her.
They all shoveled dirt onto Sara's grave that now had Sara in it. She paid for that damn tombstone more than six years ago and now at least it was being used.
Quentin stayed with Sara to pay his final respects and Laurel just turned on her heel and left.
Her face remained dry throughout the entire thing and he knew that was a problem. That was a very big problem. Laurel felt things in a way that was like looking through the window of a house, you could see exactly what was going on inside.
He followed her to the parking lot and saw her open up her trunk and put her yellow and black blazer in, a nice nod to what Sara did. She then dropped her skirt and bent down and picked it up and put it in too.
He noticed that what he thought was one complete dress was in fact not one. Well, it was, but it wasn't. The long sleeved dress had the shortest skirt he'd seen in awhile and she'd worn a skirt on top of it to make it more funeral appropriate.
"That's certainly an outfit for going home," He told her.
She snorted and pushed the trunk door down. "Not going home," She told him.
"Where are you going?" He asked.
She unlocked her car and for the first time since they'd been having the conversation, she looked at him. "To a bar."
He grabbed her wrist. "What about your sobriety?" She was doing so well. She hadn't had a drink in over a year and she was at the top of her game. She was training. She was fighting with them. She went to work everyday and helped people. He couldn't believe that she still kept her job after everything.
She blew a breath out, "What about it? Doesn't matter anyway." She took her wrist away from him and got into her car and drove off.
Thea wasn't at the bar so he couldn't call her and tell her to make sure Laurel didn't drink, but he could follow her and he planned on doing exactly that.
He got into his car and drove after her.
The good thing was that she went to Verdant because she was a creature of habit and he had said that she could have a drink on his dime when he was trying to give her some tough love. Wasn't his greatest speech and that line definitely wasn't what he wanted from her.
He parked the car and waved to the bouncer as he went in. He greeted people because that is what expected of you when you own the bar and your sister manages it. He looked for her through it all. He couldn't quite see her. "Is Thea okay?" Someone asked. "Yeah, we haven't seen her all day," Another person threw in.
"Yeah," He said with a smile, and shaking off looking for Laurel. He almost hadn't heard them. "We had a funeral for a friend. It was last minute and she didn't have time to tell everyone. She told the supervising manager, so you shouldn't have a problem," He told them as he caught a glimpse of Laurel who already three empty glasses in front of her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do," He told them as he pushed passed them.
He heard them talking about him, but he honestly didn't care that much about them. He just sat by her and smiled a little sadly. "You can say it. You're disappointed in me. It's fine." She said, without looking at him.
"How'd you know it was me?" Oliver asked, a sympathetic frown on his face.
She looked at him with an eyebrow inching into her hairline, "Please, Ollie, if I had wanted to shake you I could have. Felicity wasn't there to track me with her phone. I came here because I knew you would be right behind me. And you'd have a few obligations before you got to me," She told him as she took another shot and shook her head.
He took one of her shots. "So why'd you come at all?" He asked as he bobbed it back. God, straight tequila. She really was serious about this buzz that she was getting.
"Because she's really dead." Laurel said, finally. She didn't look at him or the bartender or anyone really. She looked out into space and then shook her head. "Sara wasn't the best sister. She did some really shitty things to me. But that was part of the deal when I got her back. I had to deal with the fact that she was the same person she always was. That, as much as we like to think we do, we don't really change as much as think." She took another drink.
"You know she'd want you to go on with your life? She'd want you to be happy." Oliver tried to be helpful.
Laurel smiled that smile wasn't a smile, but a weapon of sadness, and shook her head. "What does it really matter what she wanted? No one who's around me stays untroubled for too long." She said and took a chaser of wine.
He shook his head. "That is absolutely not true," He told her.
"Really?" She asked, hatred in her eyes. "All the people I've lost. You, Robert, Tommy, and Sara. Twice. My father is a mess, again. My mother lost the only daughter she ever really loved. And I dated a fucking psychopath last year. I don't want to live anymore, Oliver, do you get it? I just don't want to be in anymore pain." She cried and he took her in his arms.
She wrapped her arms around him and he could feel the stiff shirt being softened while she soaked it with her tears. He lead her to the manager's office and laid them down on the couch. This wasn't the time to talk about her drinking. Especially considering that she let him in and didn't shut him out. "You don't have to be in pain all the time. I'm gonna be here. I'm always gonna be here for you." He told her.
She looked up at him and those eyes, mascara ran from them, they were puffy and red, but they still looked like the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen. "How can I not be? I'm like the human equivalent of a black thumb." She said.
"Because you're always gonna have someone to lean on. I promise." He said, not letting her go.
She settled into him and laid her head down on his chest. "You're sweet when you want to be, Queen."
"Only with people who matter." He told her as he rested his head on hers and let himself relax a little bit. They weren't perfect, but they could be. And Laurel certainly was gonna have good days and bad days, but this was a start. And a start was better than nothing.
He didn't know how long he really sat there in silence till she started snoring and he couldn't escape the grin that sat on his face. He kissed her hair and fell asleep as he wrapped her up in his arms.
She needed to know that someone would always be with her and well, the best way he knew that was through physical contact.
She shrieked and he woke up with a jerk. His hands went to her face, showing her that he was there, "You're okay. Laur. You're okay."
"Ollie?" She asked.
He nodded as he sat up and cradled her head with one hand and cradled her body close to him with the other. "You're okay."
"She's dead."
He nodded. "Yeah, she is."
She rubbed her eyes and looked at the floor. "I should go home."
"Can I come with you?" He asked her as he tried to find her face.
She looked over to him. "You want to come home with me?"
"Yes. I do. I want to keep my promise. I want to have someone to lean on." He told her with a bit of a genuine smile.
She sat there, sort of shocked. "You know, Ollie, you don't have to do this. I get it you're worried about me, but you don't need to do this." She told him.
He shook his head. "If you think I'm doing this out of some blind adulation or obligation, I'm not. I love you. And I'm worried about you. You seemed intent on poisoning yourself last night." He said, softly.
She bared her teeth. "I don't need you around if you're just gonna shame me for dealing with grief again. I had enough of that when she came back," She said as she snatched up her shoes. She didn't remember taking them off, but Thea probably came and saw them and put them on the floor. She stood up and wobbled.
He stood up and put his hands on her hips as he stood behind her. "I'm not trying to shame you. I'm sorry. But it looked like you were ready to die last night. And that is not something I want." He whispered and he hooked his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes.
"I was." She admitted. "I still kind of am."
He took her hand in his and showed it to her. "You matter, Laurel. You matter to me. You matter to Diggle and Felicity. You matter to your father. You matter to this city. And you deserve to see that. This?" He asked her. "This is just a symbol. Our fingers entwined. I couldn't do any of what I do without you." He told her.
"Yeah?" She asked him quietly.
"Five years I was trapped on an island and it was hell. It was the worst thing that I could ever imagine being through. And in that five years, the only thing I thought about was getting back to you. Showing you how much I loved you. I used your picture everyday. I talked to you." He told her because she deserved to know that he couldn't go on without her. She was his constant. "Without you, I'd probably be dead by now. But I came back for you. And I need you, still. So please, let's just go home and sleep again?
She looked back to him and broke their fingers entwine and threw her arms around his neck. He'd never told her that before and he sort of expected a different reaction. But this, this was good."Why didn't you tell me that before?" She whispered into his skin.
He shrugged. "I always thought it would be more useful to say it through actions, although I've been doing a shit job at those lately too. I'm trying, I promise. Not to be a selfish hypocritical asshole."
"Well, then," She said, looking at him and she gave him a big smile, "Why don't we go home and sleep until morning?"
"It's technically already morning," He told her as he stuck his tongue out at her.
"And you're technically a brat, bastard," She said with a bit of a laugh. God that was one of his favorite sounds.
"You want me to drive you home? Or are you okay?" He asked her in all seriousness as he carried out of the manager's office and out of the empty club.
The sun was coming up on the horizon of Starling and she looked to him. "Could you? And in my car, please?" She asked.
"Of course," He said.
He looked to her and she unzipped her purse and shuffled around a bit inside of it, till she found her keys and gave them to him. He unlocked the door with the Fob and managed to get the door open without putting her down. He placed her gently in the passenger's seat and closed the door and then got in on the other side.
He drove into the sunrise and smiled to her. Sure, she wasn't perfect. She had a lot of flaws. She was critical of herself, way more than she should, but there was no one he would rather be with than her.
He looked back to the road and headed to Laurel's apartment. She rubbed her eyes a lot. But when they got there, she yawned. Yeah, she was still tired. He stopped the car in her apartment's garage and got out and took her hand.
They took the elevator up and when they entered her apartment, she threw off her shoes again. He did the same. "I'll just take the couch then," He said as she went to the bedroom.
"Oh no," She said as she stopped and went back to him. "You are getting in that bed with me."
"Isn't that a bad idea?" He asked.
"Maybe." She told him. "But we don't have to have sex. And even if we did, it'd be living."
"Okay." He acknowledged as he went with her to the bedroom.
She looked beautiful in the darkness, even as she stumbled a little bit. "Can you unzip me?" She asked him, breaking his reverie.
"Yeah," He gulped and his hands moved slowly, revealing the expanse of her smooth back, dusted with her very few freckles. He kissed her shoulders as he finished.
She smiled and stepped out of the dress. He saw her in the mismatching underwear and bra and she was the most beautiful thing he had seen. He kissed her lips and she gasped as he pushed her up on her dressing table. "Ollie?" She whispered to him.
"Yeah?" He asked, stopping for a minute, because he realized that she might want to stop. Her sister had just died. They just buried her. And she was tired.
She smiled to him. "I love you too."