Chapter 21

A Moment

"Someone said, "anger is sadness that has had nowhere to go for a very long time," and I'll never forget that."

– Unknown


Katie's evening was spent reviewing resumes. It was a process she didn't realize would get boring after a while. She nodded off to sleep and didn't wake up until there was a knock at her door. She jilted awake, and glanced over to see the security guard standing there.

"Sorry Mrs. Queen, just wanted to make sure you were ok." he said.

Katie glanced over to the clock and her eyes went wide when she realized how late it was.

"Damn," she muttered standing to her feet and gathering the resumes and refiling them before turning to the guard. "Thanks for waking me up, I'm pretty sure someone is looking for me." she grabbed her jacket and bag. "You want to walk me out?"

"Sure thing." he said holding open the door as she hurried out of the office.

When Katie arrived at the bunker, she hurried into the elevator. Once the doors opened, she hurried out, her eyes looking around, but she didn't see anyone.

"Is anyone here?!" she called, but she didn't get an answer.

She pulled out her phone and looked down to the time and scoffed. There was a teenager who should be here right now since it was past her curfew.

"Some lessons got to be learned the hard way." Katie said before turning and stalking back into the elevator.

Things really did not go as Oliver expected. In John and Oliver's attempt to catch and question Vince, they realized the man was there to meet with Rene, Curtis, Dinah and Ari. According to them, he was feeding them information from Cayden and that's what tonight's meet was all about.

Everyone went to their hide out, so they could explain the what was going on. Once Felicity arrived, they explained how Vince had been helping them, even saving Rene's life. They also revealed Vince being in love with Dinah and how they all trusted him.

Oliver wasn't as convinced as the rest of them. This man had tried to kill him on multiple occasions and also almost killed his wife.

"He's right, and until we find out where that bomb is, we've got no moves." Rene said.

"Ok." Felicity took a step forward. "Well, then we just—we find out where the bomb is." she glanced over to Curtis. "Last year, we used a sniffer device to pull information from Prometheus' mother's house."

"You want to use the same device for Cayden James?"

"That's exactly what I want to do. We can gather all his ones and zeroes. There's got to be a scrap of data left in there somewhere."

"Then we have someone to plant Felicity's toy for us." John said.

"Yeah. There's just one small problem." she glanced over to the team and Vincent. "Well two, actually. The sniffer needs to be manually implanted into Cayden's server."

Dinah shook her head. "No. No, no. There's no way he can do that without Cayden noticing, Felicity, especially now that he's circling the wagons."

"I knew what I signed up for." Vince said to the woman who still wasn't convinced this was a good idea. "I didn't expect this to be easy." he turned to Felicity. "What else?"

"Ok. Cayden's server is deep within the building, so while our comms will be working, transmitting a data pull that large, it requires line of sight."

"Which means you have to install the sniffer, then wait for it to download the content of Cayden James' server." Curtis added looking over to the man.

"Making sure Cayden doesn't see you or the sniffer. That would be bad, very bad." Felicity added.

"Understatement much." Ari said and the man looked over to her. "You will then get it outside so you can transmit the files."

"Yeah. That sounds like more than two problems." Rene said looking over to Felicity.

"Sounds like a good way of getting yourself killed." John said looking over to Vince.

"Then it's a good thing I heal fast." Vince said looking over to Dinah.

"Vince, May I speak with you, please?" Oliver said.

Vince looked over to the man and nods before the two men turn and walk from the others.

The moment they were gone, they suddenly heard someone's ringtone that sounded like the Halloween, Michael Myers theme song.

"Shit!" Ari suddenly said and they turned to see her scrambling around. "What time is it?" she was frantically searching. "Where the hell is my phone?! I'm so dead." she stopped when she finally found her phone and looked at the time.

"What is your problem, pipsqueak?" Rene asked looking over to the girl who lifted her eyes to him.

Ari didn't get to answer, because an alarm began blaring around the hideout. Curtis headed over to his computer.

"That's the breach alarm." he said furiously typing as the others gathered around.

Oliver and Vince ran back out, looking around to see what was going on.

"What's happening?" Oliver asked.

"Someone's here." John stood up straight, and pulled out his guns while the other started to run to get a weapon.

"Not just someone." Curtis said and they all stopped and looked over to him and he just lifted his eyes.

They all heard the sound of the door opening and then soon appeared Katie who stood on the landing above. Her eyes moved across the faces of the team below before she zeroed in on the teenager she was looking for.

"Did you tell her where we were, Ari?" Curtis asked, eyes still on Katie.

"Nuh, uh." Ari said as she nervously laughed. "Before you turn into scary mom, yes, I am out past curfew, but uh-" she glanced over and saw Oliver and quickly hurried over to stand beside him. "Oliver's here, so it doesn't really count because—you know because logistics."

Katie didn't say anything, as she kept her unnerving stare on the girl.

"You do know how embarrassing this is, don't you?" she huffed. "I'll go get dressed." Ari headed off to go get changed.

Katie looked down to the team once more before taking a step back, about to go back out the door, when she saw a face she didn't expect.

"You're Vincent Sobel." she suddenly said before finally coming down the stairs.

The team stood around unsure what was about to happen as they watched her walk over to the man. Dinah, took a chance and decided to step in front of her.

"It's not like that, he's good and he's helping." Dinah said.

Katie looked at the woman for a moment before lifting her eyes to the man who stood behind her. She let out a snort before taking a step back.

"Whatever," she said before turning to leave."

"Hey, Doc, wait up." Rene walked over and Katie stopped and looked over to him. "He's admitted he's done some fucked up shit, but he's trying to the change that. He's going to help us find this bomb Cayden is hiding." He nods. "You prove that you're not the things you've done by your actions, right?"

"Right," she said. "Because actions speak louder than words." she glanced over to the others who were looking over to her. "Much louder." she turned to leave.

Rene glanced back to Oliver and he suddenly realized what she was really upset about.

"Doc-" he hurried up the steps behind her. "Wait, we're sorry." Katie stopped and looked back to the man. "The last thing we should've done—the last thing I should've done was help him keep his secret."

Katie sighed. "But you did. You all did, and you all had a reason. Stop apologizing." she glanced down to the team. "Seriously, stop apologizing." she turned back to Rene. "You made a choice, so stand on it."

Soon Ari came out wearing her jacket and her book-bag all ready to go. She glanced up to see Katie and headed over to the stairs.

"Here I come." she was about to head up to Katie.

"Stay with Oliver." Katie said and Ari stopped at the bottom of the steps.

"Where are you going?" Ari asked and Katie just shook her head.

"Somewhere to think." Katie replied. She cast one more look over to Rene before turning to leave.

Oliver hurried past the team, running up the stairs after her. When he stepped outside into the back alley, he spotted her walking toward her car.

"Hey, Twinkie, wait." Oliver called and she stopped and turned back to him.

He walked over and stood in front of her. He didn't say anything, much because he didn't know what to say. When he saw her leaving, all he knew was that he didn't want her to go. He didn't want to feel that nervousness and fear of waiting and wondering if she was going to come back.

Katie seemed to just know what he was feeling from the look in his eyes. She took a step forward, closing the distance between them, and placed a hand on his chest, above his heart. Oliver lifted his hands to cover hers and that's how they stood.

"I'm sorry I messed it up."

"Liver-"

"No, just—this, us, it means absolutely everything to me. And I try my damnedest, to be the man you deserve for a husband. But no matter how hard I try, I always end up messing it up. I made a bad choice and that choice is the reason you're pulling away from me and our friends."

Katie didn't say anything, but she did once again feel that build up of emotions attempting to spill out of her. So she took a step back, and closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Oliver watched her for a moment before he realized what was happening, and he didn't hesitate to bring his hands to her shoulder.

"Just breathe." he says and Katie takes in another deep breath before letting it out. "That's it, just breathe."

When she felt the emotions temper down, she opened her eyes to see her husband staring back at her with a look of worry.

"I should go." Katie attempted to pull away, but Oliver's hands moved to keep her in his grasp. "I'm fine,"

"How often has that happened?" he asked and Katie turned away. "Twinkie, just because you've figured out a way to stop the panic attacks doesn't mean they're going to go away. How long?"

"I don't know, a few times, but I know what to do, so I'm fine." she once again tried to tug away, but he didn't loosen his grip. "I just want to go and you should be going. You now have a lead to finding that bomb. That's what you should be focusing on."

"I probably should, but I'm not. I'm focused on my wife who I do not want to walk away from me right now. I don't like not knowing where you are or wondering if you're going to come back."

"Terrible feeling, isn't it?" she asked and Oliver sighed. "Stop wondering if I'm going to come back. I'm going to come back. You may be at the top of the list of people I don't like very much right now, but I'm still tied to you with those stupid vows or whatever."

Oliver smiled as his hands slid around her waist and pulled her closer. They heard the sound of the door opening behind them before a voice spoke.

"Oh, sorry,"

Oliver glanced back to see Felicity and John had stepped out, stopping at the sight of Oliver and Katie.

"We just wanted to let you know that we were going to head back now. The others were going to meet us over there."

"Thanks Felicity," Oliver said.

He slightly nudged his head, hoping they could see he wanted them to go. They got the hint and headed over to get into their car before Oliver turned back to Katie.

"Definitely not going to happen." Katie said pulling out of his grasp.

"Wait-" he took a step toward her. "It kind of felt like something was going to happen and who are we to not let it."

She let out a laugh as she walked over to her car. She stopped before getting in, and glanced over to see him still watching her.

"Maybe something was going to happen." she replied with a shrug. "But now it's not." she pulled open her door and got into the driver's seat. She glanced over to him once more before starting the car and pulling off.

During the drive, she intended to just head to the pond once again, but then her phone rang. She looked over to the name and pressed the button on the steering wheel.

"I'm almost afraid to ask why you're calling me so late, Claire."

"You know I was sitting here thinking about the project and I got this idea-"

"Claire, you're supposed to be taking a break from the project."

"I know, but I'm literally sitting in my apartment with nothing else to do. This project is all I have going right now."

"That's kind of sad."

"That's depressingly sad, but I'm cool with it. Now, that idea, what do you think about partnering with Palmer Tech to develop an app for Second Chance. People can download the app, sign up for benefits, or track the status of their requests or just like read about what Second Chance offers."

"That's actually a great idea."

"You think so?"

"I do think so. We should talk about it more."

"Oh, sure, when we come back to the office we could build a plan and-"

"I meant tonight. How would you like to grab a drink?"

They were close. Oliver stood in the bunker behind Felicity, with John, Rene, Curtis, Dinah and Ari. Vince was able to successfully transmit the location of the bomb. The problem, not too long after the man activated his com, they all heard him being tortured.

Dinah wanted to forget the bomb and save Vince since they got him into this. Oliver wanted to prioritize finding the bomb since there was greater risk of more people dying if they didn't do this now. At the sound of Vince's pained moans, Dinah couldn't hear anymore.

"Fine, I'll do it myself." she stormed for the door, prepared to do whatever she needed to do to get Vince out of this.

"Dinah." Oliver walked over to the woman who turned to him. "Vince would not want you to do it this way."

"Don't you dare!" she angrily pointed at the man. "You know damn well if it was Katie out there-" she turned to John. " if it was Lyla, this wouldn't even be up for debate." she turned back to Oliver. "Vince is my family, and I am not letting him die, not again."

She once again turned to leave.

"Dinah." Curtis took a step forward and the woman sighed before turning back to him.

"You're not talking me out of this, Curtis."

"We know." Rene said.

"That's why we're coming with you." Ari added.

"You're our family, too." Curtis, Rene and Ari walked over to the woman. "We'll save Vince." he glanced over to Oliver, Felicity and John. "You guys save the city."

No other words needed, the four of them headed to the elevator.

"We're not gonna be able to cover the bomb's location with half the manpower." Oliver said

"Looks like you're gonna have to figure out a way, Hoss." Rene replied as the doors closed.

Oliver let out a huff as he turned away and slid a hand over his face. No one said anything, but they all seemed to have the same thought. Oliver turned to Felicity and John and just shook his head.

"I can't do that." he said. "She has made it very clear that she does not want this."

"She has also made it clear that when she's needed, she will be there." Felicity replied standing to her feet. "Right now, you and John can't do this alone. Not this time. We need her."

Oliver turned away once again, his eyes glancing over to the Guardian's suit. He promised himself that he would never do this. He wanted to respect what she wanted. His thoughts went to her words yesterday, about how if he needed her, he just needed to ask.

"Oliver," John said and Oliver turned to him. "We don't have any other choice."

Katie knew this was probably a bad idea. Drunk Twinkie mixed with emotional Twinkie seemed like a very bad combination. And yet, she got out of her car and headed for the doors of the bar. She stopped at the sound her phone beeping. She pulled open her purse and pulled it out to see a text from Oliver.

"I need you."

Katie stared at the three words for barely a second before she turned and went back to her car already dialing Oliver's number.

"Where and when?" she asked the moment he answered.

One thing was certain, the place the bomb was being kept was big. Too big for Oliver to feel comfortable that the three of them would be able to find it before Cayden's men outnumbered them.

He and John showed up, and Katie was supposed to meet them there. The pair split up in an effort to cover as much ground as possible.

John's search was turning up nothing but a few of Cayden's thugs. He'd just taken down three of them before he scans the hall.

"No sign of the bomb." he says through the comlink.

"This place is too big to search." Oliver replied as he walked through another room of the factory. "We're going to run out of time. Do we have an ETA on Guardian?"

"I'm here." Katie suddenly spoke from the comlink. "Not really sure what part of here that is, but I'm here. I don't see the bomb either, but I think I'm close."

"Guardian, where are you?" Oliver turned.

"We're definitely cleaning your ears when this is over. I just told you I have no idea where I am. This place is big and every room and hall looks exactly the same."

Oliver groaned. "Just—if you run into trouble-"

"Stop, drop and roll. Don't worry, I remember." she replied

Oliver shook his head before turning at the sound coming from a door.

"I got movement. East Corridor." he ran over and kicked open the door, already reaching for an arrow. He stops when he sees the room is filled with people tied to a bomb.

"Hello, kapiushon."

Oliver looked over to the walkie talkie across the room at the sound of Anatoly's voice.

"No need for me to explain choice here, yes?"

"I thought you were an honorable man." Oliver said.

"I am." Anatoly replied. "Why else I give you choice? Find bomb or save-"

Oliver didn't need to hear anymore. He grabbed an arrow and shot the walkie talkie.

"Go." John turned to Oliver. "I'm pretty sure Guardian may be giving him another choice. I'll take care of them."

Oliver nods before turning and running from the room.

Anatoly looks down to the walkie talkie before looking over to Diaz. They knew they didn't have much time, so they hurried to get inside of the truck. The plan was simple, Cayden had four white trucks, only one held the bomb.

"Let's go!" Diaz announced as the drivers of the trucks started their engines and pulled out.

The trucks had only moved a short distance before they came to a sudden halt.

"What are you doing?!" Anatoly looked over to Diaz who was behind the wheel. "Go!"

"I'm trying, the damn thing isn't moving!" the man pushed the gas pedal before looking over to see the truck to the left of him wasn't moving either. "What the hell is going on?"

Katie stood in the middle of the parking lot, her eyes on the four white trucks.

"I got bomb." she said through the comlink. "I think. There's four trucks, so I'm assuming the bomb is in one of them. What should I-"

She turned at the sound of gun fire and could see in the distance Oliver pinned down behind his bike. She glances back to the trucks for a second, before she turns and runs toward the gun fight, ignoring the sound of the trucks as they speed away.

She pulls the gun from her waist band and pulls the trigger, drawing their shots. She takes a hit to the shoulder, but she doesn't stop until she's out of bullets. They're reloading just as she reaches them.

"Uh oh, someone forgot to pack the bullets." she said before throwing a kick into one of the guy's chest.

Oliver soon appears, shooting an arrow at one of the guys before throwing a punch at the other. He takes the two men down before turning to see Katie spin a final kick to the guy she was fighting. When she stops and turns to him, his eyes zero in on her arm and his eyes widen at the sight of blood.

"You're hit." he runs over to her, trying to see how bad it is.

"I'm fine." she replies turning and sighing when she sees the trucks are gone. She turned back to Oliver who was still looking at her arm. "You owe me a drink." he looked up to meet her eyes.

John was able to disarm the bomb and get the hostages released before they all headed back to the bunker.

Oliver spent most of the ride back to the hideout kicking himself. They all stood in the elevator, and his eyes once again looked over to the his wife's arm that she now had wrapped with a torn shirt. He called her to help him and now she was hurt.

When the doors opened, Felicity was waiting for them. Her eyes looked over to Katie's arm.

"How bad is it?" Felicity asked and Katie looked over to her.

"Feels like a warm breeze on a summer day." Katie replied before looking over to Oliver who she once again caught looking at her arm. "Stop, I'm fine." he looked up to meet her eyes.

"We needed more numbers." John said with a shake of his head. "We didn't have them."

"Any word from the other team?" Oliver asked

"I wish it was better news." Felicity said and they turned back her. "Vince. He didn't make it."

"How is Dinah?" Oliver asks.

"I'm guessing as good as she can be." Felicity replied.

"It was a choice between an entire city or one man." John looks over to Oliver. "You made the right call."

Katie looks over to John before turning to Oliver who lifts his eyes to her.

"Twinkie-

"Sometimes in a moment you realize one man is worth more than the entire city." she shrugs.

"Katie, I didn't mean-" John looked over to the woman who shook her head.

"I had the trucks and the bomb, but I let them go." Katie says looking from John to Oliver. "Maybe out of all the calls made tonight, the one to me was the wrong one."

And with that Katie turns and walks off toward the medical area. Oliver moves to follow her.

"Oliver," Felicity says and the man turns to her. "Sorry, I know, but something good did happen tonight." she nudged her head to where Alena was sitting. "I know it feels like this was all for nothing, but it's not entirely true." they appeared behind Alena. "Alena found something."

"I've been working on the data haul from Cayden's servers." Alena said.

"What'd you find?" Oliver asked.

"Evidence he received while in Corto Maltese- video of his son's murder."

Alena stood and they all walked over to the monitor where she played the video. They watched a video of what looked like Oliver, dawned as the Green Arrow pull an arrow from his quiver and shoot a teenage boy in the chest.

"It's Cayden's son, Owen Post." Alena said.

"Guess we know why he hates you so much." Felicity said looking over to Oliver.

"This is fabricated." Oliver shook his head as he looked at the video. "It didn't happen."

"This could not have been you." Felicity replied. "This all happened at the time Katie was in the car accident. You practically lived in the hospital with her."

"Yeah, but Owen Post was still murdered supposedly by the Green Arrow." John said looking at the screen. "Wouldn't the SCPD be all over this, the FBI?"

"Records in the case were wiped clean." Alena said.

"Right." Oliver sighed. "So Cayden wanted me all to himself and didn't want anyone to get in the way." he glanced over to Felicity and Alena. "How do we prove that this is fake?"

"Well, we're working on that, but there is something super interesting about this." Felicity replied. "The digital alteration of this is consistent with that of the bogus surveillance photo of you in the Green Arrow suit."

"We thought Cayden James leaked that image." John said looking over to the woman.

"Whoever doctored this leaked that photo."

"To make James think you killed his son." John sighed turning back to the monitor.

"Whoever planned this knew exactly how Cayden would react." Alena said.

"Which means that person has to be close to Cayden." Felicity added.

"If that's true, Vince wasn't the only traitor that Cayden has to worry about." Oliver said, his eyes on the screen for a moment longer before turning away. He lifted his eyes to the medical area before looking over to Alena and Felicity. "Let me know when you find something."

The two women nod before heading back over to sit behind the computer.

"Dinah was right." Oliver said his eyes still looking over to the medical area. "If a choice was put in front of me between saving the city and saving Twinkie, I wouldn't think twice." he looked over to John who gave the man a pat on shoulder before heading off to get changed.

Oliver walked down the steps and headed over into the medical area to see Katie standing in front of a mirror, now in a tank top as she looks at her arm. She glanced up to see him.

"Cayden employs idiots with bad aim, it's just a graze." she replies before walking over to grab some supplies to clean and wrap her arm.

"Let me help you." Oliver walked over.

"I got it." she said grimacing as she reached up to grab the bandages that seemed higher in the cabinet than she remembers.

Oliver sighed before reaching over her head and grabbing the bandages. Katie turned to him and he looked down to her.

"You know I get it. You're mad at me. So be mad at me while I help you." he said and Katie rolled her eyes before walking over to take a seat.

Oliver grabbed the alcohol wipes and the bandages before following behind her. She grimaced as he cleaned the wound with the wipe. Oliver looked over and lightly smiled.

"You weren't a bad call." he said and Katie turned to him. "You saved my life."

"I let the bad guys get away with the bomb that could kill a lot of people." she sighed turning away from the man. "I guess you're not the only one who can be distracted when we're both out there."

"We found out why Cayden is targeting me." Oliver said and Katie turned to him. "He thinks I killed his son. There's a doctored video of me shooting his son with an arrow. The time this happened, you were in the car accident."

"Right, and you were too busy playing helicopter husband, and invading my personal space by chaperoning me to the bathroom." Katie said and Oliver just let out a chuckle. "Can Felicity prove the video is fake?"

"She and Alena are going to try." Oliver replied as he smoothed the bandage on her arm before placing a kiss over it. He lifted his eyes to her. "You were not a bad call." he said again. "I went looking for you and got myself pinned down. What happened was my fault." he slid a hand gently over the bandage. "This is my fault." he turned his eyes to hers. "I'm sorry."

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop apologizing?" Katie asked, her eyes on his. She lets out a sigh, because even though she isn't happy with him, every fiber in her body wants to reach out and touch him.

"I don't think I will ever stop apologizing." Oliver replied, fighting every instinct in his body telling him to wrap his arms around her.

Katie dropped her eyes from his before looking over to the bandage on her arm.

"I wouldn't have let you do it." she suddenly said before turning back to Oliver. "What Vince did tonight, the risk he took, if that was you, I wouldn't have let you do it."

"We needed to locate the bomb and we were getting nowhere." Oliver said. "He knew the risk, and he chose."

"I'm not saying any of that is not true. What I'm saying is that, if that were you, I wouldn't have let you do it. To go into enemy territory alone, it was going to be dangerous no matter the outcome. You may have gotten what you wanted out of this, but now Vince is dead."

Oliver frowned, "He-"

"I know what he's done." Katie interrupted him. "I also know what he chose to do after. We are not the things we've done." she couldn't help it. Her hand reached up to his cheek and Oliver leaned into her touch. "You should go check on Dinah." after a moment she dropped her hand, and sighed. "And I should call Ari. She's seriously testing my patience."

Once Oliver left, Katie went to shower and change. When she stepped out of the room, she was once again dialing Ari's number, only to stop when she saw the girl standing by Felicity. Ari turned to Katie and quickly hurried over to her and held out a paper cup.

"I got you a peanut butter milkshake." Ari said with a smile. Katie looked at the cup before lifting her eyes to the teen. "I'm hoping this will help reduce whatever punishment you may be trying to pin on me for missing curfew, while also putting it in your heart to let me spend the night with Felicity."

Katie looked over to the girl with a furrowed brow before looking over to Felicity.

"She told me about the video and I want to help decrypt it." Ari said still holding out the milkshake. Katie took the cup from the girl's hand and took a sip from the straw. "Is that a yes?"

Katie lifted her eyes over to Felicity who nods, to confirm Ari's story. With a sigh, Katie turns back to Ari and nods.

"Fine," Katie said and Ari smiled before turning. "Ari-" the teen stopped and turned back to Katie. "I am awake. I know it has not seemed like it, but I am. And yeah, I'm kind of stuck in a very turbulent emotional roller coaster right now, but I'm dealing with it." she placed a hand on Ari's cheek. "I am here. I'm not going anywhere." Ari smiled, before bringing her arms around Katie in a hug.

"Does this mean you're not upset with me anymore about being Firelight?" Ari asked.

Katie pulled back and smiled at the girl. "I'm not there yet." she replied before nudging her head head. "If you're going with Felicity, you should go get your things."

Oliver rode the elevator down to the bunker, a plastic bag gripped in his hands. His visit with Dinah left him uneasy. The woman seemed to be burying herself in grief and anger and he's afraid of the path it will lead her. She's already promised that she intends to kill everyone involved in Vince's dead, starting with evil Laurel. He knows it's not going to end well at all.

When the doors open, Oliver steps out and looks around to find that no one was there. He walks around a bit, stopping at the pen to find all the dogs were gone. He glanced down to his watch, wondering if Katie would've taken them out for a walk. It was late and it wouldn't make any sense. He lifted his head when he heard a voice, so he turned to figure out who it was.

It didn't take him long to find his wife who seemed to be pacing back and forth in front of the display case that held the Green Arrow suit. She glanced over to him when she heard his footsteps, and that's when he saw the bottle in her hand.

"I told you, you owed me a drink." she laughed with a hiccup.

"Who were you talking to?" Oliver walked over, glancing around before turning back to her.

Katie looked from him to the bag in his hands before asking her own question.

"What's in the bag?"

Oliver sighed before opening the bag and watched as she took a step forward to peek inside. There were three boxes of chocolate chip cookies, her favorite kind. She reached forward to grab a box, but he closed the bag, and she looked up to him with a frown.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked again.

Katie rolled her eyes before turning and gesturing to the suit in the display case with the bottle.

"I was just having a heart to heart with your mistress." she said before bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a sip.

"Hey, Twinkie, don't-" he watched her take the long gulp of a very strong Russian vodka he thought he hid well. "Maybe you've had enough."

"Oh, I've had more than enough." she laughed as she turned to him. "I think I've had the legal limit of enough, and then some. And you know what, it just keeps on coming!" she turned back to the suit. "And I don't even blame you, you bastard." she continued to laugh. "Nope, it's not your fault." she looked over to Oliver. "I did this. I made this my life and now—" she sighs as she turns and once again bring the bottle to her lips, but this time Oliver takes it from her hands. "Hey, give that back!"

"No," he says before dropping the bag and reaching forward to pick her up and over his shoulder.

"What are—put me down!"

He walks over and sits her down on a table near by. When she attempts to stand up, he grabs her waist and puts her back on the table.

"Will you just stop!" she snapped pushing him away. "Just go away and leave me alone."

"No, I'm not going anywhere. It's unfortunate that drunk Twinkie is the one who will talk to me, but here we are." he watched as she turned away from him. "You made this your life. What does that mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything," she muttered reaching for the bottle in his hand, but he just pulled it away.

"I don't believe you." Oliver sighed. "Twinkie, please, just—" she turns to face him. "Talk to me."

Katie shook her head as she turned away, hating that tears were prickling her eyes. She reached up to wipe them away with her hands before hugging her knees up to her chest and hiding her face in her arms.

Oliver slid his arms around her, and placed a kiss to the top of her head, and just stays there holding her in his arms.

"Twinkie, just tell me."

After a moment Katie lifts her head, and wipes tears away with her hand, before looking over to Oliver.

"I don't know how I let this become my life." she said, turning away and wiping more tears before turning back to him. "I don't know how I've let myself become so consumed by fear."

Oliver let out a breath, because for a moment he thought this conversation was heading another way.

"I thought the fear was tortured and beaten out of me, but nope." she shook her head.

"Fear of what?" Oliver asked and Katie let out a snort.

"Oh, pretty much everything. Something bad happening to the city, or something happening to the kids." she turned to him. "Something happening to you or just losing you all together."

"Twinkie-"

He reached out to her, but she shoved him away before sliding from the table. Oliver turned and watched as she walked over and picked up the bag and grabbed a box of cookies. She opened the box and dug in, grabbing a cookie and putting it in her mouth.

"What can I do?" Oliver asked and Katie turned to him and shook her head.

"Absolutely nothing." she replied. "There's nothing you can do to help me. You need to finally understand that Oliver. I did this, I have to figure out a way to deal with it."

Oliver watches as she paces back and forth, a box of cookies in her hand. He's not sure what to do or what to say to convince her to let him in and to let him help her with whatever is creating this fear.

"I get it." he says and she glances over to him. "You have no idea how much I understand what you're feeling right now." he walked over to stand in front of her to stop her from pacing. "Because I feel it every day. This immeasurable fear that just rears it's ugly head at random parts of my day. Twinkie, I'm scared too. I'm scared that this is either all going to be taken from me, or I'm going to mess up so bad, that I just lose it." he smiled as he placed his hands on the side of her face. "There's only one thing in this world that quiets that fear. And it's these eyes, and this smile. Twinkie, you have always been my solace and my peace." he leaned forward and dropped his head to hers. "And I'm supposed to be that for you. And I'm sorry, I'm not—I'm sorry I'm screwing this up."

"Yeah, well the cookies are always a good starting point on the road to redemption."

Oliver pulled back to see the woman reach into the box to grab another cookie and take a bite. He couldn't help but the chuckle as he watched her turn away, and clumsily lower to the floor, to sit cross-legged in front of the display. Oliver, sighed as he moved to sit down beside her and they just sat there in silence.

"How afraid should I be of whatever was in that bottle?" she asked turning to him.

"Twinkie, with as much as you drank, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a long night for both of us."

Katie just let out a snort before turning to the display case and frowning. She suddenly threw a cookie at the display that held the Green Arrow suit.

"It's not that funny you green bastard!"


Author's Note

Drunk Twinkie everyone :)

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Sneak peek

"I'm tired. I'm just tired of all of it." she looked over to Oliver who walked over to stand in front of her. "So maybe it's time for me to accept that this is it. This our life." she turned to walk away, but Oliver caught her arm and pulled her back to him.

"You're not going after Cayden." Oliver adamantly said. He slid a hand along her face and leaned into her. "I will fix this. You just have to give me more time."

"That man just threatened to drop a bomb in four hours on this city that holds everything I love. You've run out of time Oliver." she pressed a kiss to his lips.

"Oliver?"

Oliver glanced up to see John standing there looking over to him with a look of concern. When Oliver turned back to where Katie was just standing, she wasn't there. He spun around, letting his eyes move over every corner, but she was just gone.