Chapter 10
Fight Back
"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."
-Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Bruce was pretty sure he was going to murder Harley Quinn before he could use her to get to Joker. The stun gun didn't knock her out long and he's not sure why he expected it to. She came to, and jumped out of the backseat of his moving car. He tried to track her, but it was dark and she was quick and now he was once again back to where he started.
He stood in his basement hideout, his eyes on the facial scan currently connected to the satalite over the Star City. He was just waiting for it to find the woman.
"Hey, you're out of milk." came Richard's voice as he stepped down the stairs. Bruce glanced over to see the man eating a bowl of cereal. "Still nothing?"
"What part of go back to Gotham did you not understand?" Bruce moved around the man and headed back upstairs.
"What is your problem?" Richard followed behind him. "Yeah, this is bad, but from what I can tell Harley has turned over a crazy new leaf since her and Joker broke up. I don't think this is going to be as bad as you're making it out to be."
"Right, yeah, well if Harley gets to Robins, all hell is going to break loose."
"So are you going to tell me what that is even about? How does Harley know Katie?"
"They have a past. A past I'm positive Robins does not want to revisit." Bruce sighed as he stopped and turned to Richard. "I have to talk to Felicity, let her and the team know Harley is loose on the streets of Star City."
"If you'd stop being a pain and just let me call the Titans, they can get here and find her."
"And then who will look after Gotham?" Bruce turned to the man. "Joker is still there and if he makes a move, we need a line of defense there." he glanced down to his watch. "I'll go." he looked back over to Richard. "You can go back to Gotham."
"How many more times are you going to say that before you realize it's not going to happen." Richard took a bite of cereal. "I'm here, and I will help find little miss bag of crazy. I'll come with you. Might as well let blonde's team know that Nightwing may make an appearance in their city."
Bruce looked at him for a moment and just shook his head, realizing he really wasn't going to get rid of the man.
"Fine, but if you call Felicity blonde, I will kick your ass." he placed a hand over his heart. "With love, I will beat you to within an inch of your life." Bruce turned to walk for the door.
"Hey," Richard said and Bruce glanced back to him. "Seriously, is Felicity alright?"
"She's fine." Bruce replied turning away. "Right now is just not the best time for this." he turned back to the man. "Let's go."
It honestly felt like an inquisition to Katie. She walked into a large boardroom, the council members aligned around the table as Katie took a seat at the head of the table, her hands folded in front of her. They'd been at it for nearly an hour. Asking questions she knows she answered in the previous meeting with them. But she answered them again, clearly and confidently.
"Mrs. Queen, I hope you can understand where our concern is stemming from." Councilwoman Pollard sat at the other end of the table, her eyes on Katie. "Since this project has been announced, we're realizing everyday just how massive it is. And with a project this size, the risk is even greater."
"I completely understand." Katie replied as she let her eyes move across their faces. "Me and my team have been working diligently, to ensure this project succeeds."
"And we believe you." Pollard said. "We've all seen the great work you and your team have put into this. Even you, procuring the funds needed to ensure all programs outlined in your original plan wouldn't need to be cut." Pollard glanced around the table before turning to Katie. "And everyone around this table knows that getting the ball in the air, as you and your team have done, is not easy, but we also know keeping it there can be even tougher." she rose a hand to an assistant at the door who stood to his feet and pushed open the door.
Katie glanced from Pollard to the door as a woman walked inside. The woman was young, tall, brunette, dressed in a black skirt, and a blouse so crisp and white. She smiled as she stepped further into the room, her eyes looking from the council and then landing on Katie.
"Mrs. Queen, I'd like to introduce you to Victoria Du Pont. Her resume is quite impressive. She has headed up some very major projects both globally and locally."
"Mrs. Queen, it is my absolute pleasure to meet you." Victoria walked over to stand in front of Katie.
Katie glanced over to her, before looking over to the council members.
"Was this meeting really just to clear up your concerns, or am I being fired?" She decided to come out and ask.
"Absolutely not." Pollard replied and Katie turned to the woman. "Everyone here knows you're the brains behind this entire project, and we're lucky you brought it to the City to bring to fruition." the woman shrugs. "But the real work lies ahead for this project, and after some discussion, we feel that Ms. Du Pont would serve as a stronger project lead. With her experience in leading such projects, and with you working under her, we feel that this is the best plan for a greater chance of success. You understand, don't you?"
Katie looked at Pollard for a moment, not saying a word. She glanced down to her hands, realizing she was still gripping her phone. She imagined if Oliver were here, he'd burst through the doors and stop all of this from happening. But he wasn't here to save her.
"I don't." Katie said lifting her eyes to the men and women around the table. "I know you all have some kind of perception about me. And once upon a time, I would've agreed with you, but not this time." Katie stood to her feet. "I poured everything I had into this project, because of how strongly I believed in it. You're right, I don't have all the experience Ms. Du Pont has." she looked over to the woman with a smile. "But I have something else." she turned back to the eyes around the table. "I have a great love and admiration for this city and the people in it. You were afraid of it failing, when for me, failing was never an option. It was going to happen, just as I outlined in my plan, and I hoped that you would all see that from the tremendous work my team has been doing." Katie sighed. "But you don't, and that's fine. Your desire to see this project succeed is all I ever wanted and if you do not see that happening with me, then that's fine as well. I just need you all to do your very best to make sure this happens because a lot of people in this city are now depending on you." Katie turned to Victoria. "Failure is not an option." she turned back to the council members. "If it is at all possible, I would like my team to continue their efforts on this project. They've all worked extremely hard and they all deserve to see this to the end."
Katie turned to leave.
"Mrs. Queen," Pollard stood to her feet and walked over to her. "We really would like you to be apart of this project. I'm sure your team would appreciate it as well."
"Let's be honest, you would like my name associated with this project because of good press you get every time there's an article that mentions 'The Hero of Glades'." Katie shook her head. "I'm not interested in being exploited or having to smile and wave to a camera while having no say in anything that happens." she looked over to the members. "I wish you all the best." she turned back to Pollard. "Now if you will excuse me, it is time for me to go pick up my kids."
With that, Katie turned and left the room, stopping at the sight of Adam who had been waiting in the hall. He looked at her for a moment and could just tell from the look in her eyes.
"We need to call the Mayor." Adam says and Katie just shook her head before turning and heading for the elevator. "They can't just fire you."
"They didn't fire me. The demoted me to the equivalent of a mascot." Katie replied looking over to him. "They brought in a new project director, and wanted me to report to her." she pressed the button for the elevator. "I refused."
"You refused?" Adam looked over to the woman. "Look, I get it's not the job you signed up for, but you've put in a lot of work, you can't just step out now."
"That's just it, I can." Katie replied once the doors opened and she stepped inside. "This was never about me or my lack of experience. This was a power play for Pollard toward my husband and I will not be a chess piece in it."
"And what happens to us? To the team?"
"I asked that you all be allowed to stay on."
"And you think think Claire, Tamera and Rene are going to want to stick around if you're not a part of it."
"They weren't here for me. They were here because they believed in the project."
"Of course we're here because of you!" Adam snapped stepping into the elevator. "Do you know how many people wanted to be a part of this project not even knowing what it was. All they knew was that you were going to lead it. And everyone knows when your name is on something, it goes down in history." He inched closer to her. "You have no idea how impressive you are, and how important you are to this project and to this team and—and to me. You just can't leave. You can't."
"Adam, you need to calm down." Katie backed away from the man. "The project is still happening and you and the team are still a part of it. Just leave it at that." the doors opened, and Katie made to leave, only for Adam to reach forward to grab her arm. She quickly dodged his grasp, before grabbing his arm, twisting it and pinning it behind his back. "I am going to pretend like this moment never happened, for your sake." she pushed him forward before stepping off of the elevator, stopping at the sight of the only person around, who just happened to be Ari.
"What happened?" Ari asked glancing from Katie to Adam who held his now sore arm. "What did he just do?"
"It's nothing." Katie turned toward the elevator, ensuring the door closed before turning back to Ari. "I'll see you at home."
Ari was utterly confused. She had another hour before she could go home and figure out what happened. When that hour was done, she grabbed her things and hurried to the elevator where two other interns were waiting.
"You're kidding," Brittany looked over to her friend Ava with wide eyes.
"Hand on bible, that's what I heard. They said it happened earlier today. Mrs. Queen was fired."
"What?" Ari turned to the girls who realized she was there. "What do you mean fired?"
"I don't know what happened. I was cleaning up a boardroom and a couple of council remembers were still inside talking about some meeting with Mrs. Queen and how they weren't sure it was a good idea to unseat her as the program director for second chance. They were talking about blow back in the press because of it."
Ari turned away before turning and heading for the stairs instead. She rushed to her car in the parking structure, not expecting to find Adam standing there. When he saw her, he took a step toward her, but she lifted a hand.
"What are you doing by my car?"
"I need you to tell her that I'm sorry." Adam said, taking another step, but Ari backed away. "Just tell Katherine that I got overly excited and I wasn't thinking."
Ari looked at him for a moment, realizing what he was asking her to do.
"And you want me to tell her this because you know who she is to me, right?" Ari asked and the man looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Did you know this whole time?" He scoffed.
"No, if I knew you were the mayor's sixteen year old kid, I definitely wouldn't have invited you to my place." he said before gesturing to her. "It's also kind of odd how it never came up in conversation, but whatever. Can you just tell her I'm sorry. I would never try to hurt her or anything. I was just upset." Ari turned away, before moving around him to get to her car. He moved to block her. "Will you tell her?"
"I need you to move out of my way." Ari said watching the man carefully.
"What, you're mad at me now?!" he snapped angrily. "You're the one who's been flirting with me, knowing you were underage and that if anything ever happened, I would be the one to get in trouble. I'm just asking you to do one fucking thing, and I'll leave you the hell alone!" he stood there waiting for her to say something, and when she didn't he took an intimidating step forward closing the space between them and forcefully grabbing her arms. "Now tell her, and make sure she believes it."
"I'm so going to get grounded for this." Ari said up to the man who looked at her in confusion. She dropped her bag on the ground. "You should know I don't like bullies."
Dinner that night was quiet. Katie decided to pick up burgers and fries and they all silently ate. Ari rolled her sore shoulder before looking over to Katie who barely touched her food.
"We should call Oliver." she suddenly said and Katie looked over to her. "Everything is going to crap, and he needs to come home and fix it."
"Oliver should be home once he's finished helping his friend. We're not calling him to come home to fix anything because nothing is broken."
"They fired you without cause, that's definitely something he could sort out." Ari scoffed. "I can't believe you're just going to sit back and let them do this to you."
"Ari, I was given a job to do, and the people who were in charge had concerns about my ability to complete that job, so they found someone else to do it. Do I like that it happened, no, because I really did enjoy the work and I believed in the work and I did my very best, but it just didn't work out."
"Seriously? It just didn't work out? Is that how you're justifying not fighting this?" Ari stood to her feet. "You know when you and Oliver decided to step away from the mask, out of the fight, I understood why. But this, this isn't masks and villains. These are men and women in suits using the one day the mayor isn't in the office to push you from a job you were great at and you're not going to fight it." Ari shook her head.
"I can't." Katie replied standing to her feet. She glanced over to Will and Robyn and sighed. "I'm sorry, I-" she shook her head before looking over to Ari. "I could step into a ring and fight this, but then I'd be stepping in to a fight against the city's leaders, one of whom is my husband and I won't do that to him."
"Oliver wouldn't agree with this, he would fight with you and for you." Ari said.
"Believe me when I say this Ari, I know he would, I'm just not going to ask him to and now I'm done having this conversation. You can either sit and finish your food or you can go up to your room."
Ari huffed with a roll of her eyes before storming out of the kitchen upstairs to her room.
Katie sighed before dropping back down to her seat. She slid her hands over her face.
"You were good at it." Will said and Katie looked over to him. "I saw on the news, they were saying how they just knew you were going to do a great job. Even teachers at my school were telling me how proud I should be of my step mom and of the work that she was doing that was going to help so many people."
"Will," Katie sighed. "The project is still happening. People are still going to get the help they need."
"Yeah, but it won't be the same. They said that the people in this city know that when you do something, they never doubt that you put their interests first. People were excited about this project because they knew that it was going to be what you said it was going to be." Will stood to his feet. "So fight it. Because honestly, I've seen you fight too, so I don't think anyone from the City would want to get into a ring with you, including my dad." he chuckled. "You don't need him to fix this. We stand up to bullies in this family, right?"
Katie looked over to the boy and a smile pulled at her lips. She was proud of both Ari and Will and in the people they were growing up to be.
"We do." Katie stood to her feet and walked over to him and placed a kiss to the top of his head. She turned her head. "You can come out now." they turned to see Ari step out from hiding after listening to the entire exchange.
"So, you're fighting this?" Ari asked and Katie looked over to her and smiled.
"I think I am." she said looking between Will and Ari. "You two want to help?"
"Me!" Robyn yelled and Katie turned and laughed over to the girl before walking over to pick her up.
"I'm sorry sweetie, of course you're going to help too." she placed a kiss to Robyn's cheek before turning back to Will and Ari. "I guess we're doing this."
The next morning, Rene stepped off of the elevator coming to a stop at the sight of Claire and Tamera. He noticed they were practically bouncing.
"You two have the worst poker faces." he said as he moved passed them. "You're supposed to be cool."
"Yeah, well those suits fired my friend, and now we're about to blow shit up, and I'm giddy." Claire said as they walked with him.
The two woman stopped when Rene turned to block them.
"Let me remind you two that the doc's instructions were clear." he turned to Claire. "Blowing shit up is the final move. Right now we just need to shake the ground a little bit." he glanced over to Tamera who nods. "Where the hell is Becker?" he looked around the hall.
"Boss said not to involve him." Claire said and Rene turned to her. "She didn't say why, but I figure once this is all over we'll get the details." she nudges her head to the door on their left. "Shall well?" They nod before Claire turns leading the way inside of Katie's office to find Victoria sitting at Katie's desk, Councilwoman Pollard beside her. "I wouldn't get too comfortable, if I were you."
"I beg your pardon." Councilwoman Pollard walked around the desk to stand in front of them. "I know you all have strong emotions about Mrs. Queen departure, but you all can rest assured that project second chance is in good hands with Ms. Du Pont."
"Except it won't." Rene said stepping forward. "Councilwoman Pollard, you didn't exactly do your homework." Rene opened a folder and handed the papers to the woman. "That is the contract signed by Katherine Queen, naming her the creative owner of the project brought in by the Mayor."
"That's not really a show stopper." Victoria spoke, as she stood to her feet to stand beside Pollard. "We can reimagine the idea, create something new."
"You could do that." Tamera said. "But not with the external investors Mrs. Queen procured."
"The city can fund this project without external investors." Pollard handed the contract back to Rene. "And if this is indeed a new project, then I believe I can officially have the three of you removed."
"You could do that as well. Kick us off the project, create your own little off-brand substitute." Claire said. "But in about ten minutes Mrs. Queen is going hold a press conference to announce the separation of this project from the City, due to it's lack of support in its leadership. She's going to assure them, that it won't change anything, and that she has the investors and enough support to proceed with project on her own."
"She wouldn't dare. The political blow back of such an act, against the sitting mayor, her husband of all people. She'd destroy his political career with that press conference."
"Well she plans on making it crystal clear that Mayor Queen had zero involvement in this seeing as he's not even in the city. I think the people in this city might have some strong feelings about city council making such bold decisions when it's mayor is not in the office." Claire said with a smile. "It's probably eight minutes now." she looked over to Tamera who looked at her watch.
"Yep, eight." Tamera said before looking back up to Pollard. "Right now you have a choice to make Councilwoman. Mrs. Queen is willing to team back up with the City to continue the work she has been doing magnificently well, or she will accept this break and make sure the people in this city know every detail and everyone involved."
"And I don't think the bad press would help get your referendum passed, would it?" Claire asked.
"Fine, this is all on her head now. Anything goes wrong, we will not hesitate to make sure the city knows who was in the driver's seat." Pollard stood looking between the three, fuming. She huffed before stalking out of the office. Victoria stood there for a moment, before following after her.
Once they were gone, Rene turned to Claire and Tamera with a smile.
"Am I wrong for hoping she called our bluff?" Claire asked and both Rene and Tamera laughed. "Oliver is my friend, but I was ready for war."
"Yeah, yeah," Rene said before pulling out his phone and dialing Katie's number.
"What the verdict, Rami?" Katie asked.
"I think one would call this a victory, Mrs. Queen. Project Second Chance will continue its planning with the support of the City under the leadership on one Katherine Queen." Tamera replied.
"It worked?" they heard who they thought was Ari before they heard celebratory cheers from the other end of the line.
Katie shushed Ari and Will as they all sat in the living room. She walked over to stand by the window. "Well then I guess I will see you three Monday. And guys, really I appreciate this, thank you."
"It was our pleasure, boss." Claire replied.
Katie just shook her head. "I'm not your boss. You three have a good weekend." Katie ended the call and turned to Will and Ari. "That actually worked."
"I told you it would." Ari sang as she walked over to Katie. "Now can we call Oliver, he needs to know how awesome you are."
"Trust me, he knows. Plus tomorrow is your birthday and he promised he would be here and I fully expect that he will be." Katie smiled as she walked over to pick up Robyn. "And I think our victory calls for ice cream, what do you guys say?" before they could answer, they heard the sound of the doorbell. "Wonder who that is?" she placed a kiss to Robyn's cheek before placing her back inside her play pen.
Katie pulled open the door, not expecting to see two SCPD officers. Her stomach dropped not sure what was happening, but she kept her features cool and calm.
"Good evening officers, is everything alright?"
"Does an Arianna Locke live here?" the male officer asked and Katie turned to him with a quirked brow.
"And may I ask what this is about?" Katie asked instead.
"Ms. Locke was involved in an altercation that occurred last night. She's being accused of assaulting an Adam Becker. Is she here, we would like to take her down for questioning." the officer attempted to side step Katie, but she was quicker.
"Hey, no, this is not happening." Katie said. "Adam Becker?" she shook her head. "What do you mean assault? I saw him yesterday, and he attempted to grab me, so if she did anything, I have to believe it was warranted."
"And did you report the attack?" the female officer asked and Katie turned to her.
"No, it was stupid and I didn't want mess up his life. He's young and I assumed it was just a mistake."
"Either way Mrs. Queen, Mr. Becker is in the hospital and he named Ms. Locke as his attacker and until we determine the truth, she is going to come with us. I'm afraid that if you get in our way, we will have to take you in as well for interfering." they once again moved to come inside, and Katie moved to block them.
"Katie, don't!" Ari said finally coming into view of the officers. "I'm here, I'm right here."
Katie looked on with wide eyes as the officer placed the cuffs on Ari.
"You're going to regret this!" Katie stalked out after them. "I promise you, you're going to regret this! Ari, do not say anything to anyone, I'm going to fix this!"
Once they placed Ari into the back of the police car, Katie's fist clenched at her side, the heat of her anger moving underneath her skin. Suddenly a hand is in hers and she turns to the frightened eyes of Will.
"Don't worry, I'm getting her out of this." Katie turned, pulling him back into the house before calling Felicity. "Hey, Smoaks, it's me, I really need your help." she turned to Will and gestured for him to go get Robyn's things. Once he was gone she turned around to face the window. "It's Ari. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to kill someone if she's not standing in front of me in the next hour."
Ari was scared. She was brought to the police station, and processed before being placed in a cell. She was a bit relieved that she seemed to be in an empty holding area. But to sit in a room behind bars was freaking her out. She couldn't stop thinking about how her life was over, how she'd never go to Yale because Yale doesn't accept felons.
She sat on the corner of the hard cot, her eyes closed just rocking back and forth until she heard the loud buzz of the door opening. She opened her eyes and stood to her feet hoping it was Katie, but her hopes were lost at the sight of familiar face of FBI Agent Samanda Watson.
"What are you doing here?" Ari asked.
"Well I got wind of the mayor's kid being in lock up and I had to see it for myself." Watson glanced around before turning back to Ari. "You have gotten yourself into a sticky situation. Assault." she whistle. "Doctors are saying that Mr. Becker has a couple of broken ribs, and a possible concussion. And he said Mayor Oliver Queen's sixteen year old was the one who worked him over." Samanda grabbed a chair and dragged it over to sit down. "Look I don't know a lot of teenage girls that could do something like that, so level with me. Is what you did to Adam Becker something Oliver taught you?"Ari didn't say anything as she looked over to the woman. "Hey, I know you don't want to talk to me, but I'm your only friend here. You give me something and I can put in a word to have all these charges dropped. Doesn't that sound good? Not having to spend a night in this place. Sleeping in your own room, in your own bed. I can make it happen Arianna. You're a good kid, I know you're a good kid. Just tell me about Oliver and the things that I don't know."
They heard the buzzing sound of the holding room door opening and in walking Dinah.
"I said no interruptions!" Watson snapped angrily as she stood to her feet.
"Yeah, well we've gotten the surveillance footage from the parking garage the night of the attack." Dinah turned the tablet in her hand to Samanda. "The video shows Adam Becker grabbing her first, before she defended herself." Dinah turned to Ari. "C'mon, Katie's here, you're going home." Dinah opened the cell and Ari quickly ran out. "I'm not sure how they do it over in the bureau Ms. Watson, but here we wait for the evidence before making an arrest. Also, this isn't a federal investigation, so I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be questioning anyone involved in this case."
Dinah walked away from the woman, bringing her arm around Ari and escorting her out of the holding cell.
The next day was Ari's birthday, and the girl couldn't help but feel a bit more grateful for being able to wake up in her own bed. She came down the steps, to find Katie, Will and Robyn in the kitchen all wearing party hats. The moment she walked in they blew party noisemakers that made her roll her eyes. She turned and pointed a finger.
"There will be no singing." she said. "You're all terrible singers." she walked over and tickled Robyn's cheek making the girl laugh. "Except you stinker." she turned to the table to see a plate of pancakes covered with whipped cream and sprinkles.
"You're always such a sour puss." Katie brought an arm around her a placed a kiss to her head. "So you will be the first to get birthday pancakes because I'm not messing with Liver's waffle maker."
"Any word on when he will be here?" Ari asked.
"No, but he will be here Ari. Now eat. I know we only have you for a little while before you go off and hang out with your friends."
"Actually, I'm not hanging out with Jamie today." Ari said turning to the confused look on Katie's face. "I kind of only told you that so you wouldn't plan me some over the top birthday party."
"Ok, then what exactly are you doing?" Katie asked and Ari smiled.
"Well first I'm going to devour these pancakes, and then maybe after we all could drive out to Green Acres? It's not that far and it's been forever since I've went horseback riding. What do you say?"
"I say...it's your birthday, and we'll do whatever you want." Katie smiled before turning to Robyn. "You hear that little bird, you're going to ride a pony."
That night they were tuckered out. After a day of horseback riding, they went out for ice cream before returning home to finish the night off with Chinese food and a movie and birthday cake. Since it was her birthday, Ari chose the movie, and to Will's disappointment she chose the live action version of Beauty and the Beast. They watched the boy who complained at the start, but soon got sucked into the movie.
"He's not going to be here." Ari whispered from her spot next to Katie.
"Ari, he's-" she stopped when they heard the sound of the front door opening.
They all turned to see Oliver walk inside a smile on his face as he looked around to them.
"I'm late, I know I'm late." Oliver said walking over to Ari and bringing his arms around her in a hug that she didn't return. He pulled back to see the look of annoyance on her face. "No excuse, I'm sorry, Happy Birthday Ari." the girl stubbornly nods before turning back to watch the movie.
Oliver sighed before taking the seat on the end of the couch beside her.
"Did you like your gift? We kind of had help from Felicity and Curtis on the type of laptop to get. Apparently it's like top of line. You could hack the White House if you wanted." still nothing and Oliver sighed before looking over to Katie who just shook her head. "So what did I miss while I was gone?"
"Katie got fired and Ari went to jail but there's cake." Will said and everyone in the room turned to him. He noticed the looks. "Was that supposed to be a secret?"
"I mean if it was, it wouldn't be one now blabber mouth." Ari said before turning to Oliver. "And I was only in jail for like barely an hour and it wasn't even my fault and I'm not saying anything else because I'm still not talking to you." she turned back to watch the movie, only for Oliver to grab the remote and turn it off.
"Someone should start talking to me." Oliver stood to his feet to stand in front of the television. He had so many questions, and someone was going to answer him. He turned to Katie. "So Ari went to jail?"
"She did, but there's a bigger story behind it that we should talk about alone because you're going to become either more or less homicidal than I was. But it's fine, she's been cleared and even got apologies from the arresting officers." Katie said and Oliver looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. "And yes I was sort of fired, but then some stuff happened and I was rehired, so everything is all good there."
"I feel like I need details." Oliver said before taking a seat on the edge of the coffee table. He looked between the eyes of Ari, Will and Katie, but he didn't see Robyn. "And Robyn is..."
"Upstairs sleep. Pony riding tired her out." Ari said.
"Wait, there was pony riding in the middle of all of this?" Oliver asked and they all just nod. "Why do I feel like your seventy two hours was more exciting than my seventy two hours."
"Well the seventy two hours isn't up yet." Ari said looking over to Oliver. "And yes, I'm talking to you again, only because there's something I wanted to ask the both of you." she stood to her feet and walked over to the hall to her backpack.
Oliver turned to Katie who met his eyes and just shrugged before turning back as Ari came back into the room with a large envelope in her hand.
"So the reason I really wanted everyone here for my birthday-" she turned to Oliver. "Preferably before it was over is because I kind have a big question to ask." she looked over to Oliver and nudged her head for him to sit next to Katie, which he did.
"Hey, Ari, is everything alright?" Katie asked and Ari turned to her with a nervous smile.
"I don't know yet. Ask me when this is all over." Ari let out a deep breath. "So for the last couple of weeks I have given a lot of thought into my future."
"Oh god, is that a college acceptance letter?" Oliver asked and Ari turned to him with a shake of her head.
"What, no, I'm still a junior." she replied and waved her hand toward him. "Now stop interrupting, I'm nervous as is." She took another deep breath and took a seat on the end of the coffee table. She flipped open the envelope and pulled out the sheets of paper. "So with help from Mr. and Mrs. Diggle, I was able to get this." she handed the papers to Oliver and Katie. Katie took the papers, her and Oliver's eyes dropping down to read them. "I was hoping you guys would've brought it up again, but you didn't so I figured I would take the first step."
"Ari, these are adoption papers." Oliver said looking over to the girl who smiled.
"Yeah, they are sherlock. This is me asking if you two would still want to adopt me." she dropped her eyes nervously. "But like, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's just for the last two years, you two have been my parents, and I know these papers won't change that, but I think I want to make it official." she lifted her eyes to them. "But no pressure or anything. You don't have to." she turned to Katie who now had glassy eyes. "Oh don't make it weird and start crying, this isn't a big deal."
Will was the one who stood to his feet and walked behind the couch to hold out a pen between Oliver and Katie. They both reached, but Katie grabbed it first before chuckling at the look on Oliver's face.
She turned back to Ari and smiled.
"Ari these papers don't change how we feel about you. With or without them, to us, you're our kid. Our daughter."
Katie smiled before looking down to the papers and signing her name. She handed them over to Oliver who took the adoption papers and the pen and let out a deep breath.
"Wait, you're not going to cry too, are you?" Ari asked and Oliver just looked over to her and shook his head.
"The last couple of hours I got to witness a friend lose his son, and I could see how heartbreaking that was for him." Oliver dropped his eyes to the papers before looking over to Ari. "And the entire time I was there, I was just counting the seconds until I got back here to all of you. I don't know what I did to be this lucky." he dropped his eyes because damn it, he thinks he is crying. He used his hand to wipe his eye and Katie dropped her head to his shoulder. When he lifted his eyes back to Ari, and noticed the girl holding back her own tears. "Two years ago, when we took you in we had no idea what we were doing. We were barely parents, and it was a rough start, but it got better." he smiled over to her. "Katie's right, these papers don't make you our daughter. You've been our daughter from the moment you came into our lives, and I don't think any of us knew it at the time."
Oliver took the pen and signed his name before looking over to Ari who tearfully smiled. He reached forward, pulling her into a hug, that Katie slid into, before reaching up and grabbing Will's arm to pull him in as well.
Oliver seriously didn't understand it. How after everything he's been through, everything he's done, he gets to have this moment.
For the night, Oliver decided not to question it and to just give into the joyous moment.
Author's Note:
I love happy Queen family moments. I wish they could last forever...and yet they won't.
Review Replies
Adela: Thank you!
Thanks everyone!
Sneak Peek
Katie turns to see Oliver before officers pull him away, down a hall where she can no longer see him. She feels the twinge in her fingertips. The heat dancing underneath her skin.
Agent Watson turns, and spots Katie a smirk coming to her face, and something snaps inside of Katie who takes a step, only for Bruce to step in front of her.
"Nothing good is going to come out of whatever you were just about to do, Robins."
Katie's chest is heaving, and she's practically shaking when she lifts her eyes to Bruce.
"I won't let them take him away from me." she whispers to him and he could see the truth in her words from the seriousness of her gaze. "I will burn this place to the ground before I let that happen."