Chapter 25
Rescue Mission: Roy Harper
"All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it."
Robert Collier
Silence.
Oliver and Katie, and their children sat in the living room before school, to finally reveal the news about Ari's adoption. They wanted to be open and honest. The moment they revealed the hold, Will nor Ari said anything.
"I already have Jean Loring looking into it to see if there's any way around this. If there's something, she will find it." Oliver said looking over to Ari.
To be honest, he and Ari's relationship was different since that night the two teams fought. He was afraid that she saw him in different light that she didn't like. He was trying to give her space to figure out how she was feeling, but for the past couple of days, she just moved around him like he wasn't there.
"Is there anything either of you want to say about this?" Katie asked looking between the two children.
Will looked over to Ari, who dropped her eyes down to her lap.
"I can still have her room when she goes to college, can't I?" Will asked and Ari turned to him and scoffed.
"That's your biggest concern, huh Wilbur?"
"Actually, yes." he replied with a smile that just made the girl lightly laugh.
Ari turned back to Oliver and Katie and just shrugged.
"I'm ok, or whatever." she said before standing to her feet. "I should get my stuff and head out to school." she glanced back to Will. "I'm taking you to school today, so grab your stuff and meet at my car."
Will nods before standing to his feet and hurrying up the steps. Ari glances over to Oliver and Katie once more.
"It's just paper, right?"
"Yeah, it is, but we know it's important to you and we want you know that we're doing everything we can to fix this." Katie said.
Ari nods, and then heads off to the kitchen. Once she was gone, Katie sighed as she stood to her feet and walked over to stand in front of the window.
Oliver looked over to her, unsure what to do. Since that night, their relationship was also strained. Just when he thought their relationship was healing and moving in the right direction, they seemed to be back where they started.
"Maybe we shouldn't go see Nick today." Katie suddenly said turning to Oliver. "I just feel like there's a lot going on, and-"
"I think we should go." Oliver stood to his feet, and walked over to her. "I think we need to go."
Katie just turned away to look out he window, a tactic he knew she used to escape the conversation.
"You've stopped talking to me." he said and she closed her eyes and sighed.
"There's nothing to say."
"I don't believe that." Oliver replied taking a step closer. "Somewhere along this whole road to reconciliation, you just...gave up."
Katie eyes snapped open and she turned to him.
"I gave up?" she scoffed. "Really? I gave up. That's—that's an interesting perspective."
"Then what's yours?" he asked, but she didn't say anything and he just shook his head. "And this is why we need to see Nick."
Katie went to the session, even though she really didn't want to. They sat in the office, both on the couch, and Katie made sure there was as much space between she and Oliver as possible. She folded her arms over her chest, and crossed her legs, deciding to focus her attention on the bookshelf as Oliver explained the state of their relationship in the last couple of days since their last session to Nick.
When he was done, Nick nods before turning to Katie who he can tell would like to be anywhere else but here right now.
"Alright, Katie do you agree with what Oliver said?" Nick asked, but Katie didn't say anything. He looked over to Oliver who just shook his head. "Katie, before we started these sessions, the two of you made a promise not to shut down. If you're upset about something, you're free to let it out."
"I finished the list." Katie suddenly said, turning to Nick. "There was a list of errands that needed to be taken care of, you know shopping for the house and for the kids. I usually handle them by myself, but Oliver volunteered to help." she looked over to Oliver who turned to her. "He got a few things from the store, but that was about it. He got distracted, so I finished off the list." she turned around, back to look over to the bookshelf.
"Are you upset that he didn't help as much as you wanted him to?" Nick asked.
"Nope. I kind of expected it. Oliver says he's going to do something, and then some big crisis happens that requires his attention and so it just gets shuffled down on his list of priorities. That's our life once again."
"Once again. You mean since he put the hood back on." Nick said, but Katie didn't answer. "You know, you never really expressed how you feel about that. You've made your feelings known about the lies and the secrets, but it all just comes back to the reason for it all. Oliver being the Green Arrow again. What are your feeling about that?"
"What I feel about it doesn't matter."
"Twinkie," Oliver said looking over to the woman who didn't even turn his way. "Twinkie, please, just look at me."
Katie sighed, but she turned to him.
"What you feel does matter. If this is not alright with you, if you want me to stop being the Green Arrow-"
"Don't do that. Turn this into me telling you not to do something. I don't tell you what to do Oliver. It is and has always been your choice, and it will continue to be your choice."
"Except if I think it's causing the rift in our marriage."
"The Green Arrow isn't causing the rift. Oliver Queen is." she said before turning to Nick. "I need to take a break. I'm going to go to the restroom."
She didn't wait for either of them to say anything, before she stood and hurried from the room.
"I don't know what to do." Oliver said turning to Nick. "I'm obviously making all the wrong choices and I'm at the point where I don't know what the right move is right now. It's like I said, things changed with us the night I came home after spending all night trying to find the City's money. And yes, I got too focused on that, and I didn't call her, and I didn't check in, and I know I can't let that happen again."
"I don't think that's something you can control, Oliver." Nick replied. "Look, I'm not going to pretend I know a thing about that part of your life, but what I know is that it can be dangerous, and at times will require most of your attention. Attention you won't be directing toward your family."
Oliver shook his head, because he knew it was true even though he hated it.
"And I know what you're thinking, but it doesn't make you a bad father and it doesn't make you a bad husband."
"It doesn't feel that way. It feels like of all things I'm messing up in my life, my kids and my wife, just seem to get the worst of it. I mean, they're all barely talking to me. There was this thing with Ari out in the field, that just left me feeling like I disappointed her, then there's Will who tried to call me, and I didn't even let him speak before I spouted off some excuse about being too busy and just hung up the phone. And I thought me and Katie were working through our issues, but in a single night, everything just went to shit and she can barely look at me." he sighed as he turned away. "Maybe she's right. Maybe it isn't the Green Arrow that's the problem. Maybe it is me."
"Oliver Queen has been at the center of a lot lately." Nick replied and Oliver turned to him. "You've been juggling a lot. You should cut yourself some slack. You're only one man. Your kids are not always going to like you, and your wife will be upset with you some times. That's sort of normal family things."
"This doesn't feel normal." Oliver said glancing over to the door, and wondering where Katie was. "I should probably go check on her."
"Let's give her a couple of minutes before you do that." Nick replied. "With so much happening right now, the trial, the missing city money, trying to be a present parent and and equal partner in your marriage, how are you doing right now?"
Oliver felt like that was a loaded question. He actually tried not to think about everything going on with him at one time, because he's sure if he did, he'd just go nuts.
"It's like you said. It's a lot, but I'm doing my best to handle it." Oliver said looking over to Nick who didn't say anything. He slid his hands over his face. "That's a lie." he looked back over to the man. "Nothing just seems to be going my way. It's like I fix one problem, and I think that this is it, I can move on, focus on the kids, focus on Katie and then another problem pops up. I just feel like everything has gotten so far out of hand and out of my control, and I just feel helpless to it all."
"So you need to feel that you are in control of something." Nick said and Oliver nods.
"I need to feel as if when everything finally stops, in the end, I'll still have my family."
"You think you could lose them?"
"I think for a while now, I've been testing my luck with their patience and their sacrifices and I don't know how much longer they're going to put up with me."
Oliver lifted his eyes when the door opened and in walked Katie who walked over to once again take a seat on the couch. She turned to him and sighed.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said some of the things I said before."
"Twinkie, don't apologize. If it's what you feel, then it's what feel."
"Except it's not how I feel. I don't think you're causing a rift in our marriage. I just said you did because it was better that the actual truth."
"And what's the truth?" Oliver asked.
"The truth is that, I'm used to you being gone all hours of the night, and not checking in. I know when you're out there, that you have to be there and you have to be focused on what you're doing in order for you to keep you and your team safe." she shook her head. "But as always, I worry. I don't sleep because I worry. About you, and about Ari, because history has shown me, that sometimes the people I care about might not make it home. And that is a problem that I have to look deep within myself to sort out." she shook her head before turning away. "That night I got a phone call from Martin. Alice Hayworth, AKA our old pal Annabelle has cancer and she is refusing treatment and apparently her dying wish is to see me."
"What?" Oliver asked and Katie bit her lip, and he reached over to take her hand.
"I hung up the phone and then I had a panic attack that freaked Will out."
"So the woman who murdered your father, is going to die." Nick said and Katie turned to him before looking over to Oliver.
"You know it's hard. Life has really been kicking our ass lately. We're just trying to deal with so much, work, the Green Arrow, second chance project, an impending court case and the kids. And then Annabelle, or Alice or whatever her name is just pops back up and so now my brain is on that." she shakes her head before turning back to Oliver. "We're prioritizing so much that me and you always end at the bottom of the list. And I know it's happened before, but we've always found a moment, just for us, and that just isn't happening lately."
"I've been so busy trying to fix so much at once and I'm losing myself in it." Oliver says looking down to her hand in his. "And in the process I'm becoming the father I never wanted to be." he looked up to meet her eyes. "And the husband I promised myself I'd never be. I'm going to do better to be there for you and to be there for the kids."
After leaving the Nick's office, Oliver and Katie found themselves now faced with the truth they'd been ignoring for some time now.
On the elevator ride from the office, Oliver held Katie's hand. He glanced over to her and she looked over to him.
"We can still do this, right? This whole life with work and kids and puppies. We're not totally in over our heads, right?"
"I think we've been in over our heads for quite a while, but somehow we've made it work." Oliver smiled over to her. "But to answer your question, yes, we can still do this. We're currently doing this and it's been rough, but we will get to the other side of this and everything will be back to normal."
"Our version of normal, anyway." Katie sighed as she turned back to the door.
"Ride with me to City Hall." Oliver said and a smile came to Katie's lips. "Kind of feel like we should squeeze as much us time into the day as we possibly can." he slid his arm around her and pulled her closer.
"I-"
Katie was interrupted by her buzzing phone. She pulled it from her purse and looked down to the screen and let out a sigh.
"I would love to, but Ari has forgotten her Chemistry notes for her test later today on the desk in her room and she wants to know if I'm free to bring them to her."
Katie looked up to meet his eyes with a shake of her head.
The elevator doors opened, and they both stepped off before Katie turned to Oliver.
"I guess we will just have to squeeze some us time in some other time." she replied before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his lips.
"Tonight." Oliver said pressing another kiss to her lips. "Tonight, will just be about us and nothing else."
"I will hold you to that. C'mon, walk me to my car, Mr. Mayor."
Katie had to rush back home, grab Ari's notes and head to the high school in order to get back to City Hall in time for the project meeting she and her team had with Oliver and Quentin.
When she arrived at SC Prep, she hopped out of the car, sending a text to Ari that she was there.
Soon the teen came running outside, a smile on her face when she saw the notes in Katie's hand. When she reached for them, Katie pulled them out of her grasp.
"Alright, I know, I know. My brain was just a bit all over the place this morning with the news about the adoption and I totally forgot I didn't put my notes in my back pack. Thank you, than you, for bringing them. We have a test, and I wanted to run through them before class."
Katie sighed, but handed the girl the notes, before asking another question.
"May I ask, why didn't you call Oliver to bring this?"
Ari let out a snort before looking back over to Katie and shrugged.
"I don't know. He's not really my favorite person at the moment, plus he's like the mayor, I figured he probably has more important things he has to do. And you—well you're who I call when I'm in crisis." Ari brought her arms around the woman in a hug. "Thanks again, and I'll see you at home."
Katie watched as the teen pulled away and hurried back into the school. She let her hand slide across her face, thinking about the teens words. She shook her head before turning back and getting into her car.
She'd only cranked the engine when her phone rang. She glanced over to see the name of Will's school on the caller ID and she quickly answered.
"This is Katherine Queen speaking." she answered, before hearing words she just knew she didn't just hear. "He did what?!"
Oliver politely smiled to the council members sitting around the table in the boardroom before he stood and stepped out of the room where he found Claire and Tamera.
"Hey," Oliver walked over to them. "Is she here?"
"She's not." Claire replied holding up her phone. "She just called and said she wasn't going to make it and to either reschedule or Tam and I could decide if we wanted to just give the updates."
"I vote rescheduling." Tamera said turning to Claire before turning to Oliver.
"We can't reschedule." Oliver replied turning back to Claire. "Where is she?"
"She said something about having to go to her kid's school."
"She got the call from Ari hours ago, she should be back by now." Oliver replied before turning to see Quentin and Thea walking over.
"Tell me she's here." Quentin said. "They're getting antsy."
"She's not here." Claire said again before turning to Tamera. "We can do this Tam."
"We can not do this." Tamera replied glancing over to the door that lead to the boardroom. "City Council always makes me nervous." she turned to Claire. "If we're doing this, then you got to run point on this."
Claire groaned as she turned away with a shake of her head.
"Alright, let's just calm down. I will call Katie and see how much longer she's going to be." Oliver said before pulling out his phone and stepping away to dial Katie's number.
Oliver listened to it ring, before the line finally clicked.
"Twinkie, where are you?"
"What?" Katie said slightly out of breath. "I told Claire and Tam to reschedule the meeting if they weren't comfortable doing it themselves."
"Well cancelling is not an option and neither one of them is comfortable."
"What are you talking about? You and Quentin can wait for an update."
"That's not—I sort of invited the council members to today's update on the project. It's been going well, and I wanted them all to see the great work you and your team had done. They're all in a boardroom right now waiting."
"You're joking." she replied, her tone eerily calm.
"At the time I really thought it was a good idea. How far away are you, can you get here?"
"No, I can't get there!" Katie snapped angrily. "Do you know why I'm not at City Hall right now Oliver. It's because I got a call from Will's school because he also had a bright idea today. He decided to bring Larry in for show and tell, but the little trouble maker ran off and now me and a few members of the staff are searching the school for a puppy."
"You're joking." Oliver said and Katie just groaned before hanging up the phone.
Oliver sighed before turning to the expectant eyes on him. He walked over and turned to Claire.
"You have to do this." he said.
Claire closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Once she opened them, she pulled a smile to her face and turned to Tamera.
"I got this." she nudged her head toward the door. "Let's do this."
Tamera nodded before the pair walked into the room.
"Is everything alright with the Doc?" Quentin asked and Oliver turned to him and just sighed before heading off to the room as well.
Katie walked down the halls, but stopped at the sound of jingling. She spun around, keeping her eyes peeled.
"Here Larry!" she called and soon she saw the puppy round the corner.
She knelt down as he ran to her, and scooped him in her arms.
"Seriously, dude, no more outings for you." she said before scratching the top of his head before heading back to the office.
Once she had the puppy leashed and ready to go, she left the principal's office, where she found Will waiting.
"You're lucky." she said to him and he sighed. "Mr. Peterson isn't going to enforce any disciplinary action, mostly because your puppy was one of the least of his problems with show and tell." she glanced around. "I can't believe someone brought a python." she shook her head before turning back to the boy and just groaned at him before placing a kiss to his head. "I'm going to figure out what to do with you Mr. Will because this is just-"
"I know, I'm sorry, it was stupid, but Charlie said he was bringing his new cat so I figured I'd bring one of the puppies and Larry is the coolest."
"Larry gets into the most trouble." Katie sighed looking down to the puppy who was wagging his tail. She looked over to the boy and nudged her head. "Get to class, I'll see you at pick up."
"Ok, bye." He said before bringing his arms around her in a hug before dropping down to scratch Larry's head. "We almost made it Larry, but your zoomies were just too much for this school, huh?" Will chuckled before standing and hurrying off back to his class.
Katie glanced down to her watch. She figured the meeting was just starting, and there was a chance, a very slight chance that if the left now she could make it in time before it was over. She glanced down to the puppy and sighed.
"No zoomies in City Hall Larry." She said before heading for the door.
Katie sat the puppy on the seat and was about to start the car when her phone rang. She hoped it wasn't Oliver calling to tell her that someone asked Claire a question and the woman didn't hold her tongue.
When she pulled out her phone, she frowned because it wasn't Oliver. It was Robyn's daycare.
"Hello, this is Katherine Queen, is Robyn alright?" Katie listened to the teacher who told her that Robyn had a slight fever. "That's not too bad. Have you tried giving her some fluids." Katie rolled her eyes. "Right, I know the rules, but I'm a doctor and I'm telling you, that's barely a—fine, fine, I'm on my way."
Katie hung up the phone and groaned before looking over to Larry.
"What the hell is going on today?" she asked before starting up her car and pulling off.
By the time Katie finally arrived at City Hall she was already over the day. She balanced Robyn's bag, with her own purse while the toddler and puppy pulled her inside of the building.
She knew she probably looked completely insane right now, but at this point she was too exhausted to care.
When she finally reached her office, she dumped the bags on the floor before grabbing the remote and flicking through the channels to find something for Robyn to watch.
She once thought she was a bad mother for plopping her daughter in front of a screen, but recently it was the only thing she could do sometimes to get a break and to keep the child entertained.
When she found a familiar show, she turned to Robyn.
"Alright little bird, I need you to sit and watch Sesame Street, while mommy tries to get some work done."
Katie grabbed a chair, and sat the child down, with a bag of animal crackers and a sippy cup of juice before looking around for the puppy.
"Larry, where did you-" she walked around her desk to see the puppy curled up underneath it. "You stay where I can find you, Trouble."
She pulled off her jacket and dropped to her seat before powering on her computer.
She slid her hands over her face as she waited. When it finally came on, and she opened her email she groaned at the amount of emails in her inbox.
There was a knock at her door, and she glanced up when the door opened to see Claire and Tamera.
"Boss, you made it. We thought for sure you weren't coming in." Claire said before turning and spotting Robyn. "And you brought the cutie." she walked over to pick up the child. "Oh you've gotten so big. I remember when you were so teeny tiny."
They turned to Katie who was still going through her email.
"How did the meeting go?" Katie asked, not tearing her eyes from the screen.
"Pretty awesome actually," Tamera said taking a seat and Katie glanced over to her. "I was, expectantly, frozen with fear, but Claire took the reigns and she handled it like a boss."
"I did, didn't I?" Claire said proudly before turning to Robyn. "I charmed the pants off those stick up their tush, suits." she placed Robyn back in her chair before turning to Katie. "We went through where we currently are, let them know that construction should be done by the end, if not before next month. I let them know we're nearly done with building a staff and that we've received donations of medical supplies and food and clothes from around the world." Claire smiled. "All in all, I let them know that all those doubts they had about us being able to pull this off was just bull-" Katie raised her brow and Claire glanced over to the Robyn. "-poop. All bull poop."
"She even got an applause." Tamera replied.
"Well I'm glad everything worked out. And I'm sorry again for not being here. This day has just been so bizarre. And the kids today are just-" she shook her head before turning back to the two women. "You too stepped up and took charge which I always knew you could. And I'm glad to see that even when I'm not here, you two can still keep the ball moving."
"It's no problem at all Boss. We get it. Working and being a mom can be tough." Claire said.
"Yes it can." Tamera added before standing to her feet. "But we do what we have to do to make it work, right?"
"Right." Katie nods before feeling scratches on her foot. "Hey, stop that!" she got looks from Claire and Tamera and shook her head. "Not you." she reached down under her desk and pulled Larry onto her lap.
"Oh my gosh, I love puppies." Tamera said before scooping the dog into her hands and cooing over it. She looked over to Katie. "Bringing your adorable baby to work with you, and your cute puppy, you're so lucky."
Katie just chuckled, before looking over to the puppy and then to Robyn. Luck was definitely not the word she would use.
Oliver sat at his desk, looking over to his sister and Jean Loring after the woman just told him possibly the best news he's gotten today.
"You think you can really have my case dismissed?" Oliver asked before pointing to the seat in front of his desk. "Tell me more."
"I poured over the discovery documents produced by the district attorney." Jean replied. "Apparently, the FBI leveraged Rene Ramirez to testify against you based on surveillance that was leaked by a known criminal."
"Cayden James." Thea added.
"Fruit of the poisonous tree." Jean said. "It's a legal metaphor positing that if the source of the evidence is tainted, the evidence itself is tainted. Mr. James' actions were not only illegal, but his death makes it impossible to corroborate the evidence against Mr. Ramirez."
"So if there's no case against Rene, there's no case against me?" Oliver asked.
"We're going before Judge McGarvey on my motion to dismiss this afternoon." Jean replied.
"Jean, are you sure?" Oliver asked, still not quite believing that this could really happen. "You-you can just make this go away?"
"Ollie, she's positive." Thea replied. " Ok. I know you're not used to getting good news, but this is what it sounds like."
Oliver smiled over to Thea, before reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone.
"I have to tell Twinkie. This is—she's not going to believe this." Oliver said.
"Oh, she's actually here." Thea replied with a smile. "I heard she got here a little while ago, and if the rumors are true, she was being dragged into the building by a toddler and a puppy." Thea looked over to Jean who wore a confused expression. "I'm assuming she's had a hell of a morning, and my brother's good news is going to be just the thing to save him from her wrath." she turned back to her brother. "Speaking of which, you should probably-"
"Right, right." Oliver stood to his feet and walked over to Jean. "Jean, thank you, you have no idea how much I needed good news."
"Well I'm glad this will soon be over." Jean replied as the man brought her into a hug before turning to hug his sister.
"This being over is what my family needs right now." Oliver replied before heading off to find Katie to tell her the good news.
Oliver couldn't wipe the smile from his face as he navigated his way through the halls of City Hall. This day really was looking up.
When he reached Katie's office, he was too excited to knock. Instead, he just walked in stopping at the sight of Katie on her hands and knees trying to scrub a stain from the rug.
She lifted her eyes to him and he could just tell her day wasn't going well as his. He glanced over to see Robyn who was sitting in a chair watching tv and so he went to pick her up. He looked over just a Larry came running from behind Katie's desk.
"So?" Oliver said as Katie began standing up. He hurried over to help her. "How's your day so far?"
If looks could kill, Oliver would be in the morgue by now with the glare the woman sent him.
She just shook her head before walking over to sit at her desk.
"How's my day? Well after I rushed to get Ari her study notes, that's when I got the call from Will's school, about our favorite puppy Larr here. I spent the next hour searching that school, and then when that little demon finally came out of hiding and I was all set to make it to the meeting, I got a call from Robyn's day care. She had a fever and was told I needed to pick her up. She was fine, she was playing and laughing, and I knew all she needed was some fluids and it would come down, but rules are rules as I was reminded, so I went to pick her up and brought her, and Larry who just peed on the rug I like, to work with me today. Her temperature is now down, but she can't go back to daycare until tomorrow." she dropped back in her seat. "And to top it all off, Claire and Tamera told me the meeting went great."
"That's good news, isn't it?
Katie looked over to him and sighed with a shrug.
"That's great news actually. It just proved the one thing I've known all along. They don't need me." she turned away with a shake of her head.
"Of course they need you." Oliver replied walking over to take a seat in the chair across from her. "Twinkie, you're the reason this project is even possible. Without you there wouldn't be a project."
"I'm not so sure anymore." she replied looking over to him. "I just feel like-"
There was a knock at her door, and Katie looked up to see Thea and Quentin hurry inside.
"You two look like you have a crisis that you need the mayor for." Katie said before turning back to Oliver who looked over to the pair before turning back to her. "Looks like you got to go." she stood to her feet and reached forward to take Robyn, but he backed away.
"Wait, just-" he stood to his feet and turned to Quentin and Thea. "Can this wait?"
"Not really." Quentin said. "Black Siren just showed up at the SCPD claiming to be my distant niece who was kidnapped and beaten."
Oliver looked at the man for a moment, not quite sure what to do with that information before he turned back to Katie.
"Like I said, looks like you have to go." she said pulling Robyn from his arms. "And I will try to play catch up before Robyn goes nuclear and Larry tries to pull another game of hide and seek in City Hall."
"Twinkie, I'm going to go figure out what's going on and then I'm going to come back to help you." Oliver said and Katie looked over to him and nods.
"A doppelganger distant niece doesn't seem like it's going to be that easy to figure out." Katie sighed before placing Robyn back in the chair. "Don't worry about me. I will figure it out. Like always."
She glanced over to him before heading back over to her desk.
Oliver let out a sigh before turning and following behind Quentin and Thea out of the office.
"Did you at least tell her the good news?" Thea asked as they all stepped into the elevator?
"Nope, didn't quite get around to it." Oliver sighed glancing over to Katie's door as the elevator doors closed.
The meeting with Black Siren only annoyed Oliver even more. He found the woman parading herself in front of a crowd of reporters.
When he, Quentin and Thea arrived, she turned around and threw her arms around him in a hug. He soon learned more details about her cover story. She was supposedly the niece of Quentin, the daughter of his late brother.
The name she gave them was Charlotte Lance. And she told them stories of being taken and then released. The press seemed to be taken with the fact that she looked exactly like Laurel, which the woman joked was just very strong family genes.
When he finally got her away from the cameras into one of the interrogation rooms with Thea and Quentin, he turned to her.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"What?" she asked innocently. "You said you wanted me to be more like Laurel, so I thought I'd give it a try as her cousin."
"Ohh." Quentin shook his head. "I really wish I believed that."
"Where's the money you stole from the city?" Oliver asked
"Yeah." she turned to him. "About that, slight hiccup. So I went to where I stashed it, and it's been cleaned out." she shrugged. "It's gone. Poof."
"So without the money, you what—" Thea spoke and the woman turned to her. "decided to become Charlotte Lance in front of the reporters because she's harder to kill?" Thea shook her head at the woman. "You're really that afraid of Dinah Drake, aren't you?"
"Not just afraid of Dinah." Oliver said and Black Siren turned to him. "Afraid of whoever manipulated Cayden James into thinking I killed his son."
"Because that's probably who killed James, too." Quentin added.
"Who did it- Anatoly or Diaz?" Oliver questioned.
"Or you." Thea said and the woman turned to her. "I mean, she could have just easily killed both of them."
"While I don't exactly have an airtight alibi for Cayden, I believe his son was killed when I was incarcerated at A. R. G. U. S." the woman countered.
"Who did it?" Oliver asked and Black Canary turned back to him wishing they would stop with the questions. "Anatoly or Diaz?"
"Talking out of school will get me in trouble." she sighed.
"Look. Whoever went after James is clearly coming for you next, so why don't you cooperate with us?" Thea said and Black Siren scoffed. "Help us find the money, and maybe we can just protect you."
"Little trivia." she walked over to stand in front of Thea. "There's a Thea Queen on the earth that I come from, too, only she's not as pathetically naive as you." she turned back to Oliver. "Look. This is a lot simpler than you're making it. You're gonna protect me, and you're going to help protect me by going along with this story that I'm a fellow beloved member of the Lance family."
"Yeah? Why would we do that?"
The woman shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe because of all the reporters that are just in the next room, you know and maybe I get asked about this Green Arrow business and if I, us being old pals and all, might know who he is." she stepped toward him. "What would you like me to tell them?"
Oliver sneered before turning away. "We're done here."
Without another word he stalked out of the room.
Katie stood in her office, her eyes on the television which was now playing the top news story at the moment and that was the long lost niece of Quentin Lance, returning from being held hostage and looking exactly like Laurel Lance.
The news was playing the moment the woman hugged Oliver and Katie just rolled her eyes. She assumed this was all a ploy and another way to make it harder to just kill her.
Katie sighed flicking off the television before looking over to see Robyn sitting on the floor playing with Larry.
"I think it's time to go pick up Will and head home. What do you say, little bird?"
Robyn looked over to her with a smile before standing to her feet and running to grab her jacket.
Katie laughed before bending over to help her put it on and zipping it up. She walked over to grab her jacket and bags and then grabbed the leash, cautiously walking toward Larry.
"Alright Larry, it's time to go. So just make this easy and—"
There was a knock at the door before it opened and in walked Claire.
"Close the door!" Katie yelled.
It was too late. Larry had sped off into the hall. Katie ran out to see the tiny puppy already turning the corner.
"Sorry boss." Claire said and Katie turned to her. "I was just coming to say congratulations. I heard about—"
"Can you watch her, for a bit, so I can get that little menace?"
"Oh, sure." Claire replied.
"I'll be back little bird, be good for Claire, ok?"
"Ok mama." Robyn replied.
Katie turned, and pulled off her heels before rushing down the hall probably looking completely insane to the people she was passing.
When Oliver arrived back to City Hall, he headed back up to Katie's office before his meeting with Jean and the DA regarding his case.
He walked into her office to find Claire with Robyn.
"Daddy!" Robyn called before running over to him.
Oliver scooped her up into his arms before placing a kiss to her cheek.
"Hi again." he smiled before looking over to Claire. "Where's Katie?"
"I came in and the puppy made a break for it. She's out there trying to track him down." Claire chuckled. "You guys must have a very interesting home life."
"You have no idea. I should go help her find him." Oliver said before turning to Robyn. "You want to go find that trouble maker, Larry?" Robyn smiled and nodded. "Alright, let's go find that puppy." he looked over to Claire. "Could you put in a call to security to keep an eye out for a puppy on the loose."
"Sure thing." Claire walked over to Katie's phone but stopped and turned back to Oliver. "Oh, I tried to congratulate her earlier, but she rushed out of here after your puppy. You guys must be excited."
Oliver looked over to her in confusion.
"The award." Claire said and Oliver's face was still stuck in confusion mode. "The boss is being awarded Star City's Humanitarian of the Year award."
"What?"
"Why don't you know this? SCU announces this every year, but I guess the whole Lance twin cousin thing is overshadowing it." Claire said. "I'm sure there is an email buried in your inbox or a letter somewhere letting you know that you married an awesome woman."
Claire smiled before turning to pick up the phone.
Oliver stood there for a moment, a smile pulling at his lips as he stepped into the hall.
"Did you hear that sweetie?" he looked down to Robyn. "Your mama is the humanitarian of the year." Robyn just looked at him with a blank look. "You don't know what that means, but it means that a lot of people now know what we've already known. Your mom is great, really great and we are really proud of her."
Robyn didn't say anything, but turned when she saw her mother running.
"Mama!" she called.
Oliver turned to see Larry running and Katie behind him.
"Why are you just standing there?!" she yelled at him. "Grab him!"
Oliver turned quickly, and moved just in time to swoop the puppy into his free arm.
"Larry!" Robyn squeals as the puppy licked her.
Oliver turned as Katie walked over to them, trying to catch her breath.
She shook her head before reaching forward, and clasping the leash on to the puppy's collar. She picked him up and held him so his eyes were on her.
"Larry, I love you, but you're this close to be sent to puppy boot camp." she huffed before placing him on the floor and turning back to Oliver. "You're back."
"I told you I would."
"Yeah, but I saw the news and I wasn't holding my breath. So, Charlotte Lance is now thing, huh?" she shook her head before heading into her office to see Claire on the phone.
"Oh, never mind, they got him. Thanks Ricky." Claire hung up the phone and turned to Katie. "Cute guard Rick was about to send up a fleet of guards to help."
"As much as it saddens me to say, I don't think a fleet would've been enough. Larry was a speed demon in a past life." Katie sighed before walking around to grab her jacket. "Thanks Claire. I am going to head out."
"Sure thing, see you tomorrow boss!" Claire said. "And congratulations on the award, you deserve it."
Katie just wordlessly smiled and nods before watching the woman leave.
"She's right." Oliver said looking over to Katie as she slips her jacket on. "Twinkie, Humanitarian of the Year. That's huge. Absolutely no one deserves that title more than you."
"I'm sure there's someone." Katie replied grabbing her bag. "I'm rejecting the award." she moved to walk past him, but he took a step to block her. "Oliver, it's been a day and I just don't have the energy to have this conversation."
"Twinkie, you can't reject this award."
"Actually I can. I've rejected it before." she replied taking a step to move around him, but he only blocked here again.
"Wait, what?" Oliver looked down to the woman who just shook her head and turned away. "You've been offered this award before. When?"
"It doesn't matter. Nothing I've done, or I'm doing is for awards. Plus nothing I've done deserves that award. I'm not doing anything anyone else wouldn't do if they had the same means and resources." she stepped again and he moved to block her. "Oliver, I don't want to dance right now. My feet hurt, I have a headache, I'm starving and I just want to go home, put on some sweats and relax—or try to relax. It never really happens lately."
"Ok, first, I will make sure you have time to relax, and second, Twinkie, you may not think what you're doing is a big deal, but it is. There is an entire city of people who will benefit from this project. And if someone else could've done it, they would've. You had the idea and you made it real, and the city would like to thank you. You're not rejecting this award."
"You can't make me take the award." she replied before reaching forward. "Now, give me my baby so we can go pick up the dog napper from school."
"You're right, I can't make you take the award, but you still can't reject it. Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Do you see this beautiful little girl?" Oliver said looking over to his daughter. "Her mother is being recognized for all the good she has done in this city. And when she grows up, and she sees everything you've done, she's going to be so proud." he turned back to Katie. "So accept the award for her and for Ari and Will and for me. Let us have the bragging rights to say we have an official Humanitarian of the year in our family."
"Bragging rights, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm definitely putting married to a humanitarian of the year in by mayoral bio." he leaned into her. "I might get me and the kids t-shirts and hats." he pressed a kiss to her lips.
"Eww." Robyn groaned and they looked down to her. "Daddy, kiss mama."
"I did, and I'm going to do it again. Cover your eyes." Oliver said.
Robyn laughed before placing her hands over her eyes.
And as promised, Oliver leaned into press another kiss to Katie's lips.
Katie groaned after a moment before pulling back and looking up to his eyes with a shake of her head.
"I will think about it." she says.
"That means yes." Oliver said before turning to Robyn. "Mama said yes." he placed a kiss to the girl's cheek before turning to Katie who shook her head. "I'm walking you to your car." he slid his arm around her as they walked to the elevator. "I actually have some kind of awesome news too."
"Really, are you getting the award for most annoying husband?" Katie asked and Oliver looked over to her and shook his head.
"I wear the title with pride, love of my life." he said with a smile. "But no, I met with Jean earlier, and she thinks she can get the case against me tossed out."
Katie looked over to the man wordlessly for a moment, not sure she just heard what she thinks she just heard.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, she thinks that because Rene's testimony was leveraged by a video leaked by Cadyden James, it's not reparable." Oliver said.
He saw the smile pull at her lips as the doors to the elevator open.
They all stepped on before she turned to Robyn.
"Robyn, cover your eyes." she said and the little girl laughed before placing her hands over her eyes. Katie grabbed Oliver shirt and tugged his lips to hers. "Your news is definitely better."
Oliver spent the next hour, impatiently waiting for the meeting with the judge over his case. If this case could finally be over, he just knows it would be just the thing his family needed to start pulling out of this string of bad luck.
They needed to turn a page and to start moving forward, and this case getting dismissed could be the start of that.
At the meeting, he sat beside Jean, and DA Sam Armand sitting beside her as they all sit in front of the judge in his chambers.
"This is inappropriate." Jean said. "My motion should be heard in open court."
"I requested it be heard in chambers." Armand replied looking over to the woman before turning to Judge McGarvey.
"Oh, to what, hide the embarrassment of having your case dismissed?" Jean asked and the man shook his head. "
"Actually, we're taking Mr. Ramirez off our witness list." Sam said.
"Considering he was your sole witness against Mr. Queen, I renew my motion to have this case—"
"- He's not our sole witness."
"What?" Jean looked over to the man with a furrowed brow. "No, no, no, no. Discovery on this case is closed."
"This is newly discovered information, your honor." The DA said turning back to the judge. "We'll make the witness' proffer available to the defense in accordance with "Brady v. Maryland.""
"Who is the witness?" Oliver asked trying to hide his frustration.
"Someone with enemies on both sides of the law." Sam replied.
"That's why we're doing this in chambers and why I granted the district attorney's request for a suppression order." Judge McGarvey replied.
"Right. I get it. It's sensitive." Jean said turning from the Judge to the DA. "What is the witness' name?"
"Roy Harper." he replied.
Oliver had to force himself to keep his features cool and unbothered by the name. Though, he couldn't help to be confused.
He sort of blanked after hearing the name while the lawyers continued talking.
"Well if there's nothing else—" the Judge said but Jean held held up her hand.
"I did want to bring up the topic of the DA's office interference with the Mayor and his wife adoption of their daughter." Jean looked from the judge to Sam. "My client has yet to be proven guilty of any crime, and I'm not sure how putting a hold on an adoption that was in progress before this case was even started makes much sense."
"I would think it's quite obvious." The DA replied. "The charges against Mayor Queen are serious and are of a violent nature and if found guilty, it would disqualify him from adopting anyway. Once we learned about the adoption, we felt it was in the best interest of the child—"
"Best interest of the child. She's seventeen and was the one who requested the adoption and was hoping it would happen before she turned eighteen." Jean said glancing over to Oliver who just shook his head. She turned back to the judge. "At this point, we're punishing a family for something that has yet to be proven. Delaying the adoption proceeding will only force the entire process to be restarted which could take months."
Judge McGarvey nods as he sits back in his chair.
"I understand the frustrations of the situation, but I'm going to have to agree with the DA on this one." The Judge said before turning to Oliver. "If you get an innocent verdict, I'll put in a request with children and family services myself to expedite the process."
"Thank you, your honor." Oliver nods, before once again dropping his head.
After leaving the meeting, Oliver headed back to City Hall, in a worse mood than when he left.
As he walked to his office, he glanced over to this assistant.
"Hold all of my calls Maddy." he said not even stopping.
Oliver dropped down into his chair, and closed his eyes as he let his head fall back against his chair.
Not too long after, there was a knock and he glanced over to see Thea walking in.
"Hey, you don't look as happy as you did when you left. How did it go?"
"Not good." he replied and he nudged his head. "Close the door." Thea closed the door and walked over to sit. "I just found out Jean's plan isn't going to work. The DA is removing Rene from the witness list and replacing him with someone—" Oliver shook his head. "They're replacing him with Roy." he turned to his sister who looked back to him with wide eyes. "I've already called Felicity and John, we're going to figure out what the hell is going on here." Oliver noticed that his sister hadn't said anything. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just—how could they even find Roy?" she said and Oliver just shrugged. "I'm going to head over to the bunker with you."
"You should go ahead without me." Oliver sighed as he slid a hand over his face. "I promised Twinkie I would come home after I left here." he shook his head. "You know I told her. About the case being thrown out and the look on her face—" he looked over to Thea. "We needed this. And now I have to go home and tell her that the hope we thought we could hold on to, just slipped away with one meeting. She was having a bad day, and this news—it made her smile and now I have to, I have to take it away."
"I'm sorry, Ollie." Thea said and her brother just nods before letting his back once again fall back onto his chair.
After getting Jean's news earlier about the case being thrown out he'd created a whole plan in his head.
Oliver planned on coming home tonight, and making the announcement to his family that this case that had been a dark cloud of their lives was finally going to be gone. He planned on taking his family on a much needed vacation where they could focus on the positive things in their life for a change. He planned on pouring everything into bringing he and Katie back together and getting back what they lost with his lie.
This moment was supposed be so much more than what it was.
When Oliver arrived at home, he stepped out of his car and looked up to his house and sighed. He was still dreading the conversation he would be having with Katie.
He took a step, but stopped when he turned to see the car pull in beside his. He smiled at the sight of Ari who stepped out of her car.
"What are you doing here?" she asked grabbing her back pack from the back seat of her car.
"I live here." Oliver replied.
"Yeah, but you're usually never here around this time." she replied tossing her back pack over her shoulder and heading for the door.
"Ari, hey, wait up one sec." Oliver moved to stand in front of her. "I know since that night you haven't been happy with me."
"Yeah, well you did decide to give into the demands of a criminal, and then when she ran off and I tried to stop her, you subdued me with your stupid arrows." she tried to move around him but he blocked her.
"Ari, I'm sorry, but at the moment my decisions were made thinking about what was most important. She had the whereabouts of the city's money and I had to make a tough decision."
"That's just it, it wasn't a tough decision. She's a bad guy who should've been put in jail. Instead you let her run off, and now she's in front of cameras calling herself Charlotte the long lost Lance who was used in Damian Darhk's ploy to take over the city." Ari shook her head.
"I know you want to believe it's as black and white as that, but when you grow up, you will understand."
"Right, I don't understand because I'm young and naive and don't understand how the world works. Gotcha, can I go inside now?"
Oliver sighed, but stepped aside and watched as she walked into the house.
He followed behind her, immediately hit with the smell of something cooking and it smelled good. Ari headed up the stairs, but he headed for the kitchen where he walked in to see Katie standing at the stove, while Will sat at the table working on his homework.
"Hi," Oliver greeted, walking over and placing a hand on Will's shoulder before walking over and bringing an arm around Katie and placing a kiss to her cheek. "Whatever you're cooking, it smells good." he said looking over to a pot. "Chili."
"Yeah, I decided to give it a try and I will make the kids tell me who's is better, mine or yours."
"So you just decided to have a chili cook off and not tell me about it?"
Oliver laughed before taking the spoon and dipping it into the pot to taste. Damn, he had to admit it was actually pretty good. Very possibly better than his, but he couldn't let her know that.
"It's ok." he said and she just nudged his side, making him laugh. "Robyn?"
Katie pointed to the little camera on the counter that showed the play area.
"Having play time with Curly and Moe and someone name Keith I think." she looked over to Oliver who looked on with a furrowed brow. "New imaginary friend."
Oliver nods before walking over to take a seat beside Will.
"So I hear you had an interesting day at school." Oliver said and Will lifted his head with a nervous laugh.
"In my defense, I didn't think Larry was going to go nuclear zoomies. He's usually pretty chill."
"He's never chill." Oliver replied with a shake of his head. "And even if he was, you can't take any of those puppies to school with you without first asking us, or your teachers."
"I know." Will sighed looking over to his father. "So what's the sentence?"
"Sorry, I'm not the one handing this sentence out." Oliver said before looking over to Katie who smiled over to the boy and waved.
"Oh, hi, I will be your warden this evening." she said walking over. "Your sentence will include no gameboy, no play station, you will spend your Saturday cleaning up the back yard, and—" she tapped her chin as she thought. "You will be writing a letter to your class apologizing for the chaos you created with your chill puppy." she looked down to the boy who slumped his shoulders and she chuckled. "Go get cleaned up for dinner, I'll be around later to confiscate all the things that bring you joy."
Will somberly gathered his homework and headed for the stairs. He past Ari who laughed and shook her head at the boy.
"The little puppy thief." she said before turning to Katie. "I can't believe he was able to sneak a puppy out of here. You're slipping puppy warden."
"Yeah, yeah." Katie said noticing the girl still had on her jacket. "Are you going somewhere?"
"Oh, I was going to head out to check in with the team." she said before glancing over to Oliver who sighed. He didn't say anything, so she turned to Katie. "I will be home before curfew and—"
"I know you will, because you're not going anywhere." Katie said and Ari looked over to her confused. "You really thought I wouldn't find out about your chaotic evening hunting down Black Siren the other night?"
Ari scoffed before turning to Oliver, but then turned back to Katie.
"Did he tell you he let her get away, after making some crack pot deal to let her sail away to freedom in exchange for the money."
"Yeah, he also told me that in Dinah's grief she had been on a warpath to find Black Siren and kill her, and apparently she took the team with her, and that includes you." Katie replied.
"It's not like that." Ari said but then she turned away. "I mean it's sort of like that, but it's fine now. When it got to that moment, I stopped her and she sees now that she was going too far. She got to the edge and I was able to pull her back."
"Except it's not the first time she's gotten to that point. We assumed she'd learned from her actions, but apparently she hasn't and until I know that she won't go on another murderous hunting spree that drags you with her, you're no longer on that team."
"You can't just pull me from the team!"
"I mean, technically we can seeing as we're still the parents, you're still the minor in our care, and we still decide what you can and can't do, especially when it comes to this." Katie nudged her head. "Now, go get washed up, dinner will be done soon." Ari just groaned before turning and stumping up the stairs. "Oh the sweet, sweet sound of angsty teenagers." she turned to Oliver. "Thanks for the back up." she walked over to check on the food.
"You didn't look like you needed any back up." Oliver replied. "And thank you for that. I was going to have to be the bad guy again because I wasn't going to let her go either." he looked over to Katie. "You're a better bad guy than I am, because somehow, someway, they always seem to forgive you. It's your mom super power." Katie just laughed. "She was right. It was a bad call to trust Black Siren."
"It was." Katie said and Oliver turned to her and she chuckled. "Sorry, but it was. I am your wife and I will always be honest with you. You have a tendency to want to give people the benefit of the doubt even when they don't deserve it."
"I was trusting Quentin." Oliver sighed.
"Quentin is not in the right frame of mind to make that call. When he looks at her he sees his daughter and a parent will always give their child the benefit of the doubt." Katie replied walking over and sitting on his lap. "So are you really going to make me ask or are you playing up on the anticipation?" she said with a smile. "How did the meeting with the judge go? Did it end with Sam sitting in a corner crying?" Oliver's hands wrapped around her and he dropped his eyes from her, and that made her nervous. "It was too good to be true, wasn't it?"
Oliver lifted his eyes back to hers.
"The DA notified us that he has a new witness he's calling to the stand." Oliver said. "Roy Harper."
Katie looked at the man with a furrowed brow before turning away and standing to her feet.
"Twinkie, I'm meeting with Felicity and John and we're going figure this out."
"Of course you are." she says turning back to him. Oliver is about to say something when his phone beeps. "And I assume that sound means you're probably late and won't be staying for dinner." she turns and begins stirring the chili. "Don't worry, if the kids decide they can be objective tonight, I'll give you the verdict of who makes the best chili."
"Twinkie," Oliver walked over to her, and brought his arms around her, placing a kiss to her neck. "I'm sorry. I wanted tonight to go differently."
"Yeah, well, we're us, so nothing ever goes as planned." she replies placing a hand on his cheek. "If this really is Roy, there's no way he's doing this voluntarily." she turned to him. "He's in trouble." she turned away. "I'll call Martin. See if he knows how this could've happened. When him and my dad set Roy up with this new life, I assumed it was supposed to make him unreachable. So if someone found him, I want know how." she turned back to him. "I'll call you if I find out anything."
"I'll do the same." he replied letting his chin rest on her shoulder, not wanting to pull away from her. "I'm sorry." he said again.
"Stop apologizing. We're just in the middle of someone's twisted game, but we will claw our way out, just like we always do." she let her head rest against his. "And I will deal with the disgruntled teens upstairs."
"I don't think I will ever stop apologizing." Oliver sighed. "I want to be here, and I want to help, and I want to chase puppies in school or be the person Ari calls when she needs someone to bring her study notes. I want to be an integral part of this family, but I'm pulled in so many other directions I can't even spend an evening with my family. I don't want the kids to be surprised when they see me at home when they get out of school." Katie spun around in his arms. "And I don't want them to always call you because I know how overwhelming that is for you to try to be there for them while also trying focus on your work." he let out a huff, and Katie figured he'd been wanting to let all of this out. "I want to help with lists."
Katie once again grabbed his shirt and pulled his lips to hers, hoping to resolve the moment's frustrations with a few blissful moments out of reality.
When they pulled away, Oliver let out a groan.
"I was really hoping for better ending to our night." he said before pressing another kiss to her lips and sighing when his phone buzzed again. "I have to go."
"You know I read this thing that said, balance isn't something you're just going to find. You have to create it. I think we're both trying to figure out how to do that, but we will." she placed a hand on his chest before hearing the feet of Ari and Will has they came back downstairs. They both made a beeline for the table. "Ari, could you get Robyn cleaned up for dinner?"
The teen sighed loudly huffed and turned to Katie.
"Seriously?"
Katie had so many words, but she just couldn't anymore tonight.
"Never mind, I will grab her, food is on the stove, have at it." she said before turning to Oliver. "Good luck." she pulled away from him, leaving the kitchen.
Oliver stood there for a moment before turning to Ari and Will who moved about, grabbing bowls and silverware.
"Hey guys," Oliver said and they both stopped and turned to him. "You know I get you two probably aren't in the best mood right now, but you will not take it out on her. Because today, that woman hurried across the city to come home to grab your notes so you had them before your test. And when you asked her to do it, her response wasn't 'seriously'." he turned to Will. "And after that she came to your school to search the halls for a puppy that wasn't supposed to be there. When she was supposed to be leading a meeting for her project, she chose to be there for you two. You will show her how much you appreciate her, and everything she does for you. Do you two understand?"
"Yeah," they both muttered.
"Good, I have to go, but enjoy your dinner and I will see you later." Oliver said before walking from the kitchen.
He was on his way out the door when Katie came back down the stairs. He stopped and turned to them with a smile.
"Someone wanted to say goodbye." Katie said holding up Robyn.
Oliver smiled as he pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"I will see you later sweetie."
"Daddy go bye bye." Robyn said looking up to her father and Oliver said.
"I do go bye, bye, but I will be back soon, ok?"
Robyn just nods and Oliver sighs before handing her back to Katie. She just waved to the man as he headed out the door.
Felicity sat in the bunker behind her computer when her phone suddenly rang. She flipped it over and smiled at the name, before answering the video call.
"You know you look an awful lot like my husband." she said as she looked at the screen to Bruce's face. "It's been a while since I've seen him, so I don't quite remember him, but I think he looked a lot like you."
"I know, I was supposed to be there Monday, but things are getting crazy. Joker is becoming a growing pain in my ass."
"Your plan to use Harley didn't work?"
"Not the way I thought it would. I assumed she hated him enough to help us take him down, but once she got in a room with him—everything just went sideways. She ran off again, and this time we're not chasing after her."
"What are you going to do?"
"That I'm still trying to work out." he replied before smiling at her. "I miss you, wife."
"I miss you too, husband. Does you coming back to Star City fit in your plans?"
"I want to."
"Then do it."
"It's not as simple as that. The joker is planning something big, he's already hit up a couple of banks and has been conspiring with his mob friends. I can't risk leaving."
"You know I assumed when you told me you needed to head back to Gotham to stop the joker, I thought maybe a couple of weeks, a month tops, but Bruce—what exactly is this?"
"I know, I didn't think it would take this long, but it has and there's nothing I can do about it."
"You could leave it in the hands of the Titans and come home."
"Gotham is my home." Bruce replied.
Felicity didn't say anything for a moment, before turning.
"Felicity—"
"You're my home." she said turning back to him. "You and Damian. You're my home."
"Then come here." Bruce suggested and Felicity scoffed. "Felicity, we started this relationship knowing our lives were rooted in two different cities and yet despite that big, glaring obstacle, we fell in love and couldn't let each other go."
"And now we're here, hundreds of miles from each other with no resolution in sight."
Felicity lifted her eyes as the elevator opened and in walked Thea and John. She dropped her eyes back to the phone.
"I have to go, give Damian my love, and let him know I take personal offense to him not returning my call."
"Yeah, I'll uh—" Bruce paused when the door behind him opened and in walked Damian.
"Is that him?" Felicity asked pulling the phone close. "What's that on your head?" the boy got closer, and that's when she realized it was a bandage. "What happened?"
Damian looked from the phone to Bruce, neither saying anything.
"Someone better start talking!" Felicity replied. Looking between the two, and all of a sudden it clicked. "Wait, wait, please don't tell me—" she shook her head. "You let him be Robin, didn't you."
"It's fine, it's just a scratch." Damian said with a smile, but Felicity didn't return it. "Maybe I should—" the boy pointed back to the door, before leaving the room.
"Felicity, I can explain." Bruce said. "I was going to tell you, but I didn't want to just spring this to you over the phone."
"Hey, everything ok?" Thea asked walking over to Felicity.
Felicity just nods before turning back to her phone to look at Bruce.
"I'll let you go, but can we talk about this later?" Bruce asked.
Felicity didn't say anything as she wordlessly nods before ending the call. She let out a deep breath before turning to Thea.
"Oliver on his way?"
"Yeah, should be here soon." Thea replied. "Is everything alright with Bruce and Damian?"
"Well I'm pretty sure Bruce has a death wish, but I'll deal with that once we figure out this whole Roy thing." Felicity stood to her feet. "How are you doing?"
"I'll be better once I figure out if Roy is alright."
Black Siren was annoyed as she laid in the hospital bed. She had to keep up this act of the recently kidnapped and battered woman, so she came to the hospital to be checked out.
She closed her eyes and dropped her head back against her pillow when she heard her door open. She opened her eyes, surprised to see Ethan who eyed her as he walked to stand at the foot of her bed.
He didn't say anything as he stood there just looking at her.
"What are you doing here?" she finally asked.
"Charlotte Lance, huh?" he said looking down to a tablet. "Where'd you pull that name from?"
"My mother." she replied, and he lifted his eyes to her. "I figured I couldn't be called Laurel, since your earth already has one of those, so I decided on a name I wouldn't mind being called. It's Charlotte or Charlie for short."
Ethan looked at her for a moment longer before dropping his eyes back to her medical record.
"You've got a cracked ribbed, some bruising on your jaw and cheek as if someone used you as a punching bag." he lifted his eyes back to her. "I'm sure you deserved it."
"Once again, I ask, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off somewhere buying a crib from IKEA?"
"No, we already found a crib at this nice local furniture store." he replied with a smile, and she just rolled her eyes. "Laur told me what happened up at that cabin. What game are you playing at here, huh?"
"The game of survival." she replied looking over to him.
"You should leave Quentin out of it."
"I want to, but he's the one that won't leave me alone, and honestly, maybe I don't him want to."
"He's not your father."
"You do not have to remind me of that. My father was nothing like him and that is a good thing, because my father—" she sighed she looked at the man, unable to not be reminded of the love she lost at the hand of her father every time she looked at him. "Look, I needed to get that bitch off my ass, and this does that. So let's all play one big happy family and everything will be fine."
Ethan just shook his head before heading out of the room. He stopped out in the hall, not surprised to find Quentin.
"What are you doing here?" Quentin asked.
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing?" Ethan asked. "What are you doing here when you should be begging your real daughter to forgive you after what you did to her."
"I didn't do anything to her?"
"What do you call choosing to go sail off with her doppelganger into life unknown?"
"She needed my help."
"And do you care what your daughter needs?"
"Well I know what my daughter doesn't need, and it's me. She's got you now to take care of her, and move her back to Metropolis."
"So that's what this is about? Jesus Quentin, it was one phone call which if you must know, I rejected the offer."
"Why?"
"Because I like this job. Because this city is my home and it's my wife's home and we want to raise our baby here." Ethan shrugged. "We were kind of hoping you'd be the cool grandpa to balance out the crazy with my mom, but Laur is so upset with you right now, she doesn't even want you to see the baby after he's born."
Quentin looked at him for a moment, feeling guilty for upsetting his daughter, but then he realized what the man said.
"He? It's a boy?"
"I wasn't supposed to tell you that, but yes it's a boy. You're going to have a grandson. And if you ever want to have a relationship with him, you should be camped outside of your actual daughter's door and not this—criminal."
With those words, Ethan headed off down the hall to get back to work.
Quentin sighed before glancing into the room to see Black Siren with her eyes closed as she laid back on her pillow.
He doesn't know what it is, but he can't seem to find it in himself to walk away from her when he feels like she needs him. Some how he needs to explain this to Laurel, and hope she understands.
It was late and the kids were all in their rooms. Dinner was surprisingly nice. She thought for sure they'd be too sullen to even engage in conversation, but they did. She thinks Oliver may have said something to them when she left.
She pulled out her phone and stepped outside into the backyard to dial Martin's number. She listened to it ring, before he finally answered.
"This is quite the surprise. I thought for sure you would avoid me after our last conversation. Is that why you're calling me?"
"It's not. Roy's been found and somehow he's on a witness list to testify against Oliver." Katie said. "I thought you were keeping tabs on him."
"No, that's not how it worked. We gave Roy enough money, fake IDs, passports, everything he needed to create a new life for himself. The rest was up to him. But I am curious as to who could've located him. The identities we created for him were bullet proof."
"Not bullet proof enough. Someone's found him and I think he's in trouble because there's no way he's doing this because he wants to."
"Let me see what I can find out, but if my suspicions are right, we are dealing with someone with a lot of pull."
"They all have a lot of pull until we take it from them. I want to know who did this to Roy, anything you find out, call me."
"You know, you sound just like him when you're barking orders." Martin replied.
Katie rolled her eyes before ending the call and slipping her phone back into her pocket.
She closes her eyes and sighs as she thinks about Roy. The man plucked from his life in order to save Oliver.
She can't deny that what Roy did allowed them the life they have, their kids and their family. She can't let him be put in to the middle of whatever game this is. She has help find him.
Katie opens up her eyes and lets out a deep breath before heading back into the house and going up the stairs. She came to Ari's door and heard the girl say that she could come in. Katie pushed opened the door.
"Hey, I know I'm not your favorite person right now, but I need a favor. Oliver had to leave today, because he found out the DA has a new witness. A man name Roy Harper. He is an old friend of ours and we wholeheartedly believe he's in trouble. I kind of owe Roy a lot, and it doesn't feel right not doing something to help find him, so I want to go over with the others. I just—I need you to watch Will and Robyn." she shook her head. "And I'm not going to force you or anything, I just—"
"It's fine." Ari said. "I have nothing better to do. I'll keep an eye on Wilbur and the stinker."
Katie smiled, "I got to hug you, kid." she walked over and brought her arms around the teen and placed a kiss to the top of her head. "Thank you." Katie headed back for the door, but stopped and looked back over to Ari. "You know Ari, I know being on the team was important to you, and I know how good you are at being Firelight." Katie walked over to take a seat on the edge of the bed beside her. "You have no idea how much I believe in Firelight and what she stands for. Which is is why I will do everything and anything I have to, to ensure nothing or no one ever puts you in a position like that again. Firelight, is a hero of the light, and that path was pulling you into darkness whether you knew it or not. So until we have taught you how to hold onto that light in the darkness, or until your team convinces us that nothing like that will ever happen again, for now just be Ari. The teenager, who is excited about college, and who talks on the phone with her boyfriend all night. That girl can exist too, ok?"
Ari nods before watching Katie stand to her feet and head for the door.
"The Guardian can exist too, you know." Ari said and Katie stopped and turned to her. "You can be a mom and a wife, and you can be this humanitarian of the year, while also being Star City's Guardian."
"That kind of seems like an impossible thought. I'm finding it difficult just balancing this project with being a wife and mother. Not sure I could add a mask to the mix."
"I don't know, I think this city still needs her. Who knows, maybe she's the person to bring two teams back together."
Katie just nods.
"Call me if you need me. Will is on lock down, no games. He can watch a little tv but that's it, and that letter should be written before he goes to bed. The dogs have already been let out and they're back in the pen and have been fed. You're literally just playing big sister guard, right now. Thanks."
Katie walked into the hall, thinking of Ari's words. For a while now, she's tried to put the Guardian behind her, to focus on her family.
She though she was over that part of her life, and yet everyday she's being proven otherwise.
Author's Note:
Interesting...
Review Replies
RoseBud1923: Me too! But this chapter brought our Twiver couple back. You know, I think we will see a grown up Robyn, more than likely an adult Robyn when we make it to season eight. I think she would be a blend of the two.
Adela: Thank you!
Thank you everyone!
Sneak Peek
There was a sudden flicker of the lights and both Thea and Oliver glanced up before turning to each other.
"Is that normal?" Thea asked.
"No," Oliver replied standing to his feet before heading over to Felicity and John. "What was that? Was that a breach."
"I don't know." Felicity said furiously typing, but nothing was happening. "I don't know what's happening, but something is wrong."
She suddenly stopped when the monitor in front of her, and every monitor in the bunker seemed to start blinking until a stacticky video started playing.
"What the hell?" John muttered moving in closer to the screen.
"Felicity, what is this?" Oliver asked as he walked over to the larger monitor.
Felicity stood to her feet and walked over to stand beside him.
"I have no idea." She said as they all watched the imagine trying to figure out what it was.
"Oh my god." Thea said and they turned to her. "That's Roy."