Chapter 3

Damage control

"A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work."

-John Lubbock

It was a strange feeling. Katie felt like she got knocked out of her body. Felt as if she were still sitting on that couch looking at the television screen. In reality, she did stand up and her and Oliver talked to Will and Ari and assured them that everything was fine and that they had everything under control. They gave them the option to stay home from school, but both chose to face whatever was waiting for them.

Once they were gone, Oliver stayed behind, still waiting for Katie to give some kind of reaction. She stood with him, helping him assure the kids that everything would be alright, when he's almost positive she doesn't believe any of it. At the moment, she disappeared into the bathroom. He took Robyn back to her room, and placed her in her crib, where she immediately stood to her feet and cried to get out.

"No dada, out, out!" she jumped up and down and Oliver sighed because he knew he wasn't going to leave her like this.

He picked her back up and brought her with him to their room. When he walked inside, the bathroom door was closed, so he walked over and knocked.

"Hey Twinkie, please come out so we can talk." he waited for her to respond, but he didn't hear anything. He glanced down to Robyn, seriously not wanting her to be here in case he had to break the door down. "Twinkie, we're going to be ok. I will take care of this." still nothing and he was starting to get worried. He shook his head because, he needed to put Robyn back in her room crying and all because he needed Katie out of the bathroom where he could see her and see that she was fine. He turned and only took a few steps before he heard the sound of the bathroom door open. He let out a sigh of relief. "Twinkie-"

"Stop." she said immediately. She walked over and took Robyn from him and met his eyes. "Just stop. If you're going into work, you need to get dressed and go." she moved around him, out of the room about to head to Robyn's room to get the girl dressed.

"Twinkie, I will fix this." Oliver said.

Katie stopped walking. She didn't immediately turn to him. Her eyes dropped to her daughter who just looked up to her mother and smiled. The truth, Katie was still downstairs sitting on that couch watching that television screen, replaying that image that the whole world could see. She couldn't be that woman on the couch now. The woman on the couch was bawling her eyes out and screaming and breaking things. So she'd be the calm and collected woman she is now. For her kids, and for Oliver even if he doesn't know it. She glanced back to him and just nods.

"Ok." she replies simply before stepping into Robyn's room.

Oliver dropped his shoulders, because he knew she really didn't believe him.

Felicity needed coffee and a lot of it. She was heading over to the bunker to see if they could figure out what they were doing next after the photo leak. After getting dressed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen and stopped because she didn't see her husband or step son. She narrowed her eyes before turning and heading down a hall that lead to a wall of pictures. She smiled at a picture of her, Bruce and Damian, the boy with a scowl because he didn't want to take the picture, but Bruce made him. She pulled the picture up and placed a palm on the wall. A scanner read her palm and the wall beside the pictures opened up. She walked over, climbing down the stairs, already hearing the clanks of bow staffs. She let out a heavy sigh as she reached the bottom of the steps and found the pair sparring.

"You're going to be late for school!" Felicity announced and they both stopped and turned to her. "Again!" she turned to Damian. "Upstairs, shower and change for school, I will drop you off."

"I don't see why I have to attend that ridiculous school with those idiot children anyway." he turned to Bruce. "This is where I should be spending my time. Preparing to take on the role of Robin."

Bruce walked over to the boy and took the bo staff from his hand. "Yeah, nothing she just said was a request. Go, get ready for school." the boy huffed before turning and stomping up the steps. "That was good." Felicity turned to Bruce. "Parenting on a united front."

Felicity just scoffed before turning around and stalking up the steps as well. Bruce sighed, dropping the sticks and following behind her.

"You know parenting, has to include actual parenting Bruce." Felicity said knowing he was behind her, even though she wasn't looking back to him. "Keeping him up all night, and up at the crack of dawn to train, when he should be focusing on school and making friends."

"We tried that already and it wasn't working. You and I know he's not like those other kids. He agreed to give school a try if I trained him. I'm just keeping up my end of the bargain." They stepped into the kitchen, where Felicity went about making coffee. "That's not what you're upset about though, is it?" she didn't say anything. "This thing with Oliver-"

"You mean the world knowing his alter ego and possibly sending him to jail and then soon after, the rest of us with him."

"First of all, I doubt he'd let any of you go down with him and second, I'm definitely not going to let you go down with him." Felicity glanced over to Bruce. "I'm not saying I own a secret island somewhere that no one would ever find us, but..." Felicity couldn't help but to let out a laugh. "Oliver is a smart man, and I'm sure he knows how to get out of this."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because this is the reality in the back of his mind. This thing we know could happen. It's the thing I know could happen with me." Bruce said and Felicity dropped her head. Bruce walked over and brought his arms around her. "I say that because we know it could happen, and if it does, we know that we would do everything possible to protect the people we care about." Felicity lifted her eyes to meet his gaze.

"I would want you to do your best to protect yourself as well." she slid her arms around him and he placed a soft kiss to her lips. "And if you really do own a secret island, you better tell me."

"If it comes to that, I will...but I'm not saying it's true." Felicity quirked a brow. "I'm not saying it's not true." she just shook her head before turning to pour her coffee.

"Katie must be going out of her mind." Felicity sighed before bringing the cup to her lips. She turned back to Bruce. "I want to go see her, but I know I'm going to turn into my mother, and she will hit me."

Bruce laughed. "I'll go check in with Robins, make sure her feet are still on the ground."

"I thought you needed to check with with Richie. Joker and his crew robbed a bank and took a lot of money."

"Don't worry about Joker, we will find him and we will stop him." Bruce placed a kiss to her cheek.

"Why are you so optimistic all of a sudden."

"Because we're in the process of getting something to finally bring him out of hiding." Bruce replied and Felicity quirked a brow.

"I'm ready." Damian groaned and they both looked over to the wet haired boy who stood in his Star City Academy uniform. His shirt untucked and tie loose around his neck made Bruce roll his eyes before walking over to him to help fix his clothes.

Oliver was hoping that keeping it simple would work. The press filled the entrance of City Hall, and he kept his head held high as he walked in, even telling a joke. He'd been here before. He couldn't let it show that one picture could affect him. He needed to be cool, calm and collected to throw off all suspicion. So he would lie. Say that the picture is fake, and even mentioned Bruce possibly being the Green Arrow, which only got him laughs. Laughs were good, he thought. When he turned, he headed up the steps where Quentin and Rene were waiting.

"You seem to be taking this in stride." Quentin glanced over to the unamused look on Oliver's face.

"Well I've been here before, with you."

"Yeah, but I didn't have a photograph of you in flagrante de-arrow."

"Where did they get the photo?" Oliver asked.

"Anonymous source," Rene said as they stopped. "Arrived in yesterday's mail, no return address."

"Let's get the envelope, let's get forensics and let's figure out who leaked it and why."

They stepped into the elevator, and Oliver tucked his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He wanted to call Katie to see how she was doing, but he also wanted to give her good news. When the doors opened, he stepped out, Rene and Quentin behind him along with his security.

"We can't let this distract us." Oliver turned to Quentin and Rene. "Where are we with rebuilding the SCPD?"

"Well I fast tracked the insurance claim, so we should have twenty million burning a hole in our account by the end of the day." Rene said.

"Our account?" Quentin looked over to the man with a quirked brow.

"I figure we peel off a few bucks and fly to Vegas." Rene said looking over to Oliver.

Quentin chuckled sarcastically, "That's cute. I think it might be a little suspicious if Oliver left town right about now."

"I need to be in town for the Markovian delegation." Oliver replied before turning and heading to his office.

"So it's all right for me to go to Vegas, is what you're saying?" Rene asked as Oliver and Quentin headed off.

"How much of that twenty million you think we will need for the rebuild?" Oliver asked over to Quentin as they walked. Quentin quirked a brow."

"You're not actually rethinking Rene's Vegas idea, are you?"

"No. just another possible project. There are some details that need to be panned out and a project director I need to convince to actually take over the project, but I'm sure at some point funding is going to be a topic." Oliver and Quentin stopped outside of Oliver's office and Oliver noticed the confusion on Quentin's face. "When things quiet down, I'll tell you more." he turned and pushed open the door, not expecting to find a woman standing in his office. "Hello?"

"I don't think you have an appointment." Quentin said eyeing the woman.

"No, but I really don't need one." the woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a FBI badge. "Special Agent Samanda Watson."

Oliver and Quentin looked from from the badge, back to the woman and let out a sigh.

Katie moved about the house like a ghost. Her mind was a million different places, but that picture, that image of Oliver was at the forefront. She found herself trying to think of a next move. Oliver's optimism made him believe that he could just fix this, her pessimism wouldn't allow her to think it would be that easy. It's why after putting Robyn down for her nap, she trudged down the basement and pulled up all of their suitcases. With everything happening, there only seemed be one plausible solution.

They needed to leave.

She would pack up all of their things, so by the time everyone got home they could just leave. At the sound of the doorbell, Katie turned her head, her hand going to the gun she had tucked behind her. She slowly tipped toward the door as it rang again.

"It's me Robins, open up!"

Katie rolled her eyes, pulling her shirt over the gun before reaching forward to open the door to find Bruce.

"Why are you here?" Katie asked as the man just walked inside without an invitation. "I can't do this Bruce, I can't deal with whatever this is."

Bruce walked inside, going to the living room where he saw the suit cases lined up.

"You're leaving?" Bruce turned to Katie. "Oliver never mentioned anything about leaving." Katie didn't say anything as she stood there. "He doesn't know you're packing up does he?"

"If you didn't want anything, I'm busy, so if you could-" she gestured for the door, but Bruce didn't move. "Bruce, can you just go?"

"This could blow over." Bruce said and Katie scoffed.

"Get the hell out!" she snapped angrily. "I don't need optimism or comforting words. I need reality. And the reality is, there is a picture of my husband that has been posted to the world and is going to blow up our lives. So no, Oliver doesn't know we're leaving, but when he gets here, he will." she turned off and stormed for the kitchen.

Bruce came in behind her. "And you really think he's going to go for that? Uprooting his family, disappearing in the wind with a wife and three kids." Katie didn't say anything as she walked over to stand by the window. "Robins-"

"I can't lose him." Katie said turning to Bruce. She dropped her back against the sink and folded her arms over her chest. "I can't-" she saw the picture again in head, and she nearly fell apart. Her heart began to race. For a moment she thought she was having a panic attack, but then she closed her eyes and turned, gripping the sink, as sudden pain in her stomach taking her words.

"Robins!" Bruce hurried to her side, placing a hand on her back. "Robins, what's-"

"I'm fine." Katie clenched her jaw and let out a deep breath before standing up straight. She turned to Bruce. "I'm fine." she moved from in front of him to grab a glass.

"That looked anything but fine. What the hell just happened?" Bruce watched as she just filled her cup with water. "Robins, I need you to speak." she turned to him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, it's just-" Katie closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. "After Lian Yu, I had some injuries, and the doctor told me that there was scar tissue found in my abdomen." she opened her eyes and looked over to Bruce. "I guess being knocked around as much as I have does leave an impression. Some abdominal pain can happen. It's happened in the past. No one is usually around when it does, which I prefer, as to not deal with the worry eyes." she sighed. "Bruce, I'm fine."

Bruce didn't say anything, but his phone beeped, and he pulled it from his pocket. He frowned at something.

"What?" Katie asked and Bruce looked over to her.

Soon they were standing in the living room once again, watching the news. This time learning, that today during a press tour with Oliver and the Markovian delegates, there was an attack and the delegates were taken. The news stated that Oliver and the press got away, but Katie couldn't stop the ramming in her chest.

"Uh, I need to get to City Hall." she said turning to Bruce. "Can you watch Robyn, she's upstairs taking a nap."

"Robins, Oliver is fine." Bruce took a step, but she backed away.

"Men with guns shot at my husband who was only wearing a suit." she shook her head. "He may be fine, but I'm not. I need to see him, can you watch Robyn?"

"Yeah, sure." with the answer, she didn't hesitate before turning and grabbing her jacket and keys and hurrying out the door.

When she pulled up to City Hall, she could see the press still crowded around. She wasn't sure if it was because of the attack or if they were still wanting answers about the photograph. She couldn't deal with that, so she decided to enter the building though the parking garage. The moment she entered the building, she felt the eyes on her, and she knows she probably looks a mess. But for someone who just learned her husband was just in a fire fight, she feels no one is that surprised. She glanced over to Maddy, who stood to her feet.

"Mrs. Queen-"

"Is he in there?" Katie asked.

"Yes he is." Maddy said not even attempting to stop the woman who continued into Oliver's office.

When Katie stepped inside, Oliver stopped his conversation with Quentin and Rene and turned to her.

Oliver could see the worry in her eyes and didn't hesitate to move around his desk.

"I'm fine." he brought his arms around her and pulled her into a hug. "I promise, I'm fine."

"We should-" Quentin glanced over to Rene and nudged his head. "We'll give you two some privacy." The two men left the office,

"What happened?" Katie asked, her head never leaving Oliver's chest.

"It was Anatoly. Apparently he has some thing with the Markovians, and now he's demanding a twenty million dollar ransom for their return." he let his hand gently slide across her back. "I'm sorry, I should've called you, but really I'm fine." she didn't say anything, and Oliver sighed, not daring to pull away from something he think she needs right now, and honestly something he needs as well.

Katie felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and sighed as she pulled back. She glanced over to Oliver before pulling out her phone. She frowned slightly at the number, but quickly answered it.

"Hello?...This is she." she turned to Oliver. "Is he ok?" there was a brief pause. "Of course, I'm on my way."she ended the call. "It's William, there was a fight." she said before turning, but he grabbed her arm to stop her. "What?"

"I will go check on William, you should go home."

"I'm not going home, I'm going to check on my—I'm going to check on William and make sure he's alright."

"I can do that, and if it was a fight it might be easier for him to talk to me instead of you."

"Why would it be easier?" she asked and Oliver sighed and she tilted her head. "Because you're a man and I'm not."

"That's part of it, but the other part is, I really want to get more involved with him. He already likes you more than me, so I need more opportunities to win him over."

Katie scoffed before pointing a finger. "You find out what happened, and you get names." Oliver nods before placing kiss to her cheek. "Oh, I'm so serious."

When Oliver arrived at Will's school, he walked down the hall to see William sporting a black eye, and sitting next to him was Damian. He is glad he decided to come instead of Katie as he looked at his son's face. The two boys stopped talking the moment Oliver walked over and looked down to them. He was about to question them, when the door to the office opened and the principal waved for him to come inside.

Bruce was apparently at their house, so Oliver would be bringing both Will and Damian home. They all sat in the back of the car, the two boys on one side, each looking out a window not saying a word, while Oliver sat across from them.

"One of you want to tell me what happened?"

William looked over to Oliver before looking over to Damian. The pair sharing a look before turning back to Oliver.

"What was that look?" Oliver asked, but neither said a word. "Did you see who hit you?" still nothing. "Your teacher said it could be a couple of kids." The boys still remained silent. "Buddy, I can't help you if-"

"They know you're the Green Arrow." William suddenly said and Oliver looked over to him in confusion. "They said you're the Green Arrow. They said you're not here to help me."

"Oh man. William, I'm sorry you have to-"

"They were really big eight graders." William said and Oliver looked at his son for a moment.

"Eighth graders, huh?" he dropped his eyes Try to mask his anger. He was all too familiar with how brutal some bullies could be. "You should go for the nose."

"Huh?" William looked over to Oliver.

"If something like this happens again, go for the nose." Oliver leaned forward a bit. "Find the biggest one, the biggest one in the group, walk right up to him without saying a thing, and punch him in the nose as hard as you possibly can." Oliver nods. "He will have no idea what is going on. He won't be able to see, and if he can't see, he can't fight, and then all of his buddies, all the guys that were being so brave, they will back off. Trust me on that one." Oliver heard Damian snort and looked over to the boy. "But I hear you had some help at the end." Damian looked over to Oliver. "I'm glad you restrained yourself."

"Can you say that to my father, because he's going to be such pain about it." Damian said.

Oliver just shook his head when his phone rang. He glanced down to see Felicity's number. When he answered, she informed him that they had Anatoly's location. When he hung up the phone, he looked over to the driver.

"Stop the car, please." Oliver said before looking between the boys. "I have to get out. The driver and security are going to make sure you two get home where Katie and Bruce are waiting." he turned to William. "I promise we'll talk about this right when I get home."

"Can I come with you?" Damian asked and Oliver turned to him. "Whatever you're doing, I can help."

"Damian, just—just no." Oliver shook his head before turning back to William. "Just trust me." Oliver stepped out of the car, and both boys looked out the window as the car continued on.

"Ugh," Damian groaned dropping his head back on the seat knowing he was going to be in trouble. The moment the car stopped, he was too tempted to ditch everyone and go hide out somewhere. The two boys stepped out of the car and looked at the house.

William looked over to Damian and lightly laughed. "You can't runaway. Your dad will find you. He always finds you."

"He has some sort of tracking device on me, I just haven't found it yet." he said just as the door opened and there stood his father. He could tell from the look on Bruce's face that he was in trouble.

Katie appeared from behind Bruce, and the moment she saw Will and his black eye she saw red.

"I want names." she said looking between Will and Damian as she walked over. "I want to know exactly who did this to you and I'm going to make them regret it." she turned to Will. "C'mon, let's go put some ice on that." she brought an arm around him and pulled him into the house.

Bruce kept his eyes on Damian as he walked over, the boy not moving.

"Before you start, I was actually helping." Damian said trying to defend himself before his father tried to bury him with some ridiculous punishment. "I saw those big kids beating him up and I stepped in."

"Is anyone dead?"

"Lucky for them, no." Damian replied. Bruce just continued to silently stare before nudging his head toward the car.

"C'mon, I'll buy you ice cream."

"Ice cream?" Damian looked at the man suspiciously. He expected more anger, not ice cream.

"Yeah, ice cream." Bruce walked over to his car, but stopped when he realized Damian wasn't following him.

"Is this a trick?" Damian asked and Bruce let out a chuckle before walking over to him.

"You going out trying to stop bad guys by yourself, that's when I get angry. You helping a friend when they're in trouble, then I'm proud." Bruce replied he nudged his head to the car again. "Let's go." Damian nods before walking over to the car as well. "If Felicity asks, we tell her we had a long conversation about why fighting is never the answer and that in the future you will use your words." Damian looked over to him with a furrowed brow. "Trust me, that is the story, or we're both going to be in trouble."

Katie brought over the ice pack to William and the boy place it against his eye. She took the seat beside him.

"Here, eat a cookie." she said bringing the box of cookies closer to him. He looked over to her in confusion. "Either you eat them or I'm going to eat the entire box." she sighed before glancing over to the door. "Oliver had to go back to work?"

"I don't know, he got a call from Felicity and had to go." William said reaching into the box for a cookie.

Katie turned away. If it was Felicity, then he was going after Anatoly. That meant he had to be the Green Arrow. And right now he just couldn't be the Green Arrow with so many eyes on him.

"He just left." William suddenly said and Katie turned back to him. "He just-" he stood to his feet. "I'm going to my room." he didn't wait for her to say anything before running upstairs.

Katie just sat there before grabbing the box of cookies and stalking back into the living room. She took out her cell phone and dialed Felicity's number. There was a loud static noise and Katie pulled the phone away from her ear.

"Sorry, making sure the line is secure. Hi, are the boys ok?" Felicity asked.

"They're fine, Damian is with Bruce and Will just ran upstairs upset his father just jumped out of a car with him. I'm calling you before calling City Hall hoping you don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me."

"What don't you want me to tell you, and I won't tell you."

"Felicity!"

"We got a lead on Anatoly and the hostages and Oliver is on his way." Felicity blurted out.

Katie sat on the couch, her eyes on the blank television screen. Her hands slid over her stomach, trying to ignore the sudden pain once again.

"Katie?"

"He doesn't get it." Katie suddenly said. "He just doesn't—" Katie sighed. "I should let you go."

"Hey, are you ok?" Felicity asked. "I know a lot is going on, but we're going to figure it out."

"I'll talk to you later Felicity."

Katie hung up the phone before dropping it to the table. She grabbed the box of cookies before turning at the sound of the door opening.

"Anyone here!" Ari called.

"In here!" Katie replied before the girl appeared in the room. Katie looked over to her and watched as she dropped her back pack. "How was your day?"

"Well I spent the day ignoring the eyes on me and the whispering. But I think everyone remembers me decking Brandon so no one said anything to me." Ari walked over to Katie and reached into the box for a cookie. "But it was whatever." she glanced around. "Oliver and Will here?"

"Oliver no, Will yeah. He was in a fight." Katie said and Ari turned to her. "Some older kids beat him up because of this whole Green Arrow thing I guess." Ari narrowed her eyes before standing to her feet. "Arianna, if I can't beat up kids, you can't either!"

Ari didn't say a word as she hurried up the steps. She stalked down the hall and pushed open Will's door and the moment she saw the ice pack to his black eye, she scoffed.

"Those little shits." she said walking over and getting a closer look at his eye. "I'm coming with you to school and I want you to point them out. I'll show them what a real bully is."

William pulled away. "I don't need you to fight my battles for me." he stalked away back over to his bed.

"At least let me show you how to fight." Ari said walking over to him. "I swear when we're done, those little fuckers won't know what hit them." Will didn't say anything and so Ari went over to take a seat beside him. "What's up? Did something else happen?"

"Oliver came to pick me and Damian up from school."

"Wait Damian was there?" Ari asked and Will nods. "Are those kids still alive?" Will just looked at her and she shook her head. "Sorry, go on."

"We were heading home and then he just left me." Will turned away. "What if he doesn't come back."

"Who, Oliver? Oliver's coming back, he wouldn't just leave." Ari said and Will turned to her. "Oh, you mean with the Green Arrow thing." Ari turned away and just shook her head. "He'd figure it out. He'd figure out way to just fix it." she turned back to the boy. "He wouldn't let them take him away from us. Whatever he's up against, he finds a way back home and if he can't Katie helps him. He has her back and she has his. They make sure they both make it home." Ari brought an arm him. "He's not going to leave us."

Anatoly had the hostages held at a restaurant. When they arrived, they were able take down most of Anatoly's men, and save the hostages, but soon realized one was missing.

That night, they met back at Oliver's office where they reviewed the surveillance video from outside of the restaurant. They watched as Anatoly pulled the fourth hostage out of the restaurant.

"Where's Anatoly going with Tarkov?" John asked looking down to the video.

"Well, from this feed, it looks like he's headed northeast, but then we lose him right about there." Felicity replied.

"We could cross-reference our list of Bratva crytpocurrency activities with Bratva-owned properties, see what comes from that direction." Curtis suggested.

"John, Dinah, be prepared to hit whatever location Felicity and Curtis come up with." Oliver said.

"Copy that." John nods.

"What about you?" Dinah asks as Oliver grabs his jacket.

"I have to meet Quentin and Rene at the FBI." Oliver replied and they all just stared back with nervous looks. "The Agent that's doing the investigation wants to interview me."

"You have a lawyer for that, right, or an army of lawyers?" Felicity asked. "I feel your wife would demand it."

"I don't want to look like I have anything to hide." Oliver sighed before glancing over to Curtis. "Where are we with the photo?"

"Oh, I'm doing a recoding of Felicity's analysis algorithm." Curtis nods. "Should have something working within an hour to 30 days, give or take." he noticed the look on Oliver's face and knew he should come up with a better answer. He cleared his throat. "Much closer to the hour mark, though."

"Thank you." Oliver replies. "Keep me updated." he stops when his phone vibrates. He brings the phone to his ear as he heads out of the office. "Ari, is everything alright?"

"That's a loaded question." Ari replied. "Where are you?"

"City Hall, what's up?"

"It's just—it's late and there's this whole 'the world's going to take you a way' vibe around here and I'm thinking it would just be better if you were here." Ari sighed. "I mean I'm good and all, but I think everyone else would feel better if you were here right now."

"I'm on my way home." Oliver replied stepping into the elevator. "Ari?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you really alright with everything that's happening."

"Another loaded question. You're just full of them tonight, huh?" she once again sighed. "I'll see you when you get here."

Oliver was slightly pleased with himself when he returned home and noticed that he was arriving an hour shy of midnight. Though he wanted to do better. He actually did want to be here when his kids went to bed or stay up all night watching bad television with his wife.

When he stepped inside, it was quiet and he just let out a sigh as he came up the steps. He went to check on William first, hoping to keep the promise of finishing their conversation. He peeked inside of Will's room, noticing the boy hitting his back pack, a gift from Barry. He found that living in Central City, William had become a fan of the Flash, so Barry sent over a bunch of Flash merch.

"Hey William," Oliver pushed open the door and walked inside. "That was a gift from a very good friend of mine."

William just tossed the backpack to the floor, "It's all fake. Superheroes don't save anyone."

"Buddy, I know that I ran out on you, but people needed help and I know that you needed help too, so here I am." William just shook his head. "If you want to learn a few more moves-"

"No," William turned to him. "Like I told Ari, I don't want to learn how to fight."

"I don't want you to learn how to fight, but you can't reason with bullies-"

"You just left me, by myself." William looked over to Oliver and his father finally understood why he was so upset.

Oliver sighed, "I know and I'm sorry."

"I didn't know if you were gonna come back." William dropped to sit on the bed and Oliver just felt even more guilty.

"William, look at me." he said and the boy looked up to meet Oliver's eyes. "I will always come back."

"Just like my mom," William scoffed as he turned away.

"That's different."

"Yeah, it's worse, because there's a millions psychos always trying to kill you."

This conversation felt familiar. It's usually Katie on the other end of them. For some reason, hearing the fear from his son felt different.

"I—I can handle it."

"And what if you can't?" William said holding Oliver's gaze. "Then what happens with me, Ari, Robyn and Katie? You're supposed to be there for us."

"I understand."

"You don't understand." William scoffed turning away.

"I do understand." Oliver walked over to crouch down in front of William. "I lost my mom and I lost my dad and I was a lot older than you are now, but I remember how it feels." William turned away. "It's scary and it's sad and it's lonely and I swear to God, I won't ever do that to any of you."

William turned to Oliver, "It's not up to you." the boy stood to his feet and walked over to turn on his video game, a sign he no longer wanted to have this conversation.

Oliver stood to his feet, debating on making him have this conversation. He didn't want to leave this room if William had any doubts in his words. He also didn't want to push, so he'd take a step back and let him cool off. He'd try again tomorrow. He turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind him before turning to see Ari dressed in her pajamas, standing in her doorway.

"Most of those hostages were saved tonight," she said, her arms folded over her chest. "One is still missing."

"Ari, we're not doing this." Oliver walked over to her.

"I pulled the security footage from the building across the street and saw some guy forcing the Markovian guy out by gun point." Ari continued and Oliver just sighed. "I ran a facial recon, and the gunman is Anatoly Knyazev, Russian, tied to a lot a crime."

"Ari, stop."

"His name is tied to some crimial organization called Bratva." she said and she noticed the squaring over his shoulders. "Which you knew, because he's your Russian friend who helped stop the crazy general with a bomb a couple of months ago, right?" Oliver didn't say anything as he looked at her. "Are you Bratva?"

Oliver dropped his eyes for a moment, and just let out a heavy sigh before looking back up to meet her eyes.

"No, I am not Bratva." there was a brief pause. "But I used to be. A long time ago, I was a different person and I made some bad choices, but realized it and I got out." He walked over to stand in front of the girl. "The team and I are handling Anatoly, you do not get involved." he placed a kiss to her forehead. "Get to bed, it's late." he turned to walk away.

"I want to come back to the team." Ari said and the words stopped Oliver's steps. He slid a hand over his face before turning back to her. "And I know you're the one not ready for me to come back because of your weird dad brain, but you need to get over it because I want to come back."

"Ari-"

"Two hours and-" she looked over to a clock on the wall. "And ten minutes." she said turning back to meet his eyes and he just looked back to her in confusion. "Two hours and ten minutes. In all the hours of today, I've seen you for two hours and ten—no, eleven minutes now. I'm pretty sure, the people at City Hall, or the team have seen more of you today than me. So I want to come back to City Hall and I want to join the team, because right now you need all the people you can get to watch your back. You need to get over your crap, because it's happening." she took a step back and closed the door.

Oliver stood in the hall, yet another guilt ridden conversation with one of his children to add to his night. It only verified his attempts to assure them that everything was fine, did not work. He sighed, about to head to the bedroom where he figured he'd find his wife, with yet another talk. He only took a step before he stopped and turned and headed for the office. He pushed open the door, to find Katie sitting behind the desk, her eyes out the window.

"You're here before midnight." she says not even turning to him. "I'm surprised."

"Felicity caught a lead on where Anatoly was holding the hostages and I had to-"

"Leave your son to go dress up like the guy you could get arrested for being, I totally get it." she replied sarcastically, not even sparing him a glance.

"Twinkie, I'm sorry."

"I know you're sorry. You're always sorry." she let out a slight chuckle. "But it's exhausting. It really is." she sighed before standing to her feet, deciding to just go to bed. Oliver moved to stand in front of her, and she didn't even lift her eyes to him. "Do you know I pulled all of our suitcases out of the basement, and I was going to pack all of our things so when everyone got home we would leave." Oliver brought his arms around her, and dropped his head to hers. "Because I'm not even standing here right now, I'm sitting on the couch downstairs, looking at the picture that's going to destroy our lives."

"I won't let that happen." he placed a kiss to her forehead. "I won't—I promise, I won't. I will fix this."

"How?" she pulled back to meet his eyes. "By perpetuating that it's ridiculous because I saw the reporters still lined up outside of City Hall after that press conference." she pulled from his grasp. "So while the city is chomping at the bit to find you wearing that hood, you're what-"

"I had to get to the hostages before Anatoly could move them. I needed to save them."

"You needed to save them?" she asked. "You needed-" Oliver's phone rang, and Katie wanted to just scream. Neither said anything while it rang, Oliver not making a move to answer it. She knew he wanted to. That a part of him, was still out there. Still wearing that hood, and waiting for the call that he was needed. When the ringing ended, she sighed before she stepped forward and placed her hands on his chest. He brought his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. She placed a hand on his cheek, when his phone once again started ringing. "You have to answer it."

"I won't." he assured her leaning into her. "I won't answer it. I can just be here, with you and our kids." the ringing continued and Katie reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone.

"Then turn it off." she said holding it up.

Oliver looked down to the phone, seeing the unknown caller on the screen. He looked up to meet her eyes before taking the phone and taking a step back. The ringing once again stopped and his finger slid up to the power button, just as the ringing once again started.

"You have to answer it." Katie said once again, before moving around him out of the room.

Oliver clenched his jaw, before turning and lifting the phone, answering the call to reveal Anatoly's face.

Anatoly was once again trying to extort money from Oliver. The ploy now, he'd injected Tarkov with some sort of poison and said he had three hours to deliver him twenty million dollars, or the man would die. After the call, he texted Felicity, explaining the call before heading off to the bedroom. The light was on in the bathroom, so he walked over to the door, hesitating for a moment before heading inside where he found Katie, lying in the tub, her eyes closed, and head back against a towel.

"Let me guess, you have to go." she said, not even opening her eyes.

"That was Anatoly who called. He still has Alec Tarkov and has injected him with a poison that will kill him in three hours, if I don't give him twenty million dollars."

Katie didn't say anything for a moment before she opened her eyes and looked over to him.

"How do you know?" she asked and Oliver looked at her in confusion. "How do you know that he's telling the truth and he injected Tarkov with the poison." Oliver looked down to his phone where he'd recorded the video call, before he walked over and knelt down beside Katie to show her the video. She watched as Anatoly panned the camera to Tarkov, revealing a very harsh looking rash that covered his entire face." she reached over and took the phone to get a closer look. "I've seen rashes like this before." she glanced over to Oliver. "It's a rash caused by Tetrodotoxin. A neurotoxin, it works it's way through the nervous system, before it causes a sort of paralysis."

"Is there a cure?"

"Yeah, they should have it at SG. You should call Ethan." she handed him the phone and he smiled before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her lips.

"Thank you." he replied pulling back before standing to his feet and heading for the door, only to stop. He turned back to her.

"You have to go." she said again looking over to him. "Stop by Robyn before you go, kiss her goodnight." she closed her eyes and once again dropped her head back against the towel.

Oliver couldn't help but feel that he was once again losing her. He could see it. She was losing faith in him and she was no longer fighting back and he didn't know how to fix that.

Author's Note

Hope you liked it!

ReviewReplies

hunter41963801: Thank you! Yes, that stupid picture is more trouble than it's worth. I can wait until we get to Earth X, it's going to be a doozy.

Adela: You're absolutely right. After losing her father, Katie will fight tooth and bone to protect her family. Thank you for the review and I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As always, I'm grateful and appreciative for everyone who is sticking this out with me! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Sneak Peek

"The picture-"

"It's fake, I know." Katie replied and Oliver's brow furrowed. "Martin stopped by with the news." she could see in his eyes that he had more questions so she continued. "I'll tell you about that later, but what I was saying, right now we will figure out the problems we can fix." Katie slid her hand into Oliver's, threading her fingers into his and looking up to meet his eyes. "There is one that I've kept to myself that I think we should talk about."

Oliver sat up a bit, suddenly nervous. "What's wrong?"