Chapter 21: From Liverpool With Love

"I would like to announce that due to very unfortunate circumstances, I'm awake" Sara stated as she walked down the stairs, tiredly running her fingers through her hair.

"Most of us are thanks to you, luv" a male voice in a british accent responded.

She stood at the end of the stairs frowning confused "When did you all get here?"

"Last night" Dig said smirking and sipping his coffee "You and Nyssa were obviously… busy"

"And by 'busy', he means 'shagging'" John Constantine added unnecessarily.

"We didn't want to interrupt" Oliver said with his own smirk.

"Huh" the blonde scratched the back of her neck, then shrugged as she walked past them straight to the coffee maker, stopping for a second to kiss the top of baby Sara's head and hug Lyla "Too happy and satisfied to actually care" she poured herself a cup of coffee and frowned "Wait, she didn't hear us, did she?" she asked pointing at the toddler.

"She's not deaf and you weren't quiet, so that would be a rotund 'yes'" Lyla smiled bouncing her still sleepy daughter and examining an angry looking bite mark on the blonde's shoulder "But on the bright side, she doesn't know what that was all about, so: no harm, no foul"

Sara shrugged again and went to take a seat at the table next to a tired looking Saracon "Where are the rest?"

"Laurel said she would be at the beach avoiding you and Nyssa for several hours" Oliver explained "She told us to give you the following message: 'you suck, assface'. Felicity, Thea and Mesi are with her. Roy and the League guys said they needed some stuff and went shopping; I don't know what that stuff was"

"Tommy and Sin went back to bed when you got quiet, so they're probably still sleeping" Dig added.

"And my mother went to the market because we are out of fruit. Either that or she wanted to avoid this moment" Saracon said rubbing his eyes.

"Probably both" Oliver suggested.

"Nyssa?" Lyla asked handing baby Sara her sippy cup.

"Shower"

"Not anymore" the woman in question said from the bottom of the stairs "Good morning"

"I bet it is" Constantine grinned cheekily and winked at her.

"Pardon me?" Nyssa looked him up and down.

"John Constantine" the man introduced himself when he felt her uneasiness toward him "Been dying to meet you, luv"

"Sara?" the brunette asked frowning in confusion as she started walking to the kitchen, but as soon as she passed by her fiancée, the blonde immediately grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to her lap.

Nyssa giggled happily as she wrapped her arms around the other woman's neck and kissed her softly.

"Did you just... giggle?" Oliver asked in disbelief, earning himself a glare from Sara.

"Shut up, Ollie"

"It's a new sound" he shrugged.

"No, it isn't" Lyla said smiling and handing baby Sara to a very happy and awaiting Nyssa "She does it all the time with the baby"

"Okay, then: it's a new sound for some of us. Better?"

"Just shut up, Ollie"

"Auntie Nys!" baby Sara exclaimed happily wrapping her tiny arms around the woman's neck and kissing her cheek.

The brunette chuckled and held her up, so she could stand and bounce on her lap, and kissed her on the nose "Hi, sweetie. I've missed you so much"

"Wow"

"Stop it, Oliver!" Sara said one last time, more forcefully, but not yelling at the risk of startling baby Sara.

"Seriously, mate" John Constantine rolled his eyes at him.

"Did you girls get some sleep?" Dig asked while discretely taking a pic of the three of them with his phone.

"Yes, John, why?" Nyssa answered and Sara leaned forward to whisper something in her ear that made her go pale "Oh…" she gulped and grimaced, looking around the table "...I see. My sincerest apologies"

Saracon groaned and leaned forward, banging his forehead on the table.

"What's his problem?" the British man asked pointing at the still groaning man.

"He's Nyssa's older brother" Oliver explained half smirking.

"Oh, bollocks. My condolences, mate"

"Thank you" Saracon answered, still face down on the table.

"That was a lovely and colorful spectrum of obscenities you displayed there, luv" he pointed out looking at the blonde woman "Bloody brilliant"

Sara grinned proudly and held her chin up, as her fiancée blushed and focused on baby Sara to avoid everyone else "Thank you"

"I would consider soundproofing your bedroom if you plan on having kids someday" Dig suggested smirking "I'm guessing they'll speak Arabic? Just like Lyla and I do…?"

"Can all of you please stop?" Nyssa asked wincing at the thought of Dig and Lyla actually understanding some of the things that escaped her lips last night.

"Ah, relax, hun" Constantine said waving his hand dismissively "We've all done it. No need to be ashamed, luv; I found it particularly inspiring myself. Lovely voices"

The brunette woman glared at him narrowing her eyes "I do not like you, Mr. Constantine"

Sara chuckled and rubbed her back, using her other hand to help baby Sara happily bounce on Nyssa's thighs.

The man shrugged "No one does at first, I come off as an obnoxious prick"

"I fully agree with that description"

"But there is no question you are in need of my help"

"No, there is not" she sighed "However, it does not necessarily imply that I have to enjoy your company"

He smirked "I'll grow on you, you'll see"

"Probably" she conceded "Very much like a fungus"

"Laurel, will you pass me—"

"Don't speak to me"

"Seriously?" Sara rolled her eyes and waited for an answer that never came "Am I getting the silent treatment now?" still nothing as the woman grabbed a bottle of water and walked out the kitchen "Laurel, c'mon! What are you, five?" she asked grabbing a beer and following her sister out the back door.

Laurel turned around glaring at her "No, I'm thirty-one. Same as your fiancée, with whom you had very loud and traumatic sex all night!"

Her younger sister frowned and absentmindedly scratched the bite mark on her shoulder "It wasn't traumatic"

"I meant for me!"

"Laurel, I was very high, I'm sorry! It got outta hand at one point" Sara said honestly "I swear Nyssa did her best to keep me quiet, but she's just so—"

"Please don't finish that sentence"

"What's going on?" the youngest Lance asked taking a step forward "This isn't the first time you've heard us having sex. You even walked in on us once, so you can't rationally be this upset about it"

Her older sister sat down on a lounge chair and looked up at the darkening sky "Well, maybe I'm not rational"

Sara sat down on the end of Laurel's chair when the woman bent her knees "What's really going on? You're unusually irritable"

Laurel sighed defeated and rubbed her temple "I'm late"

"For what?"

"Sara…" she looked at her confused sister in the eye and arched one eyebrow "...I'm late"

"You're—oh. Oh! Holy shit!"

"Sh!" Laurel quieted her looking around, making sure they couldn't be overheard "You are the only one who knows"

"You didn't tell Tommy?"

"No"

"Why not? Wait, if you're actually… you know…" she waved her hand in the direction of her sister's stomach "...it would be his, right?"

"Oh my God, yes!" Laurel punched her arm "Who do you think I am, 'Sara Lance, 2007 edition'?!"

"That was low" she winced, but recovered quickly "I was just asking, you don't need to be an ass about it" leaning forward, she whispered "Did you take a test?"

"Sorry. No, too nervous"

"Okay, okay, let's calm down. How late are you?"

"Two weeks"

"Two fucking weeks?!"

"Sara, lower your freaking voice!" the older woman hissed.

"Sorry, sorry" she whispered "Were you guys trying?"

"Oh, yes, didn't I tell you? We've been trying for months, that's why I'm freaking the fuck out!" Laurel snapped at her "Get your head outta your ass, Sara! No, we weren't trying!"

"Jeez" Sara rolled her eyes "Talk about pregnancy hormones"

"We don't know if I'm pregnant"

"Two weeks, Laurel, you're annoyingly regular, just like Nyssa. I'm the fucked up one since I got stabbed. There's practically no other explanation for you to be this late" she took her sister's hand in hers "I can go get you a test if you want"

"I don't know"

"You gonna wait till you start showing? Laurel, you need to know" she gasped and glared at her sister "Didn't you take a joint from me last night? What were you thinking?!"

"I didn't, relax. As soon as I remembered I put it back in the case"

"Oh, cool. I don't want my future nephew or niece to be a pothead because of their irresponsible mother"

"You're not helping, Sara"

"Look, I can make a quick run to the store right now to get you a test and you can take it tonight. I can stay with you if you want me to. But you need an answer"

"Will you really stay with me while I do it?"

"Of course" Sara leaned forward and hugged her tightly "I mean, I won't hold it for you 'cause you'll pee all over my hand, but I'll be there with you. I'm your sister and I love you; I've got you"

"The hell do you think you're doing?" Sara asked, placing her palm on Oliver's chest to stop him from following the group walking away from them.

"Going with them" he answered matter of factly.

Nyssa stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to look at him, eyebrow arched and arms folded "To do what, exactly, Mr. Queen?"

Oliver frowned "Whatever the four of you are gonna do"

"Oliver, honey…" Felicity took a step forward when she noticed Sara's expression "...maybe you should—"

"Fuck no" Sara warned her "You are not taking this away from me, Felicity" she waited for the hacker to take a step back and looked up at Oliver again "Last time I checked, you were not a Raatko"

"No, but someone needs to make sure nothing happens. I don't trust—"

"Nobody asked for your opinion, Oliver; get over yourself. I should've said this to you years ago, but better late than never: I don't give a flying fuck about who you do or do not trust. I'm Nyssa's fiancée and I'm staying out of their business, I suggest you do the same"

He pursed his lips looking down at her with a frown "Look, if he snaps—"

"If anything happens, Mr. Queen, I am more than capable of taking care of my family" this time it was Nyssa who interrupted him "I am infinitely grateful to you for bringing Mr. Constantine here to help Saracon, but that is all that was required from you. This is not your precious city, your family, nor your fight"

"So, in terms you understand: back off, dude" the blonde said, shoving him back.

"Fine!" he said like a petulant child and turned around, walking in the exact opposite way.

Sara turned around to face her fiancée "I'll be right out the door if you need me"

Nyssa leaned forward to kiss her softly "I know, thank you"

"Shall we?" John Constantine asked opening the door that led to the basement.

"Yes" the brunette woman answered, turning around and following her mother and brother down the stairs, before the blonde man followed all three of them and closed the door.

Sara sighed and moved a hand to rub the back of her neck, looking at everyone else "Felicity, maybe you should go check on Oliver"

"Yeah, I'll get right on that" the other blonde nodded before walking away.

"Stay close by" she instructed after, looking at her three friends and former League members. All three of them nodded shortly in complete silence and did as instructed.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Tommy asked, nervously shifting his weight from one foot the the other "I'm kinda anxious"

"Yeah, me too" Thea added.

"Pizza run?" the man suggested looking at his sister.

"Yes! And beer, we're outta beer!" the young woman nodded enthusiastically.

Tommy looked at Sara waiting for an answer and she nodded with a smile "Take Sin and Roy with you"

"Okay" the man said, leaning forward to kiss his wife "Be right back, sweetheart"

"Ice cream!" Laurel shouted to the four retreating figures, making her husband laugh.

"How could I forget the ice cream?"

"Where do you want us?" Dig asked rubbing his hands together.

"Out of the house with the baby. Go take a walk on the beach or something"

"No, no way, Sara" the man shook his head.

"Dig, we don't know what's gonna happen, it could get dangerous"

"All the more reason to stay"

She sighed frustrated "Look, Dig—"

"I can take Sara to the beach so Johnny can stay here" Lyla suggested.

"There you go" John said satisfied with that option.

"Okay, fine!" she said even more frustrated than before "Do whatever you want!" she let her body slide down the wall next to the basement door and sat down on the floor, playing nervously with the collapsed bō staff in her hand "Crap like this makes me miss the League" she mumbled to herself.

Laurel sat down next to her as they watched Lyla take a happy baby Sara out to the beach and Dig move to lean on the wall across from them "Why?"

"Look at them" the blonde said jerking her head in her friends' direction "One command, that's all it took. No arguing, no fighting, fully trusting. That's the way we were; the way we are with each other"

"Like soldiers" Dig remarked with a smile.

"Kinda, yeah"

"You? No arguing?" her older sister snorted "That can't be true"

"It is" Sara nodded and looked at her hands as she kept playing with her bō "There was a chain of command. An established hierarchy, Laurel. A real one. And not like at home, where if we spoke up to mom or dad we got grounded. In the League, if you spoke outta place or disobeyed Ra's al Ghul, you were punished for real" the blonde chuckled to herself "Trust me, I learned that lesson the hard way"

Laurel grimaced and decided not to ask for specifics "Nyssa was like that, too?"

"At first, yes. She always had to in front of her father, you know? That's what she was taught. But as she got older, she started seeing things in a different light" she smiled and looked at her sister "She backhanded me once for contradicting her in front of her father"

"The hell?!" the woman asked alarmed, which made Sara and Dig laugh "I thought you said she started seeing things differently"

"Trust me, better her than him"

"Still, Sara!"

"Laurel, you need to understand the way things worked there. She did it to protect me from him. After the first couple times Ra's decided to 'reminded me of my place' she started to beg for me to stop talking back, to keep my snarky comments to myself. Most of the times I did, for her" she smiled, not particularly displeased with her usual attitude "I can take a beating just fine, but I just can't stand the look on her face whenever she sees me get hurt; it's heartbreaking" the blonde continued her explanation "But I couldn't really help it that time, and when she saw him twitch as if to smack me, she beat him to it and backhanded me"

"This whole thing is so beyond fucked up"

"It was worth it. One…" she explained holding one finger up "...no rings on her fingers. Have you seen his? Those hurt like a mother fucker, I would know. Two…" she added a second finger "...I could tell she held back, though it did cut my lip. And three…" third and final finger "...I got the 'I'm-so-sorry-beloved-please-forgive-me' sex that night. It was fan-fucking-tastic"

Her older sister couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her after hearing that "What about them?" she asked then, looking at the three former assassins.

"They were all smarter than me" Sara smirked.

"Why do they listen to you like that. Are you really royalty, like they said?"

"Nah; not really" she answered shaking her head "We were Nyssa's team. There are some others, but we thought that fill this house with even more assassins was not particularly a good idea with holier-than-thou Oliver walking around. They listen and respect me the same way I listen and respect them"

"You said you guys were Nyssa's team, as if that should mean something"

"It means we are friends" she winked at Z, who tried to make it look like he was not listening to their conversation "Nyssa had to play the part in front of her father, we all had to, actually; but when we were out on a mission together, that was a different story. She always listened to all of us, as long as we didn't disrespect each other, and treated us as equals. Nyssa shared her plans and asked for our opinion, and even allowed herself to have fun with us from time to time" she smiled when she noticed Z try to hide his own smile "Her father would've never allowed that, but we all respect her even more because of it; she always treated us like people and not just human weapons at her disposal, you know? Some even gave their lives for her; I literally stood in front of a grenade to shield her"

"You what?!" her older sister squeaked.

"Boy, did I get yelled at after that one. It was the first and only time I heard Nyssa curse. That's actually how I learned to curse in Arabic" she chuckled and shook her head "But I was lucky, I only got some shrapnel on the back of my leg; some lost their lives. She will never forgive herself for that and I don't think she'll ever stop having nightmares, and neither will I. She remembers every single man and woman from her team who died. Even the stupid ones"

Michael snorted and immediately looked down trying to cover it. Laurel looked up at him and suddenly noticed the scars that adorned his legs now that he was wearing board shorts and she had his legs at eye level. She shifted her gaze to the other two, noticing the exact same thing, and felt a growing respect for them.

"It is disrespectful to laugh at the expense of our fallen teammates. Especially those who fell in battle" Mesi scolded him.

"I'm sorry" the man shook his head "I'm not laughing at his expense, I just…" he looked at Sara smiling "...remembered why Sara used to refer to him in that way"

"In what way?" Dig asked, curiosity getting the best of him.

"The stupid one" Michael said smiling.

The blonde woman laughed and shrugged "Well, he was!"

"Why?" Laurel asked and all four former assassins smiled.

"Kid had the biggest crush on Nyssa" Sara chuckled "I mean, I've seen people pining after her, it was not unusual. But this kid wouldn't give up. He even had the guts to challenge me to a duel to prove he was worthy of her love"

"You can't be serious" Dig said laughing and the blonde nodded.

"Totally serious. Nyssa pushed him off the boat" Sara said laughing "Goodtimes"

"He complained about that for days" Mesi added smiling fondly at the memory.

"What happened to him?" Dig asked frowning.

"He died" the blonde responded curtly, her tone indicating there would be no further details.

After a few minutes of complete silence, they were startled by a loud rustling sound coming from behind the closed door. Dig moved forward, but Sara stopped him immediately, placing one finger over her lips signaling them to be quiet.

There was some chanting from Constantine followed by some more rustling, a loud grunt and an agonizing scream from Saracon. Then everything went quiet again.

Both Lance sisters exchanged a concerned look, but Sara shook her head and said "She knows I'm here. If she needs me, she'll let me know. We barge in and interrupt whatever's going on there and we might screw everything up"

Laurel nodded and leaned back against the wall "So, um, did you get…"

"It's upstairs" her sister answered the unasked question with a smirk.

"Thanks"

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and Lourdes walked out running her fingers through her sweaty hair. She looked at Sara and nodded toward the open door "Something happened. She needs you"