Hey, guys! This is the last chapter of the first year on the island. I'm going to be having a break for a while until I start posting year two of the island. I need the time to focus on my Wonder Woman story. So, if you guys want you can go check that out. Titled; A Piece of Him.

I wanted to ask you guys if you'd prefer year two just being added to this story or should I come up with another title for that season? Please let me know in the reviews!

As always, I want to thank every person who has favorited, followed, reviewed and read this story! It means the world to me and I can't wait to come back with season two of the island material.

josephguy217: Thank you for the review! Glad that you liked the chapter. Please tell me what you think of this one in the reviews!

letonlee: Thank you so much for the review! That chapter was fun to write! I know! Slade is the sweetest when he is comforting Toria! Here is your next chapter! Please let me know what you think of the reviews!

The Other Queen chapter 17

Chapter 17

Lian Yu 2008

A month passed peacefully by for the two couples. All of them were restless though as the threat of Billy Wintergreen not making another appearance loomed over their head. No one more so than Slade. He'd be on high alert from the moment he woke up in the morning to finally when he laid his head down for the night. Victoria noticed that there were dark circles forming under the Australian's dark eyes and she noticed how often he'd look tense and like he was just waiting for something to happen. She'd try to talk about his family waiting for him back home or try to crack a smile across his face but nothing seemed to work. She hated seeing him so unnerved.

Oliver was having hunting lessons with Shado one day as Victoria cooked her and Slade some lunch. Silently she watched the well-tuned Australian and could see the amount of focus he was putting into his work out. Normally it would have excited her to see the man that she had feelings for shirtless but all she found herself doing lately was worry about him. Why couldn't he just talk to her about it? She'd find herself wondering.

"Hey," he greeted, breaking her from her thoughts.

"Hey, what's up?" she mumbled back.

"As always, nothing much. You need help with anything?" he offered.

She asked him to place some fresh logs in the dying embers. He did and then sat in his usual seat beside her. She looked over at him. He had a scowl on his face, deep in thought. Placing a hand on his arm reassuring she brought him out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"You okay?" she asked him concerned.

"Fine," Slade replied simply.

The two spent a few moments in deafening silence before Victoria asked, "Do you ever wonder if our families are thinking about us? If they miss us?"

"I wonder how my kids are holding up," Slade whispered with a frown.

"I'm sure someone is looking after them," Victoria reassured him.

"Probably Adeline's sister, Isla. She never really liked me much," Slade growled out.

"Why did you guys not get along?"

"Aren't you just full of questions?" Slade asked with a smirk.

"I'm just curious."

"Well it's a long story," Slade replied taking a deep breath. "Adeline was going out with a successful lawyer right before I came into the picture, Isla and Adeline's parents liked the asshole. He would act like Adeline was an idiot because she hadn't gone to college, treating her beneath him. She was the one to end things between them. This upset her family. So, when she showed up at a family party with me her sister was openly rude to me. That was nothing compared to when Isla found out that Adeline and I were going to have a baby and basically had a shot gun wedding. She was never civil to me again."

"If she hates you so much why would she watch your kids?"

"She would be their nearest living relation. Believe me, if my mom was still around I'd want her to raise them, but it is what it is."

"What are they like your kids I mean," Victoria inquired.

A genuine smile spread across his face and he left out a chuckle, "Well, Grant was the oldest, always a deep thoughtful kid, last I saw him he was in the real angsty age, thirteen. He'd snap at people often, got into fights a lot in school. I remember getting a call from his principal for starting a fight with older boys at his school, they were in grades above him. I had expected to find him all beat up and all he had a small bruise under his right eye, the other two were a lot worse off. I was both proud and disappointed in him that time, impressed that he had managed to hold his ground against older boys but angry that he had caused trouble. He was tall for his age, dark hair and blue eyes. He was a nice-looking kid, but of course, I'm biased. In many ways, he was a slim version of me at that age."

"You were angsty?" Victoria chuckled at the thought and yet she could see it as well.

"I lied about my age so I could join the army at sixteen. By the time my superiors figured it out I was old enough to enlist and was well experienced, so they didn't want to kick me out," Slade explained with a hearty chuckle.

Victoria laughed in response. It wasn't too hard seeing a younger version of Slade faking his age and being able to join the army before he should have.

"You know I can totally see that happening," Victoria remarked in between chuckling. "What about Rose and Joe?"

"Joseph was our middle child. He was so much like Adeline, both in temperament and looks. Though I'd say that he was calmer than my wife was. Of course, last, I saw him he was eleven years old, that kid would read any book that you handed him. He was reading the Harry Potter series then, I told him he should check out the Hobbit, thought he'd like it. I wasn't expecting him to tell me he had finished the book all in one day. Gosh, he had always been a curious thing, even as a baby. I'm hoping he is putting all of that reading to beneficial use, I'm sure he'll get more out of his education than I ever did. I wasn't ever very academic, preferred the army to college. Let me think like I said he looked like a male version of Adeline. He was slim, blonde hair, blue eyes and could always be found with his nose in a book. He also would sing all the time and started learning piano when he was five."

"He sounds like a sweet kid," Victoria commented.

"He was. He would never get into any trouble at school. Unfortunately, he didn't make friends easily because he was shy but at least they weren't the trouble makers that Grant's friends were."

"And Rose?"

Another wide grin spread across Slade's face, "Rose was the youngest. She was always a dad's girl, both Joe and Grant's first words were 'mama' but hers were 'papa'. I remember her shadowing me when she could hardly walk, it was funny to watch. Here I was this six-foot man being followed by a baby crawling on the floor. Gosh, she was adorable. She looked a lot like my mother, same brown eyes, same shaped face but she had Adeline's blonde hair. We'd catch her sometimes when I would try to go on camping trips with just the boys, but she'd always find a way to come too. I hadn't really thought she was ready for them yet but I ended up getting used to her coming too. Grant and Joe would complain about her coming but luckily, she wasn't a complainer so they got used to it. I can't tell you how many times we had to take her to the hospital, she was always pulling crazy stunts. She broke her arm when she was six for climbing to the top of the tree, she had made it half way done again before she fell," Slade recalled, shaking his head at the memory. "I hope she is holding up okay. Gosh, she was only eight when I saw her last. I can't remember much from it but I remember her wrapping her tiny little arms around me tight before I left."

His voice had turned into nothing more than a whisper and he placed a hand over his weary face, "I shouldn't have left them. Did I even tell them how much I loved them?"

Victoria reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

"I've already missed three years of their lives. And God only knows how many more years we will be stuck on this island."

Moments passed between them in silence before he broke it once more, "Sorry, that was… that was fatalistic of me. I just… I just don't know how in the hell we are supposed to get off this island."

"It's alright," she replied, squeezing his shoulder gently with her hand.

"Anyway, enough about me. So, besides your sister who else is you looking forward to seeing?"

A smile formed on Victoria's face and she started to tell him about her different friends and different stories about fun and crazy things they did together. She told him about her friendship with the youngest Lance, about how they would go out drinking together with fake IDs. And she told him about her best friend, Abby, and how the two of them would often get into trouble while in college. The two of them had met in dance when they were young and had been friends ever since. In talking about her best friend and their adventures, Slade came to the decision that her friend had been a fiery brunette with a glint in her warm brown eyes that gave away just how much trouble she was. It made him smile that Victoria had a friend that meant so much to her. So, it wasn't that surprising that in the back of his mind he couldn't wait to meet this friend, see how Victoria would light up around her.

#

Meanwhile, it was early in the evening as Shado and Oliver were walking through the forest, Shado kept a sharp eye out for Billy Wintergreen but didn't see any signs of the Australian anywhere. He must be hiding, Shado thought, keeping an eye out nonetheless. Oliver had asked Shado to teach him how to hunt and they were walking towards a good spot that offered a lot of game. He looked around a bit but was focusing most of his attention on Shado. She was tense and he could tell from her body language alone that she was on high alert.

"You've been rather quiet," Oliver commented, breaking the silence.

"I'm making sure Billy isn't spying on us," Shado explained.

Oliver looked around, there weren't any animals to be seen or heard. Slowly he pulled out his bow as Shado continued to look around nervously. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be hunting birds? I don't hear any," Oliver commented.

"It's too quiet," Shado replied.

She slowly scanned the terrain, in the corner of her eye she saw a quick movement. Then she heard a twig break a few feet beside them, by a large bush. Locking eyes with Oliver she nodded her head towards the scrub, he looked at her in concern as she readied her bow, training it at the bush.

"Come out, Billy, I know you're in there!" Shado shouted in that direction.

Out of the bush emerged a large gray wolf with snarling fangs, a growl that rumbled its body and that sent a shiver down Oliver's back. They had to get out of here, Oliver thought. A howl sounded somewhere in the background. They needed to run, he panicked. He turned around and was ready to run. But before he could get more than a few feet in front of him he ran into Shado just as she was about to let loose an arrow into the large creature. Instead of it hitting its target it landed a few inches away from the beast. Oliver was laying on top of Shado when the wolf lunged for Shado, without thinking Oliver picked up his disregarded bow on Shado's stomach and batted at the wolf's head. The wolf turned his full attention on Oliver, looking angry and Oliver blocked the wolf's attack just in time before the beast snapped its fangs at him. Meanwhile, Shado fumbled with her belt sheath that held her medium size hunting knife, built to skin game, she tried not to lose her head as Oliver managed to keep the wolf away from his face, but he staggered when the wolf started to claw at his arms, he muffled a cry. Finally, she got a good grasp on the blades handle before she lunged it into the wolf's left shoulder, the animal let out a loud yelp before it becomes limp. Oliver had to lift the creature off himself, he got to his feet and offered a hand to Shado. In the distance, they could hear more wolves getting closer. Shado got to her feet, straightened up and got her bow ready to shoot at the next wolf that came at them. Oliver looked at her in disbelief.

In front of them were a pack of wolves, Shado could only see two clearly but knew that more weren't far behind them. Besides her, Oliver fumbled with his bow and nearly dropped it as he prepared to shoot at one of the approaching wolves. Too soon he let one of his arrows fly, it only seemed to angrier the wolf more as it landed a few inches away from it. Oliver gulped hard as he fumbled to ready another arrow. Shado waited for just a second more before she released her arrow and it found its target into the wolf's shoulder blade, a yelp was heard as the animal staggered to get back up, one of the other wolves leaped over the fallen beast and Oliver let out another arrow, this time landing on the wolf's hind leg, this slowed the beast down but it didn't take long before it was back up. Shado sent an arrow to the beast's left side and it fell and didn't rise again. Finally, the other raised from its wound and got dangerously close. Oliver sent an arrow flying into the beast and he let out a breath of relief when it didn't move again. A little bit of a distance away from them more wolves were coming closer.

Quickly Shado picked up a large log off the ground, placed her bow on her back and held her hunting knife in her hands. Oliver looking at her confused before he watched as she started to run, "Run!"

Oliver didn't need to be told twice as he followed her with a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. The wind was rushing past Shado as she tried her best to keep up a fast pace. She knew she could outrun them but they needed some way to have the upper hand in fighting them. Damn! I wish we had some backup, Shado thought as she continued to keep up her fast pace. There was a pain in her side from the speed but she didn't even dare think about stopping, they had to keep running.

They were a good distance away from the angry wolves when Shado tripped on a large log. She landed on her hands and knees instead of on her face and she quickly turned around to defend herself. Oliver continued running over to her and bent down to help her up. He offered his hand to her which she took, they got to their feet but the query was dangerously close, Oliver stood ready to attack and fight to protect Shado when a loud battle cry sounded behind them and they saw a towering figure lung at one of the beasts. They were surprised to see that it wasn't their friend Slade but rather their enemy, Billy Wintergreen.

Shado recovered faster than Oliver and fought, the blonde Australian fought off another one of the wolves. Oliver snapped out of his surprise and he rallied to fight alongside Shado. The beast looked close to overpowering her when he stabbed his arrow into the animal's shoulder. Shado finished the wolf off by lunging her hunting knife up through the wolf's head, it fell limply to the ground and its blood pooled onto the forest floor.

Besides them, Billy had managed to already kill off the wolf he had been fighting. Shado looked ahead and saw the remaining wolves retreating. She let out a sigh of relief.

She turned her attention to Billy and noticed he had a smug smile on his face as he wiped the blood off his blade. Shado hesitatingly stepped towards him. Oliver looked at the man with an unreadable expression.

"Thank you," Shado said to the tall Australian.

"Looked like you guys were heavily outnumbered," Billy replied.

"How did you know we were in trouble?" Oliver asked. He was suspicion the large blonde. This man had tortured him, he'd never trust him.

"I was out doing some hunting, heard the recuse, thought I'd find out what it was. Load and behold I see you being chased by wolves," Billy replied with another smug smile.

"Well we are in your debt," Shado answered.

"I know," Billy simply stated. "And I mean to cash in on it."

"What do you want, Billy?" Oliver growled out between clenched teeth, his jaw tight.

"Breath Queen, nothing too crazy," Billy supplied, raising his hands in fake surrender.

"Just spit it out," Shado remarked.

"Well thanks to your buddy Slade I've had a challenging time hunting," Billy explained, pointing to his bandaged leg. "I'm only asking for is a percent of your rations."

"No way!" Oliver declared, looking outraged.

"Could you give us a moment?" Shado asked as she stepped closer to Oliver.

The Australian nodded his head and Shado pulled Oliver out of hearing range.

"You can't be seriously considering his offer?" Oliver asked in disbelief.

"Oliver, he just saved our lives," Shado reasoned.

"He tortured me! He tortured you!"

"I know that! I know that. But we owe him a debt."

"You know as well as I that he can't be trusted," Oliver cautioned.

"I'm aware, but we don't have a choice. I don't like this any more than you do. And don't think for a second that I trust him," she admitted.

"I don't like this," Oliver growled.

"Hey, look at me," Shado replied, forcing Oliver's chin up, "It's going to be okay. It's only a little bit of our food."

"Yes, our food. Not that bastard's."

"Oliver…" Shado warned.

"Fine, but you're talking to him."

Shado nodded in agreement and stepped closer to the tall Australian.

"It's a deal," she declared.

"Glad to hear it. Just place tomorrow's portion by my cave. I'm sure Victoria or Slade will be able to show you to it," Billy replied arrogantly.

Oliver sent a glare at the man that only caused the tall blonde with smirk wider and then Billy strode past them. Not paying either of them more attention. Waiting until he was complete of sight Oliver moved closer to Shado and looked at her closely. She looked a like out of breath and a little cut up. Oliver cupped her face, lightly touching a cut on her cheek with his fingers.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked in concern.

Shado smiled, "I'm okay."

Oliver looked her up and down for any more injuries. Shado scanned him and frowned when she saw the deep cuts across his arms. "I'll need to bandage those when we get back to camp," she commented, gesturing to them.

Oliver looked down at them and shrugged. He had was more warned about her than himself. "I'm sorry I nearly got us killed," he apologized.

"Which time are you referring to?" Shado asked playfully.

Oliver let out a humorless chuckle, "When I ran into you. I shouldn't have tried to run."

"You were scared, it's a natural response," Shado defended.

"Well, I'm sorry I put you in further danger."

Oliver leaned in closer to Shado and she didn't hesitate when she closed the gap between them. She was surprised at how rough Oliver's lips had become in the weeks since last, she kissed him but decided silently that she liked them better that way. It started to become more passionate as he licked her lips and she allowed his tongue entrance to her mouth. He was intoxicating to her, she wanted more of him but something in the back of her mind pulled her back. Laurel, she reminded herself. Then she was pulling away from him suddenly. Oliver looked out of breath and he let out a sigh of contentment, he had a smile on his face before he opened his eyes and noticed Shado's concerned face.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"You have a girlfriend waiting back home for you," she stated.

Oliver realized then that they hadn't talked about his relationship with Laurel for months. And that Shado probably thought he was still waiting to be reunited with his old girlfriend. Looking down at her, she was looking at her feet and pulled away from him. Gently he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.

"Shado," he breathed.

"Oliver, you don't… you don't have to…" she started. "I understand."

"No," he stated. "Please, Shado look at me."

She continued looking down at her feet. Oliver placed a hand on her chin and tilted it up so that she was eye level with him.

"Shado, I want to give us a chance," Oliver professed.

"But… but what about your girlfriend?" Shado asked, her eyes misting over with unshed tears.

"I'm sure she is trying to get over me. Shado, I want to give us a real chance here. I care about you a lot. I was so worried when you were in danger. Please… I want this," Oliver confessed.

Shado smiled up at him, a single tear rolling down her cheek and she closed the space between them and captured his lips with her own. As they pulled away they both let out a contented sigh and Oliver place his forehead on her own.

"So, I'll take that as a yes?" he asked playfully.

Shado chuckled and nodded, Oliver reached out his hand and wiped the tears off her face, placing a quick kiss to her lips.

They pulled apart and hand in hand they made their way back to the camp together.

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