Chapter Two: The Second Time They Met

He had only been back from the island about two weeks when they met again. Truth be told he thought about her often, more often than he cared to admit. Sure he had only met her once but she had stuck with him. She was unlike anyone he had ever known and during his darkest time on the island, he thought of her words. They had been encouraging but seemed so far out of reach. Now, now that he was back we would hope that he could find his purpose.

He had just ducked into an elevator to get away from the media crowd that had filed into the court room in the heart of Starling City. He had made a clean get away from the on slot of questions as he left the court room. After two weeks of this he had begun to grow tired of the endless questions. He had slipped the crowd and made his way down the hall to an out of the way elevator. As the doors opened he looked both ways before stepping in. He really didn't have a destination in mind he just needed quiet. Being alone on an island for so long made him weary of being around crowds.

He randomly pushed a floor button, took a deep breath pushing his hands deep in his pockets and stared at his feet.

"Now that is the look of a man who is very exasperated." A voice behind his left shoulder spoke. His head jerked up and he turned around quickly. The voice came from behind a pile of boxes. The voice peeked around the corner and Oliver was very surprised on who was looking back at him. He blinked a few times and recovered quickly. Reaching for the boxes he took them from her.

"Here let me take those for you." He set them on the floor and straightened up. She looked different but still the same. He noticed she was reaching behind her to grasp the bar that lined the wall. Her knuckles white from her grip. She smiled up at him with thanks.

"Thank you." He looked at her with his head tilted slightly to the right. She blushed and he realized he was staring.

"You probably don't remember me... but we've met before."

"Yes, on a plane from London. I remember you Abby." She tucked a strain of hair behind her ear before she looked at him again.

"I wasn't sure considering everything that's been happening." He smiled down at her before he answered.

"I never forget a friend. How have you been princess?" He teased using the nick name he had given her before.

"I should be asking you that."

"But I asked you first." He noticed how uncomfortable she suddenly became and decided to change the subject. "You cut your hair." The last time it had been long, wavy and pulled back. Now it was shoulder length, straight and down framing her delicate features. It made her look younger, more innocent.

"So did you." She answered back followed by a long uncomfortable silence where they just stood starring at each other. The ping of the elevator disrupted this as it started to move. He noticed her sudden intake in breath and her knees jerk as the elevator moved. He moved closer to her.

"Hey, you okay?" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she answered.

"Yeah, it's the whole height thing, or falling thing. I hate elevators and I would usually take the stairs but I had too much to carry." She looked up at him and he couldn't help but smile.

"So what is it that you are doing?" He asked her.

"Well a little bit of..." Before she could answer the elevator suddenly lurched and stopped. It had stopped so suddenly that when he went to grab her they both ended up on the floor, she on top and then the lights went out.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" She said as she quickly got up and fumbled her way around in the dark.

"Be carefully." He said to her as he pulled himself up himself searching the dark for her.

"Ouch!" he heard her say to the left of him and he reached his arm out to find her when his hand came in contact with what he thought was her arm or leg maybe. She froze.

"Um, what exactly are you doing?" She asked him in a slightly panicked voice. He became very still before he answered choosing his words carefully.

"I'm trying to find you. It's a little dark in here." He said with a trace of amusement in his voice.

"Oh you found me. Now if you would move your hand a little to the left we would be okay." He thought her statement over for a second and then realizing what he may or may not be touching quickly pulled his hand away.

"Oh, sorry about that." He said with a trace of amusement in his voice. He could almost hear she smile as she added.

"You sure about that? I mean you have been away for a while. Maybe you forgot how this works. Boy meets girl, boy asks girl out, girl says sure why not and then the touchy feely starts." He couldn't help but laugh out loud, the first time in fact since he had been back.

"What?" He asked between his laughter.

"You're lucky I like you or I might have to use my kick ass moves on you."

"You're the one who held my hand first."

"Huh, you remembered that did you?" He could hear her fumbling in the dark again.

"I remember everything we did, everything we talked about." She was quiet for a minute and then he asked. "What are you trying to do anyway?"

"Do you mean in general or right now?"

"Right now." He answered and at this point he was sitting against the back wall of the elevator. At that moment a light flickered on as he realized what she was doing.

"This." She said as she held up her cell phone. The light glow cast an eerie light in their small confined space. "There we go all cozy. I'm trying to see if we can call out, see what's going on, the statistics of one dying in a stuck elevator."

"We are not going to die in here." Oliver answered her. "I'm sure it's just a glitch and we will be out of here in no time."

"Or it's a city wide blackout which means it could be hours." She sat down next to him and pulled the boxes closer to her. "I'm not getting a signal, how about you?" He held his hands up in defeat.

"I don't have one. In case you haven't heard, I've been away for five years. I haven't had a chance to upgrade." He said to her in a teasing tone.

"Huh and here I figured that would be the first thing you would get." He chuckled.

"I don't miss what I haven't had in five years. You learn to adapt."

"You know I always wondered what someone would miss if they were stuck on an island for so many years."

"Ice cream."

"Really, any particular kind?'

"Nope, not really, just ice cream."

"I can respect that." She turned to pull a file from the box that sat next to her.

"So how have you been Ollie? I mean I'm sure you've already been asked a dozen times, but how are you." He thought for a moment before he answered.

"Actually no one has yet. It's been more what happened on the island than anything." She looked up at him setting the file in her lap and took one of his hands into her two small ones.

"So tell me. How are you?" He didn't pull away, her touch was comforting.

"I don't sleep, I don't eat. When I do sleep I have nightmares. And everyone seems to think I need to be what I was before." He didn't know why but he was basically pouring his heart out to a complete stranger. Well in his mind she wasn't a complete stranger. Still holding his hand she took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Every time my brother came back, he came back different. It was like each time a piece of him was left behind. The last time he came back he wasn't my brother any more. Oh sure he tried to hide it but I knew. I tried to be supportive, we all did but in the end I was the only one who stayed. He wouldn't talk to me; I didn't know how to help him. In the end he felt more at home there then he did here. The last time he left, he never came back. I guess what I'm trying to say Oliver is don't stay on that island. Find a way to make peace with who you have become despite what other think you should be. In the end, you are the only one who can truly do that. Don't let others tell you how you should be; you're not that person anymore." They sat there in silent for a few minutes with her still holding his hand. He felt a sense of peace at that moment and then he spoke.

"I'm sorry about your brother Abby." She shrugged and let go of his hand lifting up the file she had placed in her lap. He missed the contact immediately

"I tried being there for him; I guess I just wasn't enough." He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"I don't believe that for a second." He could see her blush in the slight glow of the light from her phone. When she didn't respond he decided to take things in a different direction. "So what is it that you do exactly?"

She looked up at him and sort of cringed and he looked at her surprisingly.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Well I look into cold cases and have a bad habit of finding the mistakes made during the investigations which makes me very unpopular with the police."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes and Detective Lance is very vocal on this point. I'm defiantly not his favorite person." Oliver chuckled at this.

"You're not the only one. He is defiantly not a fan of me either." She gave him a smile of understanding. "So working on anything in particular?"

"Well this man was accused of killing his wife and two of his kids. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Two years ago they made good on their promise. It was quite the ordeal at the time. About two months ago his youngest daughter came to me, she was the only survivor. She hadn't been home that night but she swears her father didn't do it and asked me to look into it."

"And just like that you did? Why?" She shrugged her shoulders as she began scanning the pages quickly with her fingers. He figured the way she was reading it had to do with the way her memory worked. It looked like she was speed reading.

"Everyone deserves justice, even if it's just a small moment." He looked at her for a minute before he formed his next question.

"So what makes a person so hell bent on serving justice so diligently?"

"Past experiences I suppose. They make us the person we become. Do you think they will get us out of here before long?' She quickly changed the subject and it didn't go unnoticed by him. Anytime things went in her direction she redirected. He let it go for the time being because she was becoming increasingly agitated.

"I'm sure someone will get us out soon." He answered her trying very hard to sound convincing if nothing more than to sooth her worries. "You know we could always climb out. I bet we could make it to the roof and wait for the power to come back. At least then we will be in the open with light." She was suddenly looking at him with a panicked look on her face.

"But that would mean climbing, which involves heights which I'm not a fan of." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"No worries Abby, I'll make sure you don't fall."

"I don't know…"

"Come on, trust me?" He stood up and was able to push the grate from the top of the elevator up revealing the upper shaft. He then turned to her offering his hand. She hesitated for a minute and took it as he pulled her to his feet. He smiled down at her as she gave him a nervous look.

"I do trust you Ollie. I don't know why, I don't even know you that well, but I do trust you." She turned away then and concentrated on pulling some files from the box and put them into a small bag that she had slung over her shoulder. He shook his head slightly and pulled himself up on the roof of the elevator and he looked up. It wasn't very far, many a couple of floors so he called down to her as he reached down to pull her up. She whimpered slightly as he held her up right.

"Okay, don't look down, I'm not going to let you fall but there is a service ladder to the right. We climb that and then we will be home free. I'll be right behind you." And up they went…slowly but once there he was able to pry the doors open and eventually they made their way to the roof. Oliver blinked at the sudden flood of bright light and immediately went to the edge of the roof looking out into the city. He gestured to her and spoke.

"It looks like you were right. There seems to be a city wide…" He stopped as he turned to her and noticed her pale complexion as she tried to hide into the wall.

"Hey, hey it's okay, I've got you." He told her as he reached her side. Wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his side. "You really don't like heights do you?"

"What was your first clue?"

"Well the trick is not to let your fear control you. Come on, come stand on a ledge with me." He said as he tried to get her to come with him.

"Are you crazy, I might fall?!"

"And you might not, besides I've got you. So what do you say?"

"I say you're crazy."

"Maybe, but come on." She reluctantly let him drag her to the edge and urged her to open her eyes as he pointed out into the city. "See nothing to worry about. A power grid has gone out. They will have it fixed in no time." She took a deep breath and looked out before turning back to him.

"You see Oliver that's the thing, you should be worried. This city is broken, so much has happened here that people don't see or they just ignore it. If something isn't done this city will be lost." He looked down at her before he looked down at the ciaos in the street below. That was the moment his mind was made up. That was the moment when he knew what he had to do. Even several hours later, when they had finally made it down stairs and he had eventually lost her in the crowd with the promise of finding her again, he knew what he had to do. And it was all thanks to the tiny girl who had been his most human connection.