Two week prior

Sara laughed as Oliver collapsed onto the sofa, head in her lap.

"How's life with three kids going?" she asked, carding her fingers through his short cut hair.

Oliver just groaned.

Sara laughed again.

It was only nine in the morning. Oliver had just got back after dropping Rose and Joe off to school, while Slade and Grant were looking for work for the young Alpha. After a night of being the hood, braking up a drug ring of meth, getting the kids to go to sleep, waking up early to get them ready. The last thing he wanted to do was go to work in ten minuets.

"It's good to have you here," Oliver patted her arm. "This juggling act is difficult."

"You and Slade getting much time together?" She grinned.

"Wolves have super hearing and scene of smell. In short-" he was cut off by a yawn. "No."

"You could try getting a place, just as a front. Say you moved out but stay here."

"I don't think so. Thea and mom need me there. Need to know I'm okay and I like to see them before I go to sleep. Check they're safe."

Sara hummed in understanding, rubbing her thump along her friend's temple.

"I'm going to tell them."

Oliver's eyes flew opened from where they were half lid. He knew what she meant straight away but he did not expect it in the comfortable silence. "About everything?"

"I want to be able to go back to Nyssa, to continue my training and just to see her."

"You miss her?" Oliver smirked.

Sara leered at the blonde. "So what if I do?" she smiled. "We left Starling, you became a wolf, I became a hunter and we both got gay."

"You were always gay," Oliver pointed out.

Oliver had been shocked when he found out but it helped explain why Sara had slept with him, it was not just about the thrill, Ollie had slept with lots of women, she thought that maybe, just maybe, he could make her normal. Oliver was running from commitment, Sara from her sexuality. It was stupid and childish, they were stupid and childish. They both knew it was wrong but they did it anyway.

Things were different now, they were better. Oliver had someone he loved and a family, and Sara had not slept with one but two women... Slade and Oliver were swore to security to never tell Yao Fei about the time Shado took Sara to bath in the waterfall...

"I was figuring things out," she folded her arms.

Oliver shook his head, tutting.

"Shut up."

Oliver laughed. When he stopped, he looked up to his friend and pack member. "Your dad is not scared. He asks me about how to spot hints of wolves and hunters in cases, advise on who the Hood and Swords are."

"That is seriously Slade's nickname? Swords?" Sara looked on in disbelieve.

"Not creative," Oliver agreed. "My point is that I think he would want you to be happy. He would not like the idea at first but you're part of what's pretty much a police force for the supernatural. He'll be proud. Are you going to tell Laurel and your mom too?"

"My story is that I lost my memory and made a new life. I have a job and a love interest-"

"It's a love interest now?"

"Shut. Up," Sara warned. "I'll tell the city that, and dad that I know about wolves and so on. But mom? Laurel? I don't know."

"Well the sofa is always welcome to you for as long as you need it."

"How about I go sleep in your bed and you stay here?"

"Too risky."

"Yeah, I know."

Oliver let out a draw out groan. "I have to go to work."

"Sucks to be you."

Present

Walter lead his wife from the elevator, her arm linked in his. He lead Moira down the glass halls, her heels clicking on the marble floor.

"Oliver hired him to run security. He has a background in the navy, before joining ASIS, a sort of Australian CIA or FBI, in low level security."

Moira smiled. "For a second I thought you were going to tell me that Oliver hired an ex-spy."

Walter chuckled. "He has been working for Queen Consolidated for over two weeks and has made many changes to our security. From what I can tell, he is very good at what he does."

Moira nodded. She was more interested in the fact that Oliver seemed to spend a lot of time talking about this new friend of his.

Oliver still looked at his home as if it were foreign to him and he did not seem to like being there for long periods of time, only to sleep really. Moira had no idea where her son had slept before but now, finally, he was sleeping in his room. The door did not have a lock, so he had braced the it with something, saying it made him feel safer. Diggle had told her that Oliver spent most days working to get the club set up, at Queen Consolidated or with a girl/friends. He would drop her son off in the middle of the city, else Oliver would just escape, she learned to live with that but she could not grasp why he would not tell her who he was spending his days with.

Oliver did not spend as much time with Tommy as he should have, back before the Island the two were pretty much joined at the hip. Tommy had been the only reminder Moira had left of Oliver when he and his father had died. Although both Tommy and Thea were Malcolm's children, the man who had killed her husband and son.

It was by pure luck that Malcolm had been killed, turns out his little hunter friends had found out he had got himself bitten to become stronger, his punishment of death however was for the machine he was planning to make, to destroy the city.

Moira went to the funeral, she comforted Tommy. Their families had always been close. Robert and Rebecca, Malcolm's wife both had knowledge of hunting and wolves, they were, unknown to the city, brother and sister after all. The two couples stuck together, both planning to separate from their legacies, to never train their children like they were. In this day and age with cameras everywhere, wolves pretending to be human was a must in Starling city. Hiding their four-legged forms and bright glowing eyes, which in term meant that hunters were not as needed, minus if they got caught as wolves. That was a near immobility to hide. It was not like Moira could go out with silver throwing daggers like she had back in her home town. She never killed a wolf, only scared them off back, in her youth. They all did. Walter knew nothing, which was for the best.

Rebecca's death had lead Robert to further believe that family needed to stick together and to never ever tell his son about wolves. Moira thought that Oliver had to be told for his protection. They fought. Moira went to see Malcolm, see how he was holding up. He was leaving, going to train with some hunters he had heard about in the middle east. They never meant for it to happen... It was not until she had got back home, her husband passed out in his leather chair, whiskey in hand. Her son sitting in the garden, holding Tommy close. It was then that she remembered it was Oliver ninth birthday.

Then Thea was born nine months later. Robert never said a word, he did not need to. He loved Thea like she was his own. She was Robert's and no one would know any more.

The masked duo who patrolled the city of Starling was a total mystery to both Moira and her old hunting contacts. One wore all green leather with a hood, he had saved her son. The other wore all black with what looked like protective padding. Both wore mental masks that hid their faces, the Hood's was bi-coloured, spilt down the middle, in dark green and black, the other had orange and black. Green was an archer, Orange fought with a set of twin fusion ronin swords, they were a type of katana although Moira personally had always thought of the Japanese weapon to have a straight and flat blade. What they were after was unknown, it seemed like they were just trying to fix the city.

As long as her children were okay, Moira bore them no worry but if they were to cross that line, they would regret it.

As the pair rounded the corner, Moira could see her son through the glass walls. He was sitting at his desk, speaking with a man in a suit who was sitting in the seat opposite. The man was tanned, possibly middle eastern although she had been told he had an Australian accent. He appeared to have a large build from what she could see, with short military cut black hair.

Once they stepped into the room, the man stood and turned in greeting. The man was a couple of inches shorter than Oliver, still making him pretty tall. Very interestingly, he was wearing an eye patch over his right eye, his other eye showed they had been dark brown, almost black. The injury peeked her curiosity.

"Slade Wilson? I take it," Moira said, holding out her hand. "I'm Moira Queen," she felt a twinge from his hand, he was reacting to the silver ring she always wore for moments like these. "Oliver's mother," She smiled, a knowing look in her eyes. She squeezed his hand painfully hard, not that it affected a wolf.

Slade's wide dark eye looked back in shock, hiding it no more than a second later. "It's a pleasure."

"Oh no, believe me. It's mine," she said, pulling her hand back. "Why did you come to Starling?"

"A change of scenery."

"Any kids?"

Slade kept a completely still face. He was very protective over his children. "Three."

"Ah well, I can tell you that my children's safety means a great deal to me. I do hope that you do a good job here."

The hint was clear, and Slade could feel his angry bubbling. Did she just know or was she a hunter... She could not be, Oliver never found out before the Island, and from what Slade read about the old Oliver Queen, there was no way he was raised with discipline to create a fighter. Hell Oliver came to him in his early twenties with no knowledge of how to fight.

Oliver stepped over to stand next to Slade, close enough that he could lift his hand to Slade's which was hidden behind his back, balled in a fist from the burn that was eating at his flesh. Slade felt himself calm with a soft sigh. Oliver must have sensed his rage.

"Well," Moira smiled, as innocent as an angel. Her fingertips were rubbing along the ring, cleaning it. She did not even seem surprised, she knew from the moment Slade touched the ring. She was an experienced in identifying. "I just wanted to stop by and say hello. I should leave you two to get back to work."

"It was good to meet you," Slade said.

"And you."

The group said their goodbyes, Slade and Oliver stood with no reaction to the events that happened till Moira and Walter were clear from vision.

"Bloody thing," Slade hissed under his breath, holding his hand to his chest as he went to sit back down.

"Are you okay?" Oliver took the seat next to him, placing his hand on Slade's arm. "What's wrong?"

"You remember how I told you that silver burns?"

Oliver nodded. He did not think it was wise to test such a thing.

Slade opened up his hand, his palm was burned like it had been splashed with a strip of boiling hot water. "Her ring," he explained.

Oliver took Slade's hand, the other man took it back, mumbling about them being in public. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It'll heal in the hour but that's not the issue," the Aussie pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What do you mean?"

Slade sighed. "Kid."

Oliver braced himself at the way Slade said his name, sounding so drained.

"The ring was there to test for Lycanthropy. To test that I was a wolf."

Oliver laughed. "Jesus Slade. Don't joke like that."

"I'm not."

Oliver just shook his head. "Why would she-"

"She was scraping my skin off the ring as she said goodbye. She knows I'm a wolf, and she knows that I know," had he less control, his eyes would have flashed red. "Think about what she said after I said I had kids. She's warning me."

"No," Oliver stood, pacing around the room. "She can't... She..." he turned to Slade. "Are you sure she knows?" Ollie could not get his head around the idea, let alone that he mother would bring their children into this.

"She's experienced. She barely blinked when she found out. I can't say how she knows about wolves but she does."

"A hunter?"

"Too soon to tell."

"I just can't believe this," Oliver said as he sat down, voice bare audible.

"Humans can be frightened of wolves, it would make sense that she was just identifying who to look out for," Slade rested his foot against Oliver's. "It's gonna be okay, kid. We'll talk to Sara-"

"No," Oliver held up his hand. "I don't want to tell her, not yet anyway. I don't want to freak her out of returning home. I don't want the kids knowing either. Don't want to upset them."

"They'll both be fine," Slade said, "But okay."

Oliver glanced up. "How's your hand?"

"Better."

"You should go home. I'll finish up and we'll head off to dinner."

Slade blinked. "You're still up for going out?"

"I promised I would take them out."

"Even if you have to hide who you are," Slade grinned.

Oliver smirked. "Yeah."

"I'm not going anywhere," Slade said, pressing his foot against Oliver's.

Oliver pushed back. "You never do."