Chapter 7
Problem Solving
"Just because we can't find a solution it doesn't mean that there isn't one."
- Andrew Wiles
Sometimes Oliver had a habit of not thinking things through. Especially when it came to his wife. It has only been a couple of weeks since Katie started as the project director for second chance. She had an office and a team, on a different floor and yet, ever so often, he would see her in passing.
This very moment he was walking with Quentin and Rene when he heard her laughter. He lifted his head to see her down the hall talking with someone he couldn't see, but in that moment, he only focused on her.
"At this point, we don't know-" Quentin glanced over to Oliver who was not paying attention. He followed Oliver's eyes and sighed. "You know I had hope."
"I didn't." Rene chuckled before moving around Oliver down the hall, nudging his arm.
"Huh?" Oliver turned back to Quentin. "What?"
"We should talk." Quentin continued on toward Oliver's office.
Oliver glanced back only to find that Katie was gone, and he let out a sigh before going into his office. He walked over to sit behind his desk before looking over to Quentin.
"You look like you have something to say."
"I do, but I'm not sure how much trouble it's going to get me in." Quentin sat in the chair in front of the desk. "I was all for the doc coming here, and heading up second chance."
"And has that changed?"
"No, she and her team hit the ground running. I have a meeting with them after this actually." Quentin eyed the man for a moment. "You're the problem. You completely disappear if she's within the vicinity and you don't come back until she's gone. Have you ever worked with her before this? I mean you two were on the team?"
"Except she was barely on the team." Oliver slid a hand over his face before looking over to Quentin. "Because I couldn't focus when she was around."
"And you didn't think to mention that when you hounded me about getting her this job."
"I thought I'd gotten past it." Oliver sat back in his seat with a shake of his head. "Don't worry, I will get past it." he nods over to the man. "What is the meeting about?"
"Just a check in. They'd come up with a plan that included which programs they wanted, a number of staff and possible locations. Today they're letting me know how much it's all going to cost." Oliver nods. "You know everyone loves her around here."
"I know." he chuckled. "Here, she's the popular kid and I'm the guy who stares at her from afar." Quentin laughed as he stood to his feet. "Am I supposed to be in this meeting?"
"I mean, you're not needed at this phase. Though I can't stop you if you wanted to sit in. I would advise against it until you get yourself together."
Katie suffered from impostor syndrome immensely. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing, or why someone thought she should be in charge, and for some reason she was the only one questioning it.
When she walked into her office, she came to a stop to find her team waiting for her. She called them her dream team. It was a team of four. Apparently Quentin put requests for volunteers to assist her on the project. He said he'd gotten over fifty, and had to pick only four. Katie asked if that number could be whittled down to three because she had someone in mind that didn't work in City Hall. So he picked Rene, one of the in house project associates, Tamera Berger, and someone from legal, Adam Becker. Her pick was someone she knew she could count on, Claire Hastings.
"Everyone is so punctual," Katie said walking around to sit at her desk. "I didn't realize how much of this job is sitting in meetings. I was secretly hoping you guys would be late so I had a few minutes to decompress."
"Are you giving us permission to be late to your meetings, because that would make you the best boss around here?" Rene said.
"I'm not your boss. We're a team and I'm saying, take your time." there was a knock at the door before it open and in walked Quentin who looked around the room to the team. "Find a place to sit, anywhere is fine." the man looked around before Adam shot up from his seat from in front of Katie's desk.
"You can sit here, sir."
Quentin nods, "Thanks," once seated, the man looks over to Katie. "So let's get to it, show me."
Katie nervously chuckled before reaching into her drawer and pulling out a folder and sliding it across the desk to Quentin. He looked over to her, before flipping it open and the moment he saw the number he sighed.
"We know it's a lot." Claire walked around to stand beside Katie. "But this is a big project, that will help a lot of people in this city. And compared to previous projects funded by the city, this is actually on the low side."
"Yeah, but I wish it were lower." Quentin shook his head before looking over to them. "The council is only going to approve a budget of half this."
"Half?" Tamera stood to her feet and walked over to stand beside Claire. "We would need to cut almost all the programs if we did that." she turned to Katie. "We may need to seek outside funding."
"That can get murky," Adam said. "At least on the legal side of things. Terms have to be completely clear. I can talk to my direct to get more details on what we need to do if we go that route.
"Good, do that." Katie says before turning to Claire. "We may also want to consider some kind of fundraising event. Pull in the interns if you have to, to come up with some ideas and let me know by the end of the week what you figure out." Claire scribbles down the notes and nods.
"I'll talk to the other project teams, maybe they have some ideas." Tamera added as she wrote on her notepad. "Maybe we can talk to the mayor, he could override the council's budget limit." the woman lifted her eyes to see everyone looking at her and she nervously laughed. "I just meant-" she turned to Katie. "He's your-"
"Yeah, I know who he is, but we're not using that as a way to game the system. We follow the rules like everyone else." she nudges her head. "You guys go get started." Adam, Claire and Tamera gathered their things before leaving the office. Katie turned to Quentin and Rene. "We will figure out the money problem. We will take whatever the council approves for us to have." she brought her eyes to Quentin. "This is not a problem that needs the Mayor's attention."
"Are you asking me not to report back to the mayor on this?"
"I'm saying that we're still figuring it out, so there's no point in communicating something that can be drastically different tomorrow."
"Yeah, that's not how this works." Quentin chuckled as he stood to his feet. "But I'll let him know you're handling it."
"Fine, but try your best to urge against all intervention from the Mayor. I don't need him to swoop in to save the day."
"I'll let him know. Let me know if you need my help with anything." Quentin nods before turning and heading from the office.
Katie turned to Rene. "Am I screwing this up already?"
"What? You're kicking ass, Doc." he stood to his feet and looked at her. "Now we have a meeting with Councilman Peters." Katie groaned as she stood to her feet, grabbing her notepad and pen. "Remember, whatever you do, don't look at his head."
"Bald?"
"Hair plugs, really, really bad hair plugs." Rene laughed as they walked out of the office.
It was close to lunch by the time Katie finally had a moment of peace. She came back into her office, glad to find it empty as she walked over to her desk and turned on her computer. She glanced over to the screen, scanning her emails for anything she needed to read right away, but nothing seemed too urgent. She sighed as she sat back in her seat, closing her eyes and just soaking in the the moment. At the sound of a ding from her computer, she opened her eyes to see a message on the screen. She leaned in closer to see the message was from Oliver.
"Done with meetings?" he wrote.
Katie let out a snort, before reaching forward to type. "For now. I get a break for lunch and I'm strongly debating on taking a nap instead." she hit send, and saw the dots signaling that he was typing.
"I can take you out for lunch."
"No you can't." Katie spoke out loud before reaching out to type. "You're meeting with public works regarding the Mitchell project." she saw the dots again, before a question mark appeared making her laugh.
"How did you know that?" he wrote. She simply replied with an emoji of a woman covering her mouth as she laughed. "It was canceled so I have the hour free as well. Meet you on the elevator in five."
"Uh, I didn't agree to your invitation, sir." she smiled as she saw the dots again.
"Meet you on the elevator in five." he simply wrote again.
Katie just shook her head before locking the screen and grabbing her jacket and bag as she headed for the door. She came to a stop just as she was about to run into Adam.
"Oh, sorry, were you on your way out?" he asked holding up a paper bag. "I figured you'd be hungry so I brought lunch."
"That was nice of you, but I actually just got invited out to lunch." she apologetically nods. "Hey, maybe you can give it to Tam or Claire so it doesn't go to waste." she moved around him.
"Yeah, I'll do that." he watched as she walked over to the elevator. "I uh got some headway on that external investor line. Mind if I bring what I have after lunch." Katie gave a smile as she nods.
"Sure thing, I'll see you then. It may have to be quick. I have a meeting about licensing which I hear is going to be a long one and then after I have to head out for the day."
"Shouldn't be a problem." he nods.
The elevator opened and Katie turned to see Oliver who smiled the moment he saw her. She just shook her head at the stupid butterflies this man still caused with just a smile, before turning back to Adam with a wave.
"I'll see you later." she stepped into the elevator, and Oliver's eyes glanced over to Adam as the doors closed.
"What was that about?" Oliver asked looking over to Katie.
"What was what about?" she turned to him with a quirked brow before reaching over to fix his tie. "And that meeting better be canceled." she looked up to meet his eyes. "Because if you're using me to play hooky-"
"I would never do that Twinkie." she pointed a finger at him. "No one is on this elevator to hear me call you Twinkie, I am not breaking any rules."
"Yeah, yeah." she said turning back to the door. "Let's just sneak out of here. I wouldn't want anyone to see me hanging out with the Mayor, that would totally cost me cool points."
"You're not funny, and for that-" Oliver reached over to take her hand. "Now, everyone will have to see you holding hands with that Mayor."
"Social suicide," she groaned, only for him to laugh and place a kiss to her cheek as the door opened.
Felicity had been watching Bruce for the last couple of days. This plan to catch Joker seemed to be kicked into gear, and he seemed a bit more focused. They were supposed to be having a living room picnic for lunch when he got a call, and now he'd been standing with the phone pressed to his ear, very upset at something.
"You had one job. How do you mess up one job?" he growled in frustration. "Just find her, and quick before he does!" he hung up the phone and turned to Felicity and sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm ruining our date."
"What's going on?" she asked as he walked over to sit beside her on the floor. "Was that Richie?"
"Yeah, this plan to catch Joker is getting more complicated." he shook his head before tossing his phone down.
"Did you need to go back to Gotham?"
Bruce lifted his eyes and turned back to her with a shake of his head. Since Lian Yu, and all the sadness and loss, they realized how much they didn't want a long distance marriage. So they would compromise. Splitting their time between Star City and Gotham. He promised her he'd be here for her and for Damian and he wasn't planning on breaking that promise.
"No, Richie is handling it, and he has help from the other Titans." he replied and Felicity looked at him with a tilted head. "What?"
"Do you really believe that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I love that you're here Bruce, but I know how big catching Joker is for you. He's your whale, and if you need to go to Gotham to finish it, I would understand."
"Yeah, he was my whale and like Ahab I was becoming obsessed with catching him." Bruce reached over and took her hand. "Richie and the Titans are keeping an eye on Gotham and they have their eyes out for Joker. If I'm needed, I will step in but as of now, I'm trusting that they can handle it." Felicity smiled as Bruce leaned into press his lips to her. "Right this second I'm hoping to make it to third base before the kid gets home." Felicity lightly laughed against his lips, before her hands slid up his chest. Bruce's hand slid down to her waist as he nudged her back to the floor. His hand only slipped under her dress before her phone started vibrating. Bruce lifted his head, "That one is yours." Felicity turned her head to see her phone before grabbing it and looking at the message from Curtis. "You have to go, don't you?"
"yeah, something's up and they need me." Felicity put the phone down before bringing her eyes back to Bruce. She placed a hand on his cheek before he leaned down to kiss her once more. "God, you make it so hard to leave." he chuckles, as his lips descend to her neck. "Bruce..." she whines almost pleadingly. Bruce groans, before rolling off of her on to his back. "I promise to make this up to you." she placed a kiss to his forehead. "I love you." she jumped to her feet, grabbed her things and headed for the door.
Bruce sat up and looked over to all the food and sighed before reaching forward and grabbing a sandwich.
Oliver loved this. Going out for lunch had become a semi regular thing for them when they both had time in the afternoon free. He needed these moments with her in the middle of the day. Going to lunch before would entail him picking her up from home, which he knew wasn't a good idea because he was positive he'd never come back to the office.
"So, how did your meeting with Peters go?" Oliver asked and Katie looked over to him mid bite of her french fry.
"So does someone report to you my meetings?"
"I get updates on all projects, yes, and Quentin mentioned your meeting with Peters." Oliver replied. "How did you know about my meeting about the Mitchell project?"
"I asked Maddy to share your calendar with me." she replied taking another bite of her fry.
"Why?" he asked and Katie looked at him with a shake of her head.
"It's going to sound crazy." she grabbed her soda and took a sip from her straw.
"That's half the things you say, I'm used to it by now."
"Oh Liver, you really are not trying to make it to your second anniversary, are you?" Katie said and a smile came to Oliver's face.
"I think I can hang in there until next month." he replied. "And I promise it will be better than last year."
"God, I hope so." Katie said with a laugh and Oliver did as well. "We should probably make it through Ari's birthday first."
"You still sad she doesn't want a party?"
"Not sad, just...disappointed. I liked the party I threw for her last year."
"Yeah, the party that ended with a fight and everyone being kicked out of the hotel."
"Everything before those parts." Katie sighed before leaning back in her chair. "I can't believe she's going to be seventeen." she shook her head before turning back to Oliver. "She's going to be a year off from an adult and I don't think I'm going to be able to handle that."
"You'll be able to handle it."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I'm the one that's going to freak out and you're going to have to be sane for the both of us." Oliver replied. "I'm already becoming an insane person. I keep taking the college brochures out of the mail and hiding them from her."
Katie laughed at the man with a shake of her head.
"She wants to go to Yale. She has like posters in her room and everything. That's her goal school."
"Of course she'd choose the school the furthest away from us."
"I went to Columbia, I can't judge." she sighed. "I'm just not ready."
"Neither am I. Maybe we can change her mind, make SCU more appealing."
"I think the fact that neither one of us went to SCU would probably not make us the best spokespersons for the school." Katie chuckled. "Maybe we just have to get ourselves ready for it."
"I don't want to get ready for it, because I don't want her to go."
His tone edged to a more serious one and Katie realized they probably shouldn't head down the Ari one day leaving road right now.
"Changing subjects before you go crazy, I heard there was a fundraiser you were asked to attend this weekend. What's it for?"
"It's for this science program for St Agnes all girls schools. I told you about the fundraiser weeks ago. I asked you to come with me and you agreed."
Katie looked at him with a quirked brow. "No you didn't."
"Yes I did."
"You've done this before, said you mentioned something you're invited to and how I agreed to go with you and I just believe you because I'm never sure." She shook her her. "This time you didn't, but I will go because I will support anything to do with kids and science." she nudged her head. "We should be heading back."
Oliver looked down to his watch with a frown. That hour really went fast. He held up a hand for the waitress who came over with the bill. He reached for it, but Katie grabbed it first.
"My treat," Katie said before placing her card into the folder and handing it back to the waitress. "This is going to make him crazy for the rest of the day." the waitress just laughed before turning off to scan the card. Katie turned back to Oliver who just looked over to her with furrowed brow.
"What? You afraid the talk around town is the Mayor letting his wife pay for lunch will get out?"
"Not at all. I'm afraid my wife will some how use buying this lunch as a barter for something she wants in the future."
"I would never."
"Twinkie, you once paid for my coffee and then later asked me to get your favorite cookies."
"What, that's an equal trade."
"It was the middle of the night."
Katie laughed as the waitress brought her card and receipt back. She put it into her purse as she stood to feet.
"You seem to be missing the part that I was also pregnant with your child so you owed me a lot more than those cookies."
Oliver brought his arm around her as they left the restaurant.
"I guess it wasn't getting ice cream in the dead of night on icy roads because you ate a freezer full."
Katie stopped walking and turned to him.
"How many times do I have to tell you, it wasn't a freezer full." she scoffed before pulling out of grasp and exiting the restaurant.
Oliver wanted to kick himself, because he knew that was a debate he was definitely not supposed to bring up. He sighed before following after her.
Ari stood in the elevator, her notepad in hand. Her and the other interns were asked to come up with some possible fundraising ideas for Katie's super secret project. She had a few ideas scribbled down, but she wanted to come up with more. She'd been so deep in thought, that she didn't look up when the elevator doors opened. Someone stepped inside, but Ari's eyes were still on the notepad. She really wanted her idea to be the one they went with.
"You know I didn't realize City Hall employed high school interns."
Ari lowered her notepad to see a woman that didn't look familiar. The woman was dressed professionally, a dark blue skirt and blazer with white blouse. Her dark hair in curls that seemed to pair well with her brown skin. When Ari noticed the woman didn't have a visitor pass, she stood up a bit straighter.
"You're Arianna Locke, right?"
Ari dropped the notepad to her side, not expecting the woman she's never meet to know her name. When the elevator door opened, Ari didn't care if it was her floor or not before she exited. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed before turning to see the woman still following behind her.
"Yeah, security, I'm going to need-" Ari pointed toward the woman. "You're going to need to stop walking before you're no longer able to."
The woman stopped walking, a look of curiosity at the words.
"Arianna, my name is-"
"Agent Samanda Watson." a voice spoke from the other side of the hall.
Ari turned, glad to see Katie walking over and standing in front of her. Katie glanced over her shoulder to Ari.
"It's fine, you can go."
"What's going on?"
"Later, but now, go, get back to work." she replied.
"Uh, never mind." she said into the phone before ending the call and slipping it back into her pocket. She glanced over to Katie and then to Agent Watson, before turning off and heading down the hall.
"Mrs. Queen-"
"We should talk in my office." Katie turned back to the woman and gestured for her to follow her. "This way." She walked into the office, Agent Watson behind her. Once the woman was inside, Katie closed the door.
"Mrs. Queen, I-"
"I don't care," Katie cut the woman off, stalking over to stand in front of her. "I have very good lawyers who sent you a very clear letter, that if you as so much as breathe on one of my children, I'll have you and anyone who wants to join you in court."
"You did." the woman stood up straight, a slight smirk on her face. "And as I was trying to tell you before you interrupted, I was not here to talk to Ari. I just happened to walk into the elevator and there she was."
"It would've been a good idea for you to wait for another elevator." she folded her arms over her chest. "Why are you here?"
"To talk to you actually."
Katie let out a chuckle as she shook her head and moved around the woman before walking over to sit at her desk."
"Yeah, you can see yourself out."
"I was hoping to give you a chance to get on the right side of my investigation." Samanda continued. "The wrong side of my investigation does not end well for you or your husband."
"You know what I don't get, your investigation stemmed from a photo. A photo that was proven to be doctored." Katie gestured to the woman. "And yet here you are. Isn't there literally anything more pressing that you could be investigating right now, then some Mayor you think runs around in a mask at night."
"I'm guessing if the only thing I had was a doctored photo, I wouldn't be here." the woman said with a tilt of her head. "And I think you're smart enough to know that. You cover for him and I bet you've gotten really good at it."
"Careful agent Watson, or I might assume you're accusing me of something." Katie replied sitting back in her seat.
"We wouldn't want that."
"No we wouldn't."
The woman stare each other down before Katie's office door suddenly opens and in comes Oliver who glances between Katie and the agent.
"Agent Watson." he says and the woman turns from Katie to him.
"Mr. Mayor," she glanced over to Katie once more with an arrogant smirk. "I was just leaving." she moves around Oliver, leaving the office.
Oliver watches as she leaves, closing the door behind her before turning to Katie who just looks over to him.
"I saw her talking to Ari." Katie said answering the question she knows he wants to ask. She grabbed a binder from her desk and stood to her feet. "I have a meeting I'm going to be late for." she stood to her feet and moved toward the door, but Oliver moved to stand in front of her. "We can't do this," she lifted her eyes to him. "I'm not ok, but we can not fix that right now." she moved around him out of the office to hurry to her meeting.
When Felicity arrived to the bunker, she didn't expect to hear Dinah recount that the murder of some guy on the side of the street was killed by a sonic scream. It was Laurel, they just didn't know why.
"Dinah, thanks." John said. "We'll take it from here."
Felicity reached forward to end the transmision before Curtis pulled up the victim's profile.
"Victim was an accountant named Jackson Klimavich." Curtis read. "No criminal record, boring job, really boring Upswipz profile."
"Well, he was married, and seen making out with evil Laurel, so maybe not so boring." Felicity sighed before turning to John. "Do you think we should call Ethan?"
John sighed, they'd promised to let Ethan know if anything came up with this woman, he just didn't like it. Every time he told Ethan something this woman did, it was like it broke the man's heart a little.
"I'll call him." John replied turning as Rene walked in.
"Sorry. On top of being apart of the Doc's awesome project, I had to help Lance finish up the polling analysis." he sighed. "Star City stands at 70% against the anti-vigilante legislation."
"That's 70% for us, accounting for the double negative you just used." Curtis said trying to show the upside.
Felicity nods, "Yeah, but after everything this team has done for the city-"
"You'd think it'd be higher." John adds, and she nods.
"What I miss?" Rene asked
"Evil Laurel seduced a guy and then killed him." Curtis replied and Rene glanced from him to the screen.
"Why?"
"That's what we have to figure out, but first, we have to find her." John replied. "Laurel's been in the wind way too long." he nudged Rene to follow him to suit up.
"So I saw the pipsqueak today again," Rene said pulling off his jacket. "Pestering about what we're doing around here."
"And what did you say?" John asked.
"What I always say, that Oliver and Katie would kill me." Rene shook his head. "I still don't think it's right."
"Yeah, well they're her parents, and what they say goes." John replies before turning off to get dressed.
Curtis glanced over to Felicity who'd started typing.
"Speaking of being on it, did you mail out our articles of incorporation?" Felicity glanced over to him in confusion. "For our startup. The documents required to, you know, start it up."
Felicity eyes widened. "Oh, my God. They are in a Manila envelope on my countertop with every intention of mailing them." she groaned with a shake of her head. "I was just telling Bruce how I'm being stretched too thin."
"Wait a minute. You were with Bruce when I texted?"
"He was sweet and planned this little indoor picnic," she sighed as she turned away. "I'm sorry"
"Felicity, no."
"It's the job," she replies looking over to him.
"It's ok." he turned to her with a shake of his head. "This is all on me. I 911ed you over one dead body." he nudged his head. "Can you still make it out to dessert?"
"Well, no." Felicity sighed turning back to the computer. "We have to find evil Laurel."
Curtis placed a hand on her shoulder, "No, no, no. I will find evil Laurel. You go out there and take your ass back to your husband."
Felicity turned a smile to him. "Are you sure?"
"Are you kidding me? I am like, you guys' bigger shipper." Curtis chuckle.
Felicity smiled wide, " You're amazing." she started backing away,
"I'm terrific." he replied and she just chuckled. "Is that getting old?" Felicity just continued to laughed, and he just shooed her away. "Go, go."
Oliver was ready to go home. He'd already gotten word that Katie had already headed home an hour ago, which was her usual time. She usually picked up Robyn and Will from school before heading home. When he walked into his office, he paused at the sight of Ari sitting at his desk. He smiled as he closed the door and walked over to sit in the chair in front of the desk.
"I thought you'd be headed home by now." he said and Ari just looked at him, making it clear she wasn't here for small talk. "Ari, it's fine."
"Agent Samanda Watson, FBI." Ari said. "How is that fine? Why was she here?"
Oliver didn't say anything at first. Honestly he hoped to keep her out it completely. He should've known with Ari working here, and Watson's spontaneous visits that at some point they would meet.
"After the leak of the photo of me dressed as the Green Arrow, Agent Watson started an investigation into me."
"But it was proven the photo was faked."
"It was, but she's still looking for something." Oliver replied and Ari just looked at him for a moment before turning away. "Ari it's fine. We're fine. She's not going to find anything." she didn't say anything, and he really wanted her to say something. She was like Katie in that way, the wheels turning and it always made him nervous. "Ari-" she turned to him. "Trust me. This is not a problem that requires you and a computer."
"Fine," she replied before turning. "Next question. Why do you have a flyer from NYU in your trash bin," she held up the flyer and Oliver opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"I uh—I—funny story, I-" there was a knock at the door and they both turned to see Quentin walk inside.
"So what are you, mayor for the day?" Quentin joked over to Ari who sarcastically laughed as she stood to her feet.
"I wouldn't touch that job with a ten foot pole." she replied folding up the flyer as she heads for the door.
"I'll see you at home, Ari," Oliver stood to his feet, watching as Ari walked from the office. He turned back to Quentin. "You have perfect timing."
"You might not say that after what I tell you." Quentin sighed. "I just came from a council meeting to discuss the City's contribution to Katie's second chance project. What I initially thought was going to be half of her budget, turned out to be a quarter."
"What? The council usually fully backs any city projects that deal with reducing crime, city improvements, and this project does it all. Did they give a reason why?" Quentin stuffed his hands in his pockets and Oliver sighed because what the man wasn't saying made it obvious. "It's Katie."
"They questioned the decision to have her in charge and continuously brought up her inexperience in leading such a project."
"She was one of the founders of the New Beginnings project."
"Which they all deemed was handled more by Ray and Palmer Tech. To them she's a doctor who hasn't had a job in over a year. Being asked to step down from RI didn't help."
Oliver shook his head. "Which is easily explained. She refused to let her company back the wife of a terrorist." Oliver let out a huff before glancing down to his watch. "Call a meeting. Have all council members back here in the next ten minutes."
"To what?" Quentin shook his head. "This is why she didn't want me to talk to you about this. I've already called her and gave her the news and she says she will figure it out. You stomping around demanding the council to give your wife money isn't going to help you or her in this situation. They voted, and you going against that sends a message."
Oliver knew he was right, that here he had to be the mayor and not her husband who just wanted fix any problem she had.
"Oliver, you asked her to head this project because you knew that she could do it." Quentin gave the man a pat on the shoulder. "So let her do it."
Felicity made it home first, phone pressed to her ear.
"No, I'm saying that I made it home early, so maybe we could pick up where we left off." she smiled as she closed the door, keeping hold of the bag in her hand as she headed for the kitchen.
"I would love nothing more, but I told Damian I would pick him up today for more training."
"Well Oliver did say that Damian was welcomed to spend a night there if we ever needed a night to ourselves." she smiled as she placed the cake on the table. "And I could really use a night with my husband."
"Say no more Mrs. Wayne."
"I'll call Katie, and let her know that you'll drop Damian off." she went to grab a bottle of champagne. "And I'll be here impatiently waiting."
"I'll be quick." he replied before ending the call.
Felicity lightly giggled as she grabbed glasses, placing them on the counter. Her eyes looked over to the Manilla folder, and she picked it up. She only glanced up to the butcher's block seeing the reflection in one of the knives of someone behind her.
"Nice try, but I wasn't born-" she grabbed a knife and turned to someone she wasn't expecting to see. "Alena?"
"You always announce your attacks like that?" the woman asked, cautiously watching the blonde who hadn't lowered the knife.
"What are you doing in my house?!" Felicity demanded.
"You think a computer hacker would know better than to install a smart-lock on her door." I mean—"
Felicity shook her head. "what are you doing here?"
"I need your help."
"You, you or-or Helix you?" Felicity asked, the knife still in her hands.
"Does it matter?"
"Let's pretend for a second that it does." Felicity said as the woman slightly turned her head, giving her a good look at the bruise on her cheek. "Who gave you that?"
"Cayden James." Alena replied, "He's working on something terrible, something that will hurt the entire world, and I need your help to stop him."
Oliver pulled into his driveway, just as a car stopped behind him. He glanced up to his mirror, his eyes squinting at the headlights until they're turned off. He groans at the sight of Bruce stepping out of the car.
Oliver turns off the engine, and stands from his car, turning to Bruce who walks over.
"What are you doing here?"
Bruce nudged his head to the car where Damian sat with a look of annoyance.
"I hear you volunteered to keep the kid, and we're cashing in." he turned and let out a high pitch whistle. He watched as Damian shook his head before getting out of the car. He walked over to stand beside Bruce. "You're staying here for the night. You are to listen to both Oliver and Robins. No funny business."
"Whatever," the boy muttered before stalking over to the house.
"Should I expect funny business?" Oliver asked and Bruce turned to him.
"With him, you never know. Robins can handle him."
"Are you saying I can't?" Oliver asked.
Bruce let out a laugh before turning and heading back to his car. Oliver just shook his head before walking over to the door where Damian was waiting. He looked down to the boy who didn't ever turn to him. He sighed before reaching forward to unlock the door.
Damian walked in, pausing at the living room where he saw Katie sitting on the couch reading something. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the frown on his face.
"I know you want to be anywhere but here, but what are you going to do." she nudged her head toward the kitchen. "Ari and Will are in there making dinner, you can help."
"What? Cook?" he asked placing a hand on his chest. "Me?"
"You may actually like it." she replied. The boy just groaned before stalking into the kitchen. She just let out a chuckle before turning her eyes to Oliver. "Hi, you."
"Hi," he replied walking over a pressing his lips to hers. "Ari and Will are making dinner?"
"They are. I think they're making chicken tacos." she replied before turning back to the coffee table that was covered with papers.
"What's all this?" Oliver moved around to sit on the couch beside her.
"This is me trying to figure out how to fund a project that city council doesn't think I should be in charge of."
"They didn't say that, they were just—it doesn't matter what they think." Oliver slid an arm around her. "What do you have so far?" Katie glanced over to him. "I want to help."
"You want to help, then please go make sure your children are making something edible." she placed a kiss to his lips. " I will figure this out."
She turned away to look down to her laptop, and Oliver sighed as he pulled away. He placed a final kiss to her head before standing to his feet and heading to the kitchen."
Bruce and Felicity had been trying to have a baby for the past couple months. Bruce was a huge fan of the trying part. A smile pulled at his lips when he pulled up in front of their house. He jumped from the car and hurried for the door, only pulling it open to run into Felicity who seemed to be walking out.
"Bruce!" Felicity's eyes widen as if not expecting to see him. "You're here. What are you doing here."
"Yeah, I live here." he replied his eyes going to Alena who was standing behind her. "What is she doing here?" he slipped inside of the house, his eyes on the brunette.
"Hi." Alena said with a nervous smile before glancing over to Felicity." I'm just going to go...over there." she turned and walked across the living room.
Bruce turned to Felicity with a look she knew meant he wanted to know what was going on.
"You know how you like to say 'I told you so'-"
"No, that's you."
"Well, consider this an early Christmas present," she said with a slight smile, but her husband was showing no amusement. "Cayden James is a bad person, and he's going to do a bad thing."
Bruce lifted his eyes to Alena, before looking back to Felicity who was waiting for him to respond to the information.
"Are you sure you can trust her?"
"I mean "trust" isn't the exact word I would use."
Bruce shook his head. "Then where ever you're going, I'm going."
"But you're on hero break." Felicity replied and he looked at her with a quirked brow. "That's what I'm calling it, but since the island you've taken a step back. Which I'm happy about, because you're here, and you're safe and that's all I ever want." she placed a hand on his arm. "I can handle this."
Bruce placed his hands on the side of her face, before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers. He pulled back, and took off his jacket before looking over to Alena.
"You, here," he pointed to the spot in front of him and Alena glanced over to Felicity, but cautiously walked over. "You've just successfully ruined my night with my wife, so if this is some kind of trick just know that you're going to regret it. Do you understand that?" Alena just nods. "Good, now tell me everything, from the beginning."
"Bruce-" Felicity spoke and Bruce turned to her. "Fine, I get it, you're helping. We need to go though. It's kind of a time sensitive situation. We can explain the situation on the way."
He looked at her for a moment, "Fine, just let me get changed." he shook his head before running upstairs.
"Whoa, he's scary," Alena muttered and Felicity turned to her. "But if that's your thing..."
Felicity just chuckled, glancing over to the steps, "It is. It really is."
There was another murder. Same M.O as the last one. The team met back up at the bunker.
"Did Laurel also make out with this one first?" Rene asked glancing over to Dinah who just rolled her eyes before walking away. "It's a legitimate investigatory question."
"Cause of death was the same." Dinah said walking to stand next to John. "This was definitely Laurel."
They all paused at the sound of the elevator. They assumed it might be Felicity, but they were all surprised to see it was Ethan.
"Ethan?" John stepped toward the man. "What are you doing here?"
"There was another murder." Ethan replied glancing over to the rest of the team. "I figure that's why you're all here." he turned back to John. "It was her, wasn't it?"
"Ethan-"
"Don't, just be straight with me. Is the woman who has my wife's face out killing people?"
John didn't say anything, and so Ethan glanced over to the others.
"Yes," Dinah finally spoke. "The murder seems to be just like the last. The victim killed by a sonic scream."
"Ethan, look we're handling this," John said placing a hand on his arm. "Trust me."
"I do, man. Really, I do. But how I look at it, of all the people that could know what the hell is going on, and where my wife is, that woman is one of them. I'm helping." Ethan moved around John, to stand with the others, his eyes going to the murder victim.
The team glanced over to John who sighed, but just nods as he walks back over.
"Victimology was similar, too, insofar that this woman is just as boring as the first guy." Curtis said.
"College librarian may even be more boring." John glanced down to read the information.
"Maybe Laurel's killing for sport." Rene shrugged.
"No," Ethan said and they turned to him. He lifted his eyes from the screen. "Everything this woman has done so far has had an angle. Her victims may not seem like extraordinary people, but there is a reason she's doing this."
"Ethan, Black Siren isn't your wife, so maybe you don't know her motives." Dinah said and Ethan scoffed.
"You're right, she's not my wife and I don't know her, but as the detective here, you have to see that doing this, killing random people doesn't fit her criminal profile. Every crime she has committed has had a purpose. If you don't see that, you're possibly in the wrong line of work."
"Excuse me?" Dinah looked from the doctor to John who walked over to stand between them.
"Let's just focus on finding her." John said before glancing over to Curtis. "Any word on tracking her down?"
"Nothing useable from the CCTV cams we found on either crime scene. "Curtis replied before turning to him.
"Forensics is a dead end, as well." Dinah added.
"And Felicity?" John asked, but Curtis shook his head.
"I tried texting her, but she hasn't hit me back."
"Fine." John turned to Rene and Dinah. "Let's hit the streets. Someone has to be able to help us find Laurel."
"I'm coming." Ethan said and John turned to him with a shake of his head.
"Ethan, you're a doctor. Actually, you're a hospital director. What happens if someone recognizes you, or takes a picture of you."
"Isn't this a super secret hero lair? There's got to be a mask somewhere around here." he said before turning off to search.
"I vote no on the rude doctor going with us." Dinah said and John turned to her. "Plus we won't have time to look for Laurel while also making sure he doesn't get killed."
"Ethan is a former ARGUS agent." Curtis said and Dinah turned to him.
"Seriously, that guy was ARGUS?" she asked looking from him to John. "That guy?"
"Yeah, he was, and keeping him safe isn't what I'm worried about." John glanced over to Ethan who'd seemed to have found a ski mask. "Laurel is our friend, but she was his wife. We can look at Black siren and know she's not Laurel, I'm just not sure about him." he glanced over to Dinah. "I'm also not sure telling him no will do much of anything. At least if he's with us..."
"We can babysit, fun." she sighed.
"What about me?" Curtis said and they turned to him. "Um, I want to hit the streets, too, and maybe a couple of bad guys."
"Curtis, with Felicity AWOL, we need tech." John replied.
"I mean if we needed another tech, there is someone we could call." Rene said and they all just turned to him.
"Right!" Curtis said before turning to John. "We could call Ari. I mean if it's too soon for her to hit people, she could be here, and be the tech and I can go hit people."
"You two mind telling me why you keep bringing up getting Ari back on the team?" John glanced between Rene and Curtis. "Oliver and Katie made it clear that she was out."
"She's one of us." Curtis said. "She trained with us and she learned with us and she has that young brain I think even made Felicity a bit envious."
"She also had a different perspective." Rene added and they turned to him. "That innocent, 'let's save the world' perspective, and the longer you worked with her, the more you started to believe it."
John glanced from Rene to Curtis, to Dinah who nods as well.
"Look for right now, we're not calling Ari." John said but nods. "But I get it, ok. I'll talk to Oliver and Katie. I mean, with Oliver stepping down because of the risk, I doubt he'd be ok with letting his kid jump back in." he shrugged. "We'll talk. That's as much as we can do." he turned to Curtis. "For now, you're going to be our tech. Keep working that angle."
With that they all turned to get suited up.
"I—I've been working that angle." Curtis muttered grabbing his phone to once again try Felicity.
Cooking with his kids was an experience Oliver didn't know he needed. Sure he had to play referee between the three kids ever so often, but at the end, they had a meal. Once it was all brought out to the table, Oliver watched as the kids all sat not even hesitating to dig in.
"Where's Katie?" Oliver turned to Ari who he thought was going to get the woman.
"She said to start without her, and that she would be in, in a minute." Ari replied putting some chicken, veggies and rice on a plate for Robyn.
Oliver nods, "Right, I'll be right back."
When he found her, she was in the same place he left her. Still sitting on that couch, her eyes on her laptop. This time her phone was pressed to her ear.
"I like that, come up with some details and bring them to the office tomorrow." she glanced over to see Oliver. "I'm being given a look right now, so I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow." Katie ended the call and looked back over to Oliver. "Five more minutes and I'll will be in to eat."
Oliver walked around the couch, once again taking the seat beside her.
"Liver-"
"How many times did your dad say that he would be only five more minutes to join you for dinner, only to never show up?" he asked and Katie looked at him for a minute before turning away. "Twinkie, I get this is important to you."
"Except you don't." she replied turning back to him. "You don't get it. You should've never offered me this job and you should've never pressured me to take it." she turned away to look back down to the laptop.
"You know what fine, I will say that I really wanted you to head up this project, but Twinkie you told me you didn't want the job because you didn't think you could do it. I knew you could, but if you honestly didn't want the job, I would've accepted it and let it go." she didn't say anything and Oliver let out a huff before grabbing the lap top. "What aren't you saying?"
Katie shook her head before turning to Oliver and finally saying the words out loud.
"Somewhere inside of me, I thought after Ra's and after ARGUS and after all the bullshit that happened before I came here, that I could just create a new life and be a new person. I used to say to myself that I will refuse to let those four years take away anything else." she shook her head. "And yet, I've failed at practically everything I've done."
"That's not true."
Katie held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, just hear me out. I didn't get the job at Starling Memorial. I had to quit Glades Memorial when my psycho uncle decided to pop back up in my life. I had to leave Safe Haven because I could never focus on my work because I was too busy fighting someone, or being inducted into a crazy assassin league. Oh, I was asked to resign from a company that holds my name." she turned to Oliver. "I've stepped into these roles, so determined to do it right, and in the end, I can't. You and Quentin seemed to have overlooked that in my resume, but the council members did not. I have a reputation for failing which I was aware of." she slid a hand over her face before reaching over to grab her laptop, but he held it away. "Oliver-"
"Absolutely nothing you just said is true." Oliver replied and Katie just turned away. "Everything you listed has a legitimate reason for why you couldn't finish. The things you can't list on resume. Things those council members probably will never know." he sat the laptop down, before turning and taking her hands. "I would never put you in the same sentence as failure. Ever."
"You're bias." she muttered turning away from him. "You look at me with your Twinkie colored love glasses, refusing to see the truth." Oliver sighed before leaning forward and placing a kiss to her cheek. "I didn't want to take the job because I didn't want to fail." she turned back to him. "I didn't want to make you look bad."
"That's just impossible. Because what you've been doing these last couple of weeks. What you're doing now. The work you and your team are doing is beyond anyone, and that includes city council believed you could achieve in such a short time. Twinkie, you just—you just have to remember that deep down inside of you is that woman who does not run and hide from the challenges of the world."
"I don't know if she's still in here." Katie sighed before dropping her head to Oliver's chest.
"She is. And burying yourself in papers isn't going to help." he placed a kiss to her head. "Now come eat before there's no food left." he chuckled. "There are four kids at that table and I doubt anyone is thinking of leaving us food. Come on." Oliver stood up, taking Katie's hand, leading her back to kitchen.
Katie glanced over to him, a light smile on her face. Moments like this made her feel like the luckiest woman in the world to have someone who believed in her enough for the both of them.
Curtis had the idea to track Black Siren's sonic cry. He didn't expect a hit so soon, but he had it. That's what lead the team, Ethan included to a parking garage.
"C is clear." John said through to comlink to the others.
"Nothing on D." Came Rene's response.
"A is clear, except for a sweet ass Corvette someone left overnight." Curtis replied.
Ethan was forced to stick with Dinah, as they did a sweep of level B. He tugged at the ski mask over his face, stopping at the sight of a woman on the floor. When he saw the blood, her hurried over, dropping to a knee in front of her, placing a hand on her forearm to search for a pulse.
"Guys, we're too late." Dinah said when Ethan turned to her with a shake of his head.
"Actually, you're right on time."
Ethan and Dinah turned at the voice, their eyes widening at the sight of Black siren. Ethan stood to his feet, not able to tear his eyes off the face of his wife. Before he could do or say something, she opened her mouth, using her sonic cry to send them flying across the parking structure.
"It's just—it's just she's so, so pretty." Black siren said with a twisted smile on her face.
Dinah sat up, her eyes looking for Ethan only to find that he'd disappeared. She moved behind a car for cover.
"I really wanted to hold her hand until the end came." the woman continued.
"You're one twisted, Bitch." Dinah replied.
"That really hurts my feelings!" Black siren yelled before Dinah jumped out, using her own sonic cry that sent the woman flying. Evil Laurel seemed to jump to her feet quickly running off.
John, Rene, and Curtis came running just in that moment.
"She's gone," Dinah growled angrily.
"Good luck tracking her down." John replied taking a step only to stop and glance back to Dinah. "Where's Ethan?"
Dinah looked at him before looking around. He wasn't there. She turned back to John who let out a huff.
Black Siren didn't stop running until she was a good distance from the parking garage, and she only stopped when she realized she was being followed. She turned around, opening her mouth to sonic cry whoever it was, only to stop the moment she saw the man who pulled off his ski mask. The moment her eyes met Ethan's, the woman looked surprised.
"What are you doing here?!" she snapped angrily. "You're not supposed to be here!" Ethan didn't say anything as he took cautious steps forward. "Don't, I will hurt you."
"I kind of feel if you were going to hurt me, you would've done so already." Ethan continued walking toward her. "Why did you kill that woman?"
The woman pulled on a smirk, and shrugged. "I don't know. I felt like it."
"I don't believe you." Ethan replied with a shake of his head. "I know you're not my wife, but I know parts of her are in you. She wouldn't have done anything that didn't have a purpose. So that guy from yesterday, that woman back there. Why?" she didn't say anything and Ethan sighed. "You can't do this. You can't run around this city with her face, doing these terrible things. My wife will need her life when she comes back, and I can't let you ruin it."
"What makes you think she's coming back?" Black Siren took a step toward him. "What makes you think she can? I'm sorry Ethan, but I think you should come to terms with the fact that the woman you knew isn't coming back, and I'm as close as you're going to get to having her. You should accept that, or you'll end up on the wrong side of this fight." she glanced down to the ski mask in his hand. "You should stay in the hospital." she turned back to his eyes. "It's safer. Don't follow me again." she began backing away before turning and running off.
Author's Note:
Hmmm...interesting
Review Replies:
Adela: Oh absolutely. Katie plays no games when it comes to her family. Thanks!
Isobel Bauch: Yes! The two will definitely bump heads and lol I could definitely see Nyssa not having the patience at all to deal with Agent Watson, but I'm afraid it would only lead to an early prison sentence.
Thanks, thanks and more thanks. All the support is much appreciated!
Sneak Peek
"Where's Zatanna?"
"She's around. Casting a protection spell around the house."
"A protection spell? Against Felix?"
"Against anything mystical and evil." Constantine walked over to her. "Has he made anymore appearances."
"Nope, it's been quiet. He did say something about needing to get to his full power, maybe it's taking a bit of time." Katie replied noticing Constantine turning away. "So I'm guessing there was a Felix Faust on our earth and you know about him."
"I knew about him. He's dead." Constantine replied. "When he was alive, he would steal the souls of living people, killing them to increase his own power." Constantine shook his head before turning to Katie. "He was coming after you before Chas killed him."