#joanna diggle

[dctvandmcufan]

[sapphiccanaries]

dctv ladies per episode ♣ ↳ Arrow 1x04: An Innocent Man

[raywritesthings]

Wrong Road to the Right Place 13/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance, Tommy Merlyn, Quentin Lance, John Diggle, Malcolm Merlyn, Thea Queen, Moira Queen, Joanna de la Vega, McKenna Hall, Felicity Smoak Pairings: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Summary: Laurel finds herself curious about the marks Oliver showed her that night in his bedroom - and the tattoo on his left shoulder stands out in particular. When she discovers its meaning, she finds herself questioning everything she knows about the man she doesn’t want to admit she still loves. *Can also be read on my AO3 page*

Laurel found herself so busy between work, training, and spending time down in the base that the date almost flew past her. But luckily, she happened to be cross-checking her calendar for a so-called date night with Oliver for their cover when it hit her.

“Oh, no.”

Oliver frowned. “Is this week not good?”

“It’s not that. Tommy’s birthday is coming up.”

“Oh. Yeah, it is that time, isn’t it?”

She supposed those kinds of things had been of little concern on the island. As for her, she hadn’t seen much of their friend since she and Oliver put out the story that they were together again. Laurel still felt a little guilty for that, but then she didn’t really know whether Tommy wanted to see her anymore.

“We should do something. Or offer to, if he wants,” she decided.

“Yeah?”

“I could have some people over at my place, cook something—”

“Or order in,” he suggested. She shot him a look.

“Fine. I’ll see if Joanna wants to come. She’s been needing to get out of the house. Thea’s totally welcome. And you, John.”

“I imagine that would look a little odd considering my designated cover,” he replied over by the computers. “But thanks for asking.”

Laurel winced. Right, she and Oliver weren’t supposed to be good friends with him to an outside perspective. She looked to Oliver. “Do you want to ask Tommy?”

“Yeah, I can do that. This should be good for us.” He smiled, and a little of the weight he always carried on his shoulders these days seemed to lift.

What was unspoken, of course, was that neither of them knew what to do about Tommy now that his father was allegedly linked to Oliver’s mission. So far, Oliver had been taking things slow with the Frank Chen approach. He had gone to the man’s home and hidden bugs there, hoping to catch some kind of intel before approaching Chen as the Hood. They knew as soon as the Dark Archer and his boss got wind of that, they’d be on a clock, and they needed all the upper hand they could get.

Laurel gathered up her things. “Great. I’m heading out. There’s a gym in the area I wanted to have a look at.”

She’d started looking for one in the Glades to make it easier to move between there, work, and Oliver’s base as needed. It didn’t hurt that the prices were way cheaper than the higher-end trendy places.

Oliver nodded. She knew he was still a little leery of her training up, but since that night in the car he had seemingly elected not to say anything about it. Laurel knew when not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she wasn’t about to ask him what the change of heart was.

Laurel walked into the Wildcat Gym. It was definitely a very old school place, with a boxing ring in the center of the floor and some punching bags hung up around the room. One man stopped punching at a bag in the corner at her entrance and walked over, a towel slung around his neck.

“Can I help you?”

“Are you the owner?”

He nodded. “Ted Grant.”

“Laurel Lance,” she said. “I’m looking to get some training.”

“What kind.”

Her eyes drifted to the ring. “Boxing.”

He gave her a look. “You’re sure?”

Laurel nodded. If she wanted to know more than self-defense, she needed to have some kind of form or technique; John had told her as much.

There was a smile playing around his lips. “It’s not exactly for everyone. How about you look over one of these—” Ted leaned over to a table against the side of the room and picked up a brochure, which he held out to her. “—see what’s required, and then we’ll talk.”

He turned and headed back over to his things.

“I am serious about this,” Laurel said.

“Then you’ll look it over.”

She rolled her eyes and left the gym. Typical. What, because she’d come over in work slacks and heels, she clearly couldn’t be interested in boxing? She was sure if Oliver or John had arrived even in one of their nicest suits, they wouldn’t have gotten a brush-off.

Tommy agreed to the party, she was relieved to find out later that night, so Laurel spent some extra time on cleaning her apartment. In the end, she also floated an invite by McKenna Hall, seeing as she had once been one of the crowd in their wilder days. Since they were both working in the law, it wasn’t a bad idea to reconnect either. McKenna accepted, and so they were set for the end of the week.

Thea showed up first on her own, who looked around Laurel’s apartment with interest. “Nice place you got.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, I can see why Ollie’s always over here.”

Laurel just shook her head with a grin. She took out her phone and sent off a quick text to the girl’s brother. Where are you?

Got held up at the heliport. Be there in five, was his reply moments later. Laurel pocketed the phone; she’d have to wait either till after the party or tomorrow to hear what he might have been up to there.

There was another knock on the door, so Laurel headed over and checked through the peephole before opening it. “Well, if it isn’t the guest of honor.”

“What do you know, you’re hosting that dinner party after all,” Tommy replied.

She smiled and accepted his hug. “Not sure it’ll beat your usual bashes, but somebody had to try. Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you.” He stepped further into the room. “Speedy, thanks for coming.”

“Beats sitting at home since all my friends ditched me,” Thea said.

“If your friends needed drugs to be your friends, those weren’t friends worth keeping,” her brother stated.

“Exactly.”

Laurel spotted both Joanna and McKenna exiting the elevator, so she left her door open and greeted Joanna with a hug and McKenna with a smile.

“Detective.”

“Counselor. Thanks for having me. You have no idea how hard it is to find a social life when you give up being the party girl.”

“Well, Thea was just telling us all about that,” Laurel remarked. She looked to Joanna. “How are things, Jo?”

“They’re doing better. Think my mom was actually glad to see me getting out of the house. So where’s Tommy?”

“Here,” he moved to shake both their hands. “Now we’re just waiting on Oliver.”

“Your wait is at an end,” Oliver announced as he entered through her still open door. He dropped a kiss to her cheek and moved to give Tommy a hug. “Happy Birthday.”

“Yeah, the first one in a while with you home.”

They all migrated to the sitting room, and Laurel found herself perched on the end of the couch beside Oliver. McKenna and Joanna were taking turns explaining how they knew everyone else. Thea was texting a certain someone labeled ‘purse thief’ in her phone, she noted with amusement.

Another knock came at her door. Laurel stood. “That’s probably the food.”

But when she went to the door, it was the last person she would have expected waiting on the other side. She froze. “Mr. Merlyn.”

The conversation in the living room stilled, and she heard first Oliver and then Tommy rise from their seats.

“Laurel, it’s very nice to see you,” Tommy’s father stated, a polite smile on his lips that didn’t quite seem to reach his cool blue eyes. “I was under the impression my son might be here tonight. I was hoping to see him.”

She took an involuntary step back, which he seemed to decide was a welcome. He nodded to someone over her shoulder. “Oliver.”

“Mr. Merlyn,” Oliver replied, a little stiffly. She could see his eyes mapping the distance from himself to her and to Malcolm Merlyn.

“What are you doing here, dad?” Tommy demanded. As Mr. Merlyn proceeded to try and invite him to the presentation of his Humanitarian of the Year award, things didn’t get any less tense. Tommy all but forced his father back out the door, and it left him in a sour mood for the rest of the night.

Oliver had little choice but to leave for his home with Thea, so she didn’t get the chance to talk to him privately until the next day when he dropped his sister off at CNRI. “What was going on at the heliport?”

“An international assassin was trying to get into the city. Things got...bad. I kept his phone, and I’m having someone look it over to see what his assignment was,” he told her.

Laurel looked down. It was hard, sometimes, hearing that Oliver had had to kill someone. She’d rather it was him who came out of a fight, the same way she always hoped for her father to come home safe from incidents no matter what it took. But her father had access to resources on the force Oliver didn’t: time off, counseling. The lives he took weighed on him, and she worried that he couldn’t see a way out of it on his own. Especially when it was often him against impossible odds in the field. He didn’t have a partner the way her father had Lucas Hilton, either.

But as seemed to be the case permanently in their lives, they were juggling more than just one thing. And she only had so much time with Oliver before he needed to get going to the Verdant.

“I was thinking about Mr. Merlyn’s invitation to Tommy last night,” she began.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I think we should try convincing Tommy to go, and that we should go with him in support.”

“Laurel, with what we suspect about Malcolm—”

“Exactly. The award ceremony is being held at Merlyn Global. It’s the perfect opportunity to have a look around and maybe plant some bugs like you did at Frank Chen’s place.”

Oliver paused. “That is a good idea. But I’m a little worried I’m becoming a bad influence on you.”

“Yeah, you probably should have worried about that before you started supplying me with illegally obtained evidence for my cases,” she replied.

“Ah. Right.” Oliver had his lips pressed together, and she suspected he was trying not to smile.

The door to the conference room she’d commandeered opened, and Anastasia poked her head in. “I’m gonna need in here in ten minutes. Say bye to your boyfriend.”

“Read you loud and clear, Anastasia,” she called back. Laurel turned to Oliver just as he leaned in, and the peck on the cheek he’d probably been aiming for landed on her lips.

It wasn’t their best kiss, considering the unplanned nature of it. Still, her heart gave a funny stutter in her chest, and she felt herself blush as Oliver blinked at her in surprise.

“Um, I’ll see you later? And I’ll see if I can talk to Tommy,” he added after he cleared his throat. He was starting to back away towards the door, giving the impression of running away.

“Yeah, sounds good. See you.” Laurel let out a breath once he disappeared and hung her head.

She really was juggling way too much.

—-

John sighed as he pulled into the parking garage for Queen Consolidated a second time in the same week. They really were risking a lot always coming here for tech help.

But this was how Oliver wanted to do things. He wasn’t keen on bringing additional people in on his secret unless absolutely necessary. This IT specialist had to be thinking something was up by now, though.

“So your friend’s phone was in Spanish,” Felicity Smoak began with a dubious look. She’d called them in after breaking Barrera’s encryption, so Oliver had sent Laurel a quick text to let her know he was going to be running late to the award ceremony and to head there with Tommy on her own. John had to marvel at how many moving pieces they were trying to manage at once.

“Uh, yeah. He’s trying to learn by immersion,” Oliver said.

“Well, once I worked past all of the encryption — and there was a lot, by the way — it looks like he’s going to an event tonight. The Municipal Group one? Some humanitarian award’s being given out, I think.”

The hit was scheduled for Merlyn’s event? That didn’t leave them a lot of time. He exchanged a look with Oliver, who then turned to Felicity.

“Great, thanks so much—”

“I’m not done,” she said, which brought them both up short. “Along with images of the building schematics, he also has a woman’s picture.”

She held up the phone, and John felt his heart drop.

“That can’t be right.”

But Laurel’s image was on display. Laurel, the target of an international assassin. How could that be?

Oliver’s face had gone extremely pale, and wordlessly he turned and ran from the office.

“Uh, is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine,” John lied, then hurried after his friend. They had to get him to the base to change as quickly as possible so he could reach the event in time.

“Think the Triad still has it out for her because of Sommers?”

“I don’t know.” Oliver was on his phone, but it didn’t look like he was reaching her. “And if they did, why the setup at the event? They know where she lives.”

“So there’s someone or something else at play.” Could it have something to do with Merlyn? Had he perhaps learned that his name had come up during her case against Ken Williams?

But then, having her attacked at an event for himself made little sense. Why connect himself to the assassination in any way? Were they wrong about Merlyn?

Oliver was leaping from the car before John had even finished pulling up behind the Verdant, and by the time he got downstairs his friend was halfway through changing into the Hood’s suit.

“Keep trying to call her, and when she picks up, tell her to find a small space with no windows until I get there. I’ll call Lance on my way to get the SCPD ready.”

“Right.”

Oliver left the base, and John stationed himself by the monitors.

Who would have done this? And why?

But those questions only mattered if they stopped it happening in time. John watched Oliver’s progress via the tracker in his boot, his heart hammering as if he was physically on the journey himself. In his hands, he held his phone, his thumbs sure as they pulled up Laurel’s number.

“Come on, come on.”

But the phone kept ringing.

—-

When Tommy left his apartment, he found Laurel’s car waiting at the curb as opposed to the one Mr. Diggle chauffeured Oliver and any guests around in. He slid into the passenger seat, and Laurel flashed him a quick smile.

“Well, you look, uh—” He desperately searched around for some word other than hot.

“Thank you,” she replied simply, saving him from that awkwardness. “That’s a good suit on you.”

“So where’s Oliver?”

“Um, I think he said something came up at home,” she told him. “So it’s you and me tonight until he can get away. That okay?”

“Fine by me.” Not fine for his lingering feelings, but considering he still wanted Laurel and Oliver both to be in his life, he was going to need to get over that at some point. Maybe tonight could be practice.

They arrived to find the lobby of Merlyn Global already packed. Tommy was glad to spot one other familiar face in the crowd, and he motioned Laurel to follow him over to the woman.

“Mrs. Queen,” he called as they approached, and she turned, her smile freezing for a moment.

“Tommy. Laurel.” Oliver’s mother tilted forward slightly, like she was thinking of reaching out or embracing one of them but thought better of it.

“How’s home?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Well, Ollie was supposed to come out with us tonight, but he told Laurel he couldn’t make it for family reasons.”

Mrs. Queen shrugged. “It must have been something to do with him and Thea. It’s probably for the best he’s staying home to settle things.” Her eyes drifted from him and landed, again, on Laurel. “But it’s good to see you both.”

She moved away, joining Mr. Chen, who Tommy remembered vaguely as a friend of his dad’s but hadn’t seen for a while. Laurel frowned and started to walk forward, but a man at the podium called everyone’s attention to the front of the room.

“Please help me welcome Starling City’s humanitarian of the year, Mr. Malcolm Merlyn.”

“Something the matter?” Tommy muttered as they clapped.

“It’s nothing.”

His father took the microphone and began his speech. When he brought up his mom and her death, Tommy had to look down. Laurel reached for and gave his hand a squeeze, and he flashed her a tight smile in gratitude.

The speech really wasn’t that bad, he had to grudgingly admit. It was perhaps the most genuine he’d seen his father be in a long time.

The lights suddenly went out, and a murmur broke out in the crowd.

“Hey, what?”

Laurel gripped his hand. “Tommy, we should get out of here.”

It was impossible to tell what was going on between the dark and mass of people. It was also proving difficult to move anywhere. People were shoving at each other in an attempt to get to the exits.

“Tommy! Tommy! Laurel!”

His father appeared and took hold of his shoulders. “There’s an exit on the second floor. “I wasn’t leaving until I knew you were safe.” He started pulling both him and Laurel towards the stairs. “Come with us, Laurel.”

But when they left the stairwell they immediately had to duck behind part of the wall to avoid a spray of bullets. Two men in waiter’s outfits stood at the end with guns. His father kept one arm thrown in front of him as glass shattered all around.

One of the shattered windows was caused by the Hood, who rolled across the floor and sprung up to hit one of the gunmen with an arrow. He didn’t have time to get the second one, and was forced to find his own cover.

Laurel made a start forward, and Tommy had to grab her arm.

The Hood looked back at them. “Get her somewhere safe! I’ll hold them off.”

Tommy glanced back at Laurel. What was this guy’s fascination with her, anyway?

“Go now!”

His father nodded and made for a second stairwell. “Come on!”

“Where are we going?” Tommy could already feel a stitch forming in his side.

“Up,” was his father’s curt answer.

“Who are those guys?”

“Triad, probably,” Laurel replied just as his father opened his mouth again.

Triad. Just like Joanna said Laurel had been looking into. “Oh, my God. Are they trying to kill you again?”

“I’d love to know why,” she said, hiking her dress up as they cleared another landing and headed for more stairs. This was definitely not the way to the exit.

He tried to pull them both to a stop. “Wait, wait, we don’t have any of your bodyguards, dad. We need to get out of here!”

Laurel seemed swayed, but his father took his shoulders again.

“Tommy, take a deep breath and trust me. Upstairs in my office is a panic room. We get there, we seal it off.”

They made it to another hallway, only to skid to a stop as two more uniformed men stepped into their path with handguns.

His father and Laurel both moved at the same time, each going for one of the Triad men. Laurel elbowed at the man’s gut and forced his arm up into the air so that his shot went into the ceiling. Then she slammed him against the wall with her arm pressing up against his throat. His father, meanwhile, had twisted his opponent’s arm around to force the gun out of his hand. He took it and pointed it at the attacker’s head.

Tommy reached out. “Wait!”

His father shot the man point blank. He turned and fired a second shot at the man Laurel was struggling to keep pinned. She staggered back with a gasp, and Tommy steadied her with his hands on his arms. But his eyes were on his father..

“You killed them.”

“As surely as they would’ve killed you.”

There was a bang from downstairs of a door hitting a wall. More people were coming up.

His father checked the gun he was holding. Then ushered them towards another door. He punched in the code as he spoke. “The penthouse floor is on a separate grid. Electromagnetic locks. You get up there, and it’ll be over.”

“You’re not coming with us,” Laurel said. She’d held onto the second attacker’s gun, and Tommy didn’t understand how she could possibly be this calm and collected.

“I’ll be along as soon as I can. Now move!”

“Dad!”

“Keep going, Tommy!”

Laurel grabbed onto his hand and pulled him further up the steps with more strength than Tommy really would have expected. She kept him running all the way to the top, with no chance to stop and wait for his dad.

“We can’t just leave him down there!”

“You have to trust he can take care of himself, Tommy. Didn’t you see what he did to those men?”

He had seen. And he still was in shock. He’d watched his father fight and kill. How had he known how to do that?

They threw open the doors to his dad’s penthouse office and shut them behind them, sliding down to the ground as they both caught their breath. It was eerily still and quiet in the room, making it hard to imagine there was a fight for survival going on in the floors below them.

“Tommy, I think we should stay down.”

He looked over at her. “What?”

“There’s a lot of windows. We should stick to the floor until the police arrive.”

“You’re sure?” When she nodded, he gave a sigh. “Okay, we’ll do it your way.”

Tommy put on his best army crawl as he led the way over towards his father’s desk. His breath sounded loud to his own ears.

“How are we gonna know when it’s safe?” It wasn’t as if the Triad couldn’t pretend to be officers asking them to come back out since they’d already impersonated waitstaff.

“News alerts? But I dropped my clutch somewhere,” she said. “It had my phone.”

“I got it,” he replied. Tommy fished his phone out of his pocket and turned it on. The screen lit up bright and—

It didn’t sound like a shot. For one thing, there was the window shattering that covered everything. Then a sound like a mini explosion as the side of his father’s desk was blown into pieces. Tommy curled up in a ball, his head tucked into his chest, and waited a few terrible moments.

When the silence remained, he peeked out of his protective ball. “Sorry. You were right — Laurel? Laurel!”

She was lying there, one hand over her middle where a splintered piece of wood stuck out of her abdomen. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps.

“Laurel! Oh my- oh my God.” He slid across the floor to her. It was hard to see in the dark of the room, but there was a stain spreading over her dress.

“No, no, no, Laurel. Laurel, come on!” What was he supposed to do? Take it out? Leave it in? He fumbled for his phone. They needed help.

A shadow loomed over them both, and Tommy looked up. The Hood had arrived.

He knew he’d technically been the first to ever see the vigilante in action, even if he’d been out of it still from the drugs he’d been given. Fully lucid, the man looked even more intimidating than his pictures.

“Laurel.”

He crossed the room with menacing strides, and Tommy threw himself in front of Laurel.

“Stay back!” The gun she’d brought with them was lying near her and he picked it up, pointing it at the vigilante.

The Hood halted, though he didn’t sound happy about it. “She needs medical attention. There’s an ambulance downstairs. I can get her there.”

Tommy’s grip on the gun only tightened. “Why should I trust you?”

The Hood reached up, not for his quiver of arrows, but for the very hood that covered his head. He pulled it back and stepped into a beam of moonlight, and it was Oliver who answered. “Because you always have.”

Tommy sat back, hard. The gun slipped from his fingers. Oliver didn’t wait for any further response. He moved to scoop Laurel up into his arms, one hand lifting the hood back over his features. Then he went back to the shattered window and shot a line. With the bow in one hand and Laurel secured in his other arm, he jumped. Tommy stood and staggered on his feet.

They were gone. Oliver and Laurel, gone just like that. How could it be? If it weren’t for the blood on the floor, he’d think it was all something he’d made up in his head.

The office doors were flung open and his father rushed in. “Tommy?”

“Dad! You’re okay.”

His father took in the damage done to the room. “Where’s Laurel?”

“The Hood, he took her. Said he could get her to the ambulance. She- she got hurt.” Tommy gazed around at the chaos again. He felt lost.

His father reached out, and for the first time he could remember in ages, pulled him into a hug. “Tommy, I’m going to speak to the police about this. Whoever organized this attack, they will pay,” his father promised. Tommy believed him.

“Okay.”

His father pulled back but kept his hands on his arms. “Let one of my men drive you to the hospital. Please.”

Tommy nodded numbly.

On the drive over, it occurred to him he had said the Hood. Not Oliver. He still couldn’t believe it was Oliver. His best friend, the man he considered like a brother...how could he be the same killer that had been going after people for the last several months? What had happened to make him like that?

He was looked over at the hospital for a few cuts and scrapes he’d gotten from the broken glass. A quiet request got him the floor Laurel would be moved to after her surgery. He was the only one there, at first.

The door at the end of the hall opened, and in walked Oliver and Mr. Diggle. The bodyguard stopped a good distance away as Oliver walked up, but Tommy wondered if it mattered. He’d probably hear all about whatever they said later; he could see it in his eyes now that the man knew the truth.

That left him only one question.

“Tommy…” Oliver began.

He cut him off. “You said to get her somewhere safe. She was the one the Triad was after.”

“Yes,” Oliver answered.

“Because of you?”

“I…don’t know.”

“Does she know? Who you really are.”

After a moment, Oliver gave a single nod.

Tommy leaned back against the wall. He didn’t know if that made things better or worse.

Laurel was dating the Hood. It sounded insane. She was throwing herself headlong into danger every chance she got. She’d almost died tonight.

“It was about you, wasn’t it? All the Triad, Bratva stuff she was researching.”

Oliver looked down.

“You know what? You were right when you came back. You should have stayed away from her.” Of course Laurel would follow Oliver wherever he went, whatever he did. She loved him. And he was too selfish to admit that all he did was get her hurt.

“Tommy, there’s something else—”

“No.” He held a hand up. “I think I got it.” Tommy pushed off the wall and walked away. He couldn’t face this right now.

He took the elevator down to the main level. He’d have to call for a ride. But as he walked towards the sliding doors at the end, a sniffle caught his attention. He turned towards a little visitor’s waiting nook, empty aside from one occupant.

“Mrs. Queen?”

She looked up, hastily balling up the kleenex in one hand as if to hide it the way magicians did to their scarves. He’d wanted to be a magician once, back when he was a kid. He’d had the name for it, after all.

“Oh, Tommy. I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“What are you doing here?” He would’ve thought she’d gone home to reassure her children she was alright — not that Oliver would have been home to hear it.

Oliver’s mother had already half-risen from her chair, and she paused there a moment. “Well, I’d heard Laurel was in the hospital.”

“So you decided to wait in a totally different area of the hospital?”

The more he looked at her, the more he could see just how tired and distressed she still seemed. Her fingers were playing nervously with one edge on the kleenex, threatening to tear it right off. More than ever, she reminded him of Oliver. The Oliver that had come back from the island, that was.

After what he’d just learned, he wasn’t about to overlook his misgivings this time.

Tommy took a step closer. “Mrs. Queen...is something going on?”

—-

In one night, everything had gone completely to Hell.

Laurel had been targeted by the Triad. It wasn’t the first time she’d been tangled with them, but this had him worried. Who had used the Triad to put out the hit? Chyna White had refused to answer. None of Laurel’s current cases had opponents with that dirty of a background.

Worse, none of the people who had done so before had ever managed to hurt her like this. He couldn’t get the sound of her gasping breaths out of his head. It had taken everything in him to leave immediately upon placing her in the care of the paramedics at the scene.

He’d rushed back to the base and found John waiting. “Hospital,” he’d said in a clipped tone as he’d stripped down to change into civilian wear.

John had gotten them there as quickly as humanly possible, and Oliver had met Tommy in the waiting room. His friend was still shaken from learning the truth, it seemed, and was taking it about as badly as Oliver had ever feared. He couldn’t worry about that yet, though. Not until he knew Laurel’s condition.

Now alone, save for John who was waiting a few feet down the hall — the most strategic position in case of unwanted visitors approaching from the stairs or elevators — Oliver stood there and prayed to whatever might be out there listening. Laurel had to be okay. She had to be. He didn’t know how he’d live with himself if she wasn’t.

Laurel meant so much to him. She was one of his oldest friends, she inspired him to be better than he thought himself capable of, and she was the only woman he wanted to be with. He loved her, and not as part of some cover. If he lost her tonight, without her knowing...

A nurse left the room Laurel had been moved to after her surgery and spotted him. She walked over.

“You’re here for Miss Lance?”

“Yes.” Oliver had to clear his throat. “I’m her boyfriend.”

The nurse nodded. “Well, she’s in stable condition now. She’ll need monitoring and rest, but the worst of it is over.”

He closed his eyes for a moment, letting that sink in. Laurel wasn’t dying. She would be okay with time. He’d never been more relieved in his life.

“Can I see her?”

“For a few minutes, yes.”

He walked to the doorway and paused a moment, gathering a breath. Then he stepped through.

A steady, reassuring beeping tone filled the space. Laurel’s chest was rising and falling with her breathing. As he took the chair at her bedside, her eyes opened and a smile rose on her lips.

“Hey.”

“Hey. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Really,” she told him, her voice still thick with some of the fog of anesthesia. “Is Tommy okay?”

“Yeah. He, um, he knows. I had to show myself so he’d let me take you to the paramedics.”

“How’d he take it?”

“Not well,” he chose to answer.

Laurel turned the arm closest to him over, her palm up. Even as tired and drained as she had to be, she was offering him comfort. Oliver felt himself smile.

A light knock on the door frame had them both looking up, and Oliver’s eyes widened in disbelief at the woman who stood there.

“Mom?” Laurel asked.

“Hello, Laurel. Oliver,” Mrs. Lance added with a brief smile in his direction.

Laurel glanced from him to her mother as if to check he was seeing this, too. “How did you get here so fast?”

“I was already here,” her mother answered. There was a nervous quality to her voice and movements as she stepped into the room, but she was putting a brave face on it. “I just got in tonight. I was coming to see you.”

“You were?”

“Yes. I wanted to talk to you about something important. It’s about Sara.”

Laurel went totally still. “Sara.”

Oliver’s eyes closed. The broken note in her voice was almost too much to bear.

Mrs. Lance either didn’t notice or was choosing to steam ahead anyway. “Yes. I think she may still be alive. I did some research after you were found, Oliver—”

He shook his head. Perhaps something like this should have been expected when he returned, but he did not have the happy answer she wanted. And now was about the worst time to be asking.

“You’re here because of Sara,” Laurel repeated.

“Well, of course when I heard you’d been hospitalized I came here,” her mother said. “I- I wanted to see you either way.”

“And you didn’t want to see me the last five years? Just when you thought maybe I could help you with something?” Laurel’s voice was wavering badly, and Oliver didn’t have to be a doctor to know this couldn’t be good for her recovery. He stood up from the chair.

“Mrs. Lance, with all due respect, I think this can wait.” He let her back out of the room, her expression one of hurt, and then shut the door quietly. Oliver turned back around. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” When he gave her a look, Laurel swallowed once and amended, “No. I just — I should have expected something like that. You know, even when I’m recovering in the hospital, it’s all about Sara.” Her eyes spilled over with tears she didn’t have the strength to wipe away. “That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I miss her so much. I loved her. We all did. I just wish mom loved me, too.”

Oliver retook his chair and reached for her hands. “Laurel, I am so sorry for everything I did to your family.” Going over to her house when they were younger and seeing the way the Lances had been, he’d always loved it. They were what he’d always thought a family should be.

“Well, you didn’t do that. We had our problems, and I’m done blaming you for all of them.” Laurel swallowed once. “You’re too important to me.”

He looked down at their hands. For so long, he’d kept himself going on the promise that he would make things right between them. Now that he was here and Laurel had let him back into her life, he didn’t see how he’d done enough to deserve it. And that scared him.

But he couldn’t let the fear rule him this time. He’d gotten lucky too many times; with his own life, with Laurel’s. He didn’t want to wait for their luck to run out.

It was now or never. Oliver opened his mouth.

“Ollie. You need to know something.”

He looked back up at her face. “Yeah?”

“It’s about Mr. Merlyn.” Laurel took a deep breath, then continued, “He fought off the Triad on our way to the penthouse. Shot two of them point blank right in front of Tommy and me.”

Oliver went still. “He did?”

“He was good. You’re the only other person I know who can move like that.” Her grip on his hand tightened. “What if he’s the man you fought at Christmas?”

At first, his mind wanted to reject it. Even with Ken Williams’ statement, it was hard seeing Mr. Merlyn as someone other than the family friend he had always been. But then, with everything Tommy had told him about how cold his father had become over the years, with this new information. More than that, who would Merlyn trust better to do the job than himself? Cut out risk, eliminate the middleman. That was a CEO’s thinking.

Whether or not he was the Dark Archer, this still changed things. It made Merlyn dangerous.

“Don’t tell the police what you saw. If Merlyn thinks you’ll get him caught…” He couldn’t finish that sentence. God, they had fallen far too deep into things. He was finding it hard to see a way out of this. There was so much still unknown.

The door opened yet again, this time on a glowering Detective Lance.

“I think you’ve seen her for long enough.”

“Dad,” Laurel protested, but Oliver squeezed her hands once before standing up and letting go. He needed to try and help this rift between Laurel and her father heal.

“I’ll stick around,” he promised, leaning in once to kiss her forehead. He wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing how vulnerable Laurel was to attack here, so even pretending to go home and rest was useless.

He straightened up and gave a short nod to her father. Lance shouldered past him on his way to the visitor’s chair, and Oliver’s expression only turned more grim.

Only two things mattered now: keeping Laurel safe and finding whoever hired the Triad.

[oliverdant]

We have somebody returning to the show this year that we have not seen since Season 1.

Stephen Amell | HVFF Nashville [July 8, 2017] 

- (I hope is Walter but I think he was in 2x01...He is family)

[dctvladies]

ladies of color appreciation ♥ arrow edition (click on the gifs to know more about the ladies’ ethnicities)

[jbuffyangel]

Something To Live For: Arrow 1x10 Review (Burned)

I’m back! 

There’s a significant time difference between my 1x09 review and this review. No, I did not take a six year long holiday break. It just became too difficult to complete the Season 1 reviews the summer prior to Season 4. So, I decided to complete Season 1 and Season 2 reviews once Arrow was off air.

This means I have not watched 1x10-1x23 in eight years. I nearly forgot everything. Is L*urel still in this show?

She sure is.

“Burned” is the first real snoozer of Season 1, which kind of sets up the tradition of episode 10-15 slumps Arrow suffered nearly every season.  This has less to do with Arrow and more to do with it being a twenty three episode series. There’s gonna be some filler.

This episode still holds significant meaning to me though because it contains the SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR speech. This is my favorite John Diggle speech, which is why I named my blog after it. It is also the first time Arrow declares their mission statement.

Let’s dig in...

Oliver and Diggle

The bad guy plot is the worst part of “Burned,” so let’s just cut to the chase. There was a terrible fire in Starling City years ago. The fire chief recalled his unit but one of his men, Garfield Lynns, insisted the building could be saved. The chief refused to send in any more men and as a result Lynns died. Except, this is Arrow and nobody stays dead. Lynns is alive, ticked, insane and burning firefighters, which leads to Joanna’s brother (a firefighter) getting killed.

Cool? Cool. Moving on.

Oliver is having difficulty coping with the fact the Dark Archer kicked his ass all the way back to the stone age. It was a somewhat embarrassing loss and Oliver’s body wasn’t the only thing bruised. We are gifted a very lovely training sequences of a half naked and very sweaty Oliver Queen to show he is recovered, so his hesitancy isn’t physical. It is mental.

Source: @olivergifs​

Oliver is having a crisis of confidence and is avoiding suiting up like the plague.

Diggle: This guy, the other archer, he got in your head. He took something from you … he took whatever’s in your heart that lets you jump off buildings and take down bad guys.

Oliver worked for every skill he has. It was not gifted by a bolt of lightning. He does not come from an alien planet. Oliver is a weapon honed over time, which includes his superpower. 

Oliver Queen does not fear dying. 

That’s the “whatever” in his heart which gives him the confidence to jump off buildings. This superpower was honed after five years of fighting for survival. Oliver almost died so many times he’s built some kind of emotional immunity to it. It doesn’t freak him out like it would the rest of us.

The darker side of this superpower is Oliver doesn’t care if he lives or dies. Season 1 Oliver Queen is very fatalistic. He’s not suicidal, but he’s accepted death is the price he may have to pay in order to complete his mission. More importantly, he is drowning in guilt and believes death is the ending he deserves.

There’s rigidity in everything about Oliver – from his beliefs to even the way he moves. His posture is rod iron straight and there’s very little movement in his upper body and arms. It’s a physical manifestation of his PTSD. It’s like he’s encased in a brick wall, a tomb of suffering, which makes it difficult to breathe or move. It’s like the act of living is physically painful.

The problem is - Oliver came home and it is having an unexpected emotional impacted on him. He’s been laser focused on this mission, but bit by bit, the feelings he’s long since buried are resurfacing.  Moira, Thea, Tommy, Diggle, Laurel (AND FELICITY) are chipping away at this brick wall. Oliver didn’t adopt this machine like persona because he doesn’t feel anything. It’s because he feels so much, which means even the small holes in this wall are having a profound impact on him.

This all leads to the greatest John Diggle speech in history! Yes, I say that knowing full well Diggle has spectacular speeches throughout the series, but this will always be my favorite because it’s such a universal theme. 

We all must have something that makes life worth living.  This “something” is not limited to romantic love. It can be family, or work or a cause – basically whatever makes you get out of bed every day. It doesn’t have to be just one thing either. In fact, I hope you find many things/people to live for because that means you are living a full and connected life. By that same token, if you don’t have something to live for then you’re not really living. You just exist.

Or in Oliver’s case - survive. He’s known nothing but survival for the last five years. I think he absolutely cares for Yao Fei, Shado and Slade, but that’s exactly why Oliver shut down. He did care for people and it led to nothing but heartache, betrayal and loss. So, Oliver decided to be done with all that and has worked very hard to keep his loved ones at a distance ever since returning home.

He’s been extremely successful at it in many ways because Oliver refuses to share who he really is with anyone outside of John Diggle. So, that’s why it had to be John Diggle to tell him that it was okay to feel again.

Oliver: I’ve been close to death on the island more times than I can remember and I never feared it. Because I had nothing to lose. But when that archer almost killed me, when I stared death in the face then, I thought about all the people I’ve let into my life since I’ve been back – my family, Laurel, Tommy. And that made me afraid. Afraid of what would happen to those people if they lost me. Again. And for the first time in so long I had something to lose.

Oliver may not fear death, but he does fear what his death will mean to those who love him. Like I said earlier - Oliver is not suicidal. If that was true he wouldn’t have fought so hard to survive the island, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to live. He’s far from it. But this is the first time in a long time Oliver cared whether or not he died. And that scares him.  

Diggle: Maybe you’ve got it backwards Oliver. You think the people you’ve let in have taken your edge. I think it gives you one. Maybe a stronger one even. You can stare down death with something to live for or not. SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR is better.

That’s endgame folks. Oliver’s story is about a man learning to live again. He will collect more and more people/things that he cares about as he walks this road, which means there is more to lose. Losing his life is far preferable than losing someone he loves again.  Oliver can tolerate a great deal of physical pain. It’s the emotional pain that scares the crap out of him. This is why he fights tooth and nail to keep emotions at a distance. It just hurts too much.

Opening our heart to others often means opening our hearts to pain, but that’s not the only side of love. It brings happiness and contentment too. You take the good with the bad. Diggle is trying to open Oliver’s heart to the good.

Is Oliver alive? Or is he just breathing? The answers to those questions make all the difference in the world. A difference Diggle knows will make Oliver an unbeatable weapon.

Lynns: I'm not afraid to die

Oliver: I know. You're afraid to live.

COULD IT BE A PARALLEL?

Methinks yes. It’s interesting “Burned” revolves around fire. Fire is where Oliver’s story began. Lian Yu was about purification, but it was also a rebirth. 

A rebirth we see expanding as Oliver opens up his heart. A fire is lit from within our hero and it’s growing beyond penance, justice and retribution to hope, passion and enlightenment. Oliver Queen is finding reasons to live again. And it will make all the difference for his survival.

L*urel L*nce

If you sense I have less patience with L*urel’s character in Seasons 1 and Season 2 than I did in Season 3 and Season 4 then you’d be right. My opinions on this character changed radically so I’m coming into Season 1 and Season 2 reviews with a Season 8 perspective on L*urel.

Tommy wants a drawer. That’s all. A drawer. Tommy Merlyn is a simple man. Doesn’t take a lot to make him happy. He even wrote a list explaining all the reasons he deserves and needs a drawer. We never see the list, but I’d imagine it looks something like this:

I AM HUMAN PERFECTION.

I did not sleep with your sister.

I am asking for a drawer rather than run screaming to the North China Sea with above referenced sister.

I make you omelets.

I make your character moderately tolerable which is a miracle in of itself.

I could continue, but you get the idea. What’s absolutely ludicrous is OLIVER gives L*UREL relationship advice.

Oliver: Well we're friends.

Me: Oliver, my son, NO YOU ARE NOT. 

At least she had the common sense to scoff at Oliver’s friendly attempt to intervene on Tommy’s behalf. (Seriously, dude just stay out of it. This is wildly inappropriate.)

L*urel was ready to move in with Oliver (even though she knew he cheated on her regularly), but freaks at faithful Tommy requesting armoire access. JFC this woman is a dating disaster zone.

L*urel: I don’t take things slow remember? I close my eyes and I jump just like you. 

My initial reaction to this speech is to call it nonsense. 

I thought this was a case of Arrow telling rather than showing with L*urel’s character. However, upon further contemplation I have reversed my opinion.

L*urel may be a pragmatic attorney on the surface, but we have watched her run the gamut of human emotions week to week. So much so it’s difficult to get a read on the character the writers are trying to construct. (Spoiler alert: they don’t know what kind of character they are trying to construct). One week she loves Oliver. The next week she’s condemning him to hell. L*urel L*nce’s feelings definitely control her.

She has been reckless too, working outside the law, by contacting the vigilante for assistance. A relationship she resumes after telling her father in 1x09 that The Hood is a killer with no remorse. See what I’m saying about the ever changing emotional spectrum?

I’m not saying L*urel having emotions and expressing them is bad. That’s a healthier reaction than what Oliver is doing, but she has been all over the map. It’s less about who L*urel is as a character and more about the writers needing her to react a certain way to make the episode work.

Oliver likes to present himself as a cool cucumber, but he has a rather unpleasant temper too. It may seem like he’s emotionless, but that is just a façade. It’s a cover for the torrent of emotions he keeps at bay.

Laurel: I think that’s why we spooked each other. Our feelings, our fears, they control us. Not the other way around.

L*urel’s “spooking each other” statement is a big line of bull, which we’ll find out later in the season. L*urel was not spooked by Oliver. She was the furthest thing from spooked, which is why she asked him to move in with her.

Oliver wasn’t spooked either. Anytime I reflect on L*uriver I’m reminded of a scene from Sex in the City. Oliver isn’t freaked out by his feelings. He’s just not that into you, L*urel.

The process in which we get OLIVER to realize this and admit it to himself will take much longer, but I can be patient. It’s time will come.

But do I think these two characters are similar? YES. They are too similar in fact. It’s one of the main reasons they don’t work as a couple. This is exactly why Tommy and Felicity are perfect for L*urel and Oliver.  They need someone steady to temper their emotions. 

They need someone happy to balance out their anger. They need someone with a bright light in order to find their own.

It’s also worth noting that Tommy was ready to run into a burning building to save Oliver so GIVE HIM A DAMN DRAWER L*UREL.

Stray Thoughts

Flashbacks were kind of boring. Fyers kidnaps Yao Fei. Oliver saves his own life by accident. Meh

Thea calling Moira out was long overdue. This kid needs a parent ASAP.

Everyone's fall clothing is really adorable.

JUST UNBUTTON THE FRACKIN BUTTON OLLIE.

Merlyn kidnapped Walter right? Or Moira? I seriously don't remember. I don’t think I care either. lol

L*urel: I am not the best example of healthy grieving.

LL has a rare moment of self awareness, which is lovely.

Oliver: I heard what you said to your father. That I'm a killer with no remorse.

L*urel: Do you?

Me: You impertinent little snot.

I like Joanna much better than L*urel and I wished she stayed, but removing Joanna from the show is the first step the writers took to limit L*urel's role. The shift is upon us.

  Not to be unsympathetic, but Moira is starting to rack up the dead husbands.

Thea fantasizing that Walter is cheating on Moira with a stewardess as the hopeful pitch is YIKES. Goodness this show could be dark.

Musings of the Kiddo  

Kiddo: Yeah! He's actually putting his family first!

Me: Settle down. It doesn't last long.

Kiddo: I thought L*urel was gonna find out.

Me: Oh my sweet summer child.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

[unusual-raccoon]

Into the Clouds 2/3 by Unusual_Raccoon

Fandom: Arrow

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Relationship: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen

Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, John Diggle, Thea Queen, Quentin Lance, Joanna de la Vega, Taylor Moore, Raisa (Arrow), Mr. Blank (Arrow TV 2012)

Additional Tags: Season 1 AU, Episode: s01e15 Dodger, No Pre-Canon Cheating, Laurel Lance is the Black Canary, Sara Lance Does Not Exist, Flirting, Developing Relationship, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, Episode: s01e20 Home Invasion, Canon-Typical Violence

(Total) Word Count: 9,338

Chapter Summary: Laurel's thirst for justice in and out of the courtroom puts a target on more than herself.

Link:https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/71429790#main

tag list: @greensirencanary, @raywritesthings, @the-white-w0lf, @elejah-wonderland, @bonkai4ever94

[thena0315]

One Chicago and Arrowverse Exchange Program

Colin Donnell

Arrowverse: Tommy Merlyn [2012 - 2020]

One Chicago: Dr. Connor Rhodes [2015 - 2019] 

Charlie Barnett

Arrowverse: John Diggle, Jr. [2019 - 2020]

One Chicago: Peter Mills [2012 - 2015]

Josh Segarra

Arrowverse: Adrian Chase / Prometheus / The Hood  [2016 - 2019]

One Chicago: Justin Voight [2014 - 2016]

Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Arrowverse: Amanda Waller [2013 - 2016]

One Chicago: Dr. Vicki Glass [2016 - 2019]

Annie Ilonzeh

Arrowverse: Joanna de la Vega [2012 - 2014]

One Chicago: Emily Foster [2018 - 2020]

Warren Christie

Arrowverse: Carter Bown [S01E06] [2012]; 

Bruce Wayne / Batman / Tommy Elliot / Hush [S0120] [2020]

One Chicago: Scott Rice [2015]

Lisseth Chavez

Arrowverse:  Esperanza “Spooner” Cruz [2020 - Present]

One Chicago: Officer Vanessa Rojas [2019 - 2020]

[archived-stuff99999]

OK I will give you a choice between arrow, smallville, or glee. 👀 ~ lyell

Thank u @withlovefromlyell I have no self control.

The First Character I Fell In Love With

Arrow: I think Tommy or Diggle

Smallville: CLORK

Glee: Kurt when it first aired

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Arrow: Curtis Holt. I really liked him towards the end of his stay. Couldn't stand him at first.

Smallville: Lex Luthor

Glee: David Karofsky

The character everyone else loves that I don't:

Arrow: Black Siren

Smallville: Lois Lane

Glee: Sebastian Smythe

The Character I love but everone else hates:

Arrow: Joanna De la Vega (not really hates but everyone forgets she exists)

Smallville: Pete

Glee: Finn

The character I used to love but don't any longer:

Arrow: Felicity

Smallville: Lana Lang

Glee: Jake

The Character I would totally smooch:

Arrow: This is a rather unfair question, as there are lots people I would smooch ... but I shall choose to smooch William on the head.

Smallville: Clork of course

Glee: Superman 😙

The character I'd want to be like:

Arrow: Laurel

Smallville: Martha

Glee: I have no role models from this show I'm sorry. Maybe Coach Beiste?

Character I'd slap:

Arrow: I would like to go back to s1 and slap Oliver for the Laurel and Tommy mess.

Smallville: Lionel

Glee: Will when he yelled at Marley for not wanting to dress a certian way.

A Pairing that I love:

Arrow: I have to choose? I love all the canon pairings except for Ollie and Felicity.

Smallville: Chloe/Clark

Glee: Kurt/Blaine

A pairing I despise:

Arrow: Oliver and Felicity

Smallville: Clark and Lois

Glee: Brit and Santana

[habibialkaysani]

flarrowverse characters in marvel netflixverse

(wow um I found this in my drafts and I don’t know how long it’s been here for but I figured it would be worth posting given I want insp for my lauryssa fic. not to mention I am possibly making a series of gifsets with these characters just fyi)

so I have had this idea in my head for ages, and I have actually started a multichapter fic (called the devil in star city) starring laurel as matt and nyssa as elektra. but I kinda wanted to flesh it out a bit and see about the other characters in both universes. this is mostly because I am suffering from writer’s block but also because it would be cool to think of netflix marvel characters and their flarrowverse counterparts.

so ofc laurel lance is matt murdock, bc that au is practically begging to be written anyway. the obvious comparison is the fact that they’re both vigilante lawyers but I think it goes deeper than that. they both question morality a lot and are sensitive people. they also both felt like they were abandoned by their mothers to some extent (dinah lance and maggie murdock) and relied more on their fathers (quentin lance and jack murdock). a lot of the time they found they had to pick up the pieces of their fathers, in different ways. 

they both have best friends that are also their professional partners (and this is where I headcanon joanna de la vega as foggy nelson - I think because both matt and foggy and laurel and jo have really great banter, which is welcome among the whole legal back and forth, and because they make formidable teams legally speaking). and both laurel and matt are (in my head anyway) head over heels in love with born assassins, which is why nyssa al ghul is my elektra natchios. and I think with both mattelektra and lauryssa there is some bad history between them, but in the end, laurel and matt never stop standing by nyssa and elektra and they never give up on them. I also have talia al ghul as stick, because I think talia and nyssa would have had a similar dynamic to them if they found each other as adults and talia decided to train nyssa. 

I think for me, tommy merlyn is karen page - because I am currently writing the third chapter of aforementioned fic, which is set in an aa meeting. I don’t know karen from the comics that well, but I know that in the show she does deal with addiction, so I kept that theme and am looking forward to exploring it further. plus I just love the idea that tommy is the damsel in distress who is saved by laurel lance and joanna de la vega, attorneys at law :) that and I think there was good chemistry with tommy, laurel and jo in season 1 of arrow and that was something I wish we could have seen more of, scenes with the three of them.

outside of daredevil, I kinda love the idea of oliver queen being danny rand, and shado being colleen wing, mostly because she has a dragon tattoo on her shoulder and colleen is known as daughter of the dragon :D not to mention I think it would be gr9 for ollie to be taken down a peg or two and reminded of his privilege the way luke did with him in defenders.

I lowkey want sara lance to be jessica jones and have thea queen be trish walker. mostly I can literally picture sara looking at laurel (not knowing that’s her sister) with a scarf around her eyes saying “you look like an asshole” and laurel replying “it’s your scarf”. 

I realllllly love the idea of cisco ramon as claire temple. like can you imagine him finding laurel in the dumpster and laurel waking up and being like “who the hell are you?” and cisco just sighing exasperatedly saying “I’m the lucky guy who pulled you out of the garbage”. cisco works at starling general hospital in the emergency room and like claire he’s an er nurse and the unsung hero of starling and central city.

john diggle is definitely a contender for luke cage, but my misty knight is still unclear. maybe dinah drake? like that would be a lot of fun lbr. and she’s already a pretty badass cop so it would be cool. or maybe it’s just because I still love spartancanary and want them to hook up at least once ;)

mckenna hall is most definitely the brett mahoney of this universe - the one just being tired of all the goddamn superheroes in starling city but who also is reluctantly thankful for them at times. :) 

lena luthor would be an excellent jeri hogarth imo - mostly because she gives off sapphic vibes, lol, and has the capacity to be morally grey in an interesting way. 

[abberryyang]

E2 Laurel Lance x Oliver Queen

“I’m Not Her”(Ao3): “What Would She Do?”

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M, Gen, Other Fandom: Arrow (TV 2012) Relationship: Earth-2 Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Characters: Earth-2 Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Maya, Black Siren, Green Arrow - Character, Black Star, John Diggle, Spartan - Character, Naomi Singh, Felicity Smoak, The Calculator, Lyla Michaels, John Diggle Jr., Black Canary, Virus - Character, Joanna de la Vega, Jax Language: English

Summary: Black Star reaches out to Laurel Lance, as Black Canary, to help her incarcerate Felicity Smoak, of Smoak Tech, in the disappearance of her friend. Black Star believes that Felicity Smoak is assisting in distributing drugs with Vertigo to fund her company, on the verge of bankruptcy, and her friend disappeared when he was getting closer to the truth, working undercover in Smoak Tech, as an engineer. All the while, Oliver asks Laurel out on a date, only to find Oliver needs her help, a weapons specialist on his team who went missing, Jax, disappeared on an undercover mission in Smoak Tech.Is the person Black Star looking for the same as Oliver's tech specialist? Can Laurel investigate her own friend, Felicity, who saw redemption in her? Will Laurel accept being her own person, after 15 years of being E1 Laurel Lance? Requested by @fangirlbozo 

Keep in mind, this request for this fic was back in December, wayy before Arrow Writers decided to do the fake name crap, again.

I knowww, it’s been forever, and I am sure there are a handful of you who are shocked I am starting a new project when I haven’t updated in forever - aha ha ha haa. Then there are some of you who have never read my work - ever. Make sure to read them, trust me, you’ll love them and the world I’ve created (Lauriver: Christmas 2015, We Were & We Are), and if you hate it, I am so sorry you don’t have taste buds.... jk jk jk, feel free to provide some respectful constructive criticism. :) If you’d like to see more of a particular fic, send me comments and questions (tumblr/curiouscat), those keep me motivated on what to work on next!

[sapphiccanaries]

dctv ladies per episode ♣ ↳ Arrow 1x03: Lone Gunmen

[raywritesthings]

Wrong Road to the Right Place 12/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow Characters: Oliver Queen, Laurel Lance, Quentin Lance, John Diggle, Thea Queen, Moira Queen, Joanna de la Vega Pairings: Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen Summary: Laurel finds herself curious about the marks Oliver showed her that night in his bedroom - and the tattoo on his left shoulder stands out in particular. When she discovers its meaning, she finds herself questioning everything she knows about the man she doesn’t want to admit she still loves. *Can also be read on my AO3 page*

Laurel let herself into her apartment and went straight back to the closet in her room, eyeing everything that hung there critically. It had been quite a few years since she’d needed to attend some fancy to-do like this, and she wasn’t exactly sure if anything she had was up to snuff.

A second opinion would probably help. Thea was out of the question, both because she was not about to ask Oliver’s sister what to wear on a date with him and also because she wouldn’t have a good idea of what Laurel had on hand. Joanna had been on a few shopping trips with her, though, and even talked her into buying a couple of the dresses she now owned. And she’d missed talking to her friend about casual stuff like this.

Laurel set her phone on speaker as she took a couple of items out and laid them on her bed. After two rings, it was picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jo, it’s me.”

“Hey, how’s everything been going? CNRI coping without me?”

“Just barely,” Laurel answered with a grin. “I’m going out tonight, and I wanted your opinion on what to wear.”

“Well, what kind of going out are we talking here?” Her friend asked. “Clubbing? Drinks with a friend? Dare I even say a date?”

“Believe it or not, it is.”

“What?” Laurel was glad she didn’t have the phone to her ear, because that exclamation would have had her wincing. “Oh my God, the day has come! What kind of date? With who?”

“It’s one of those fancy rich people auctions,” Laurel explained, then braced herself as she added, “and Oliver invited me.”

There was a beat of silence. Then Joanna started.

“Well, well, well.”

Laurel held back a groan. Just barely. “I know.”

“I didn’t say anything yet.”

“Go ahead.”

“I just seem to remember you being very dead set against anything like this happening when Oliver got back — not that anyone would blame you. But seriously, did he at least get down on his knees and beg first?” Joanna asked.

“I know what I said before.” Laurel shook her head. “I can’t really explain it, but he’s just a different person than he was, Joanna. He’s still Oliver, but I know I can trust him now. He gets that life isn’t just some game you can solve with money and good looks, and he really cares about how his actions affect other people. That’s on his mind a lot.” The whole reason he’d taken on the mission of the Hood in the first place was the responsibility he felt to right the wrongs his father committed.

“Well, I guess as long as you’re happy with it, that’s what matters,” her friend said. Laurel didn’t answer that.

Was she happy? She felt better than she had the last few months, knowing the truth and being involved in more than just the sidelines. And everything she’d told Joanna about Oliver was true; she really believed he’d learned from his mistakes and was working every day to be better. She respected that about him and cared for him because of it, even if they weren’t actually dating. And she could admit, if only to herself, she wouldn’t mind if they actually were.

“So, wardrobe advice?”

Laurel blinked. “Uh, yeah. Trying to decide between the red or blue dress. Floor length, the both of them. You know which ones I’m talking about, right?”

“Uh-huh. Well, they’re both good choices for that kind of event. I guess the question is, what kind of mood are you trying to set?”

Laurel wasn’t sure how to put ‘catching an art thief’ into a mood. “Nothing in particular. It’s just a date, Jo.”

“Yeah, but there’s a difference between bold, hooking-up-after-this red and elegant, I’ll-invite-you-up-if-you’re-lucky blue. You know?”

“We’re not hooking up,” Laurel stated. And she wasn’t looking to stand out from the crowd so much as blend in so she could spot the thief that didn’t belong. “Blue it is. Thanks. Let me know if you’re free sometime soon.”

“Oh, I will. I have got to get these details, for one thing. And I’ve missed you a lot,” Joanna added before she could even start to roll her eyes. “I’ll let you get ready for your date. Have fun.”

“I’ll try.” Laurel picked up the blue dress as Joanna hung up and held it in front of a mirror. She wasn’t sure how much fun tonight would be, but it definitely would be interesting.

She’d finished getting ready with five minutes to spare when Oliver sent the text that he was outside. Laurel took the elevator down and found John waiting in front of the car to open the back door for her.

“Miss Lance.”

“Thank you, Mr. Diggle.” She had to bite her lip to hold in a smile. Sometimes playing along with the charade just felt a little ridiculous, and tonight promised to be especially over the top.

Oliver was sitting in the back as she slid inside, and he looked up. There was a brief pause, and he licked his lips before saying, “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you. You cleaned up well, too.” She was glad the lights were low in the car; her face was already feeling a little warm as she looked him up and down in the tux. She was painfully aware of her own words of a few months ago: obviously, we’re still attracted to each other.

Oliver cleared his throat and leaned over as the car started to move, showing Laurel his phone screen. “This is the brooch I’ve donated from my family’s collection. We’ll need to keep our eyes on it and on the lookout for Dodger. Winnick Norton is his actual name, though I doubt he’ll be using it to get into the event.”

“Right.” Laurel studied the photo for a few minutes before passing it back over. “Any reason why he’ll be interested in the brooch and not anything else?”

“Everything he steals comes from the same time period. The Ominous Decade. The brooch will be the only piece from that time at the gala, so it’s the only option he’s got.”

“Well, that’s lucky.”

“We’re coming up to the front, you two,” Digg called into the back. “I’ll drop you off and park, then see if I can get any intel from event security.”

“Sounds good,” Oliver replied. He got out when the car stopped, walking around to her door and opening it for her. As much as she wanted to shake her head at all the formality, she knew the important thing to do was to go along with it and not seem suspicious.

He offered his arm, and she took it, walking up the steps and through the front doors. There were already a few people milling about and admiring the exhibits.

“Mr. Queen.” A woman in a smart pantsuit walked up to them. “Thank you so much for your generous donation. I hope you enjoy the event.”

“Of course, it was my pleasure,” Oliver replied with a quick smile. They moved on and he leaned in close to murmur in her ear, “The important thing is to always have someone’s eyes on the brooch. We don’t want Dodger sending someone to grab it right out from under our noses.”

“Alright, so take turns?”

She felt as much as saw his nod as his chin tickled her hair. Laurel was about to turn to him when she was suddenly blinded by the flash of a camera.

“Oliver Queen and Dinah Laurel Lance! Out for a night together?”

Paparazzi. The absolute worst part of these high society functions. She hadn’t missed them.

“Miss Lance! Does this mean you’ve forgiven Mr. Queen for the events of five years ago?”

“Uh, no comment,” Laurel stammered. She could barely make out any individual faces through the next several camera flashes.

“Mr. Queen!”

“Miss Lance!”

“If you all could back up, please,” John requested, appearing from what seemed thin air and using his bodyguard position to his advantage. A fair few of the paparazzi were inclined to listen to him based on the authority in his voice and look alone.

“Come on,” Oliver muttered in her ear. With one hand at the small of her back, he guided her out into an empty side hall, the heavy doors shutting out the shouts and clicks of cameras.

Laurel drew in and let out a breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She glanced to the side at him. “Just forgot how intense the paparazzi could be at these kind of events.”

“They shouldn’t even get in the door,” Oliver said with a frown. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Oliver. I should be well aware what dating you entails by now.”

He was silent, though she could tell there was a lot on his mind.

“Hey, you need to get back out there, okay? I’ll join you and John in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” Oliver brushed his fingers along her arm briefly, then turned and slipped back through the door to the main room. Laurel swallowed and tried to ignore the goosebumps his touch had left behind on her arm.

Was this just attraction or something more? She could never seem to keep her head straight around Oliver.

But she needed to get a grip. Tonight wasn’t about them. That was just the cover. They had a dangerous man to catch.

Laurel adjusted her grip on the clutch she carried and stepped forward towards the doors—

A gloved hand gripped her forearm and a stick was shoved in her face. Sparks flew from the tip for a brief instant, causing her to jump back, right into the chest of the man threatening her with it.

“Careful there, love. That’s a stun baton. I would hate to have to use it on you.”

“You’re the Dodger,” she breathed.

“You’ve heard of my work? I’m flattered,” the thief said in her ear. She felt him slide something around her neck and click it into place, and her heart rate picked up with a sudden spike of fear. The bomb collar.

“Now then, since you know what I do, I’ll just cut right to the chase. There’s a pretty little brooch on display out in that room that I need you to get for me. You do that and bring it back here without alerting the authorities, and I’ll let you go safe and sound.”

Laurel had to think fast. She couldn’t do as he asked because that would mean losing the brooch and him. How closely would he be watching her out in that room? Could she somehow get Oliver or John’s attention? Or was that putting too many people at risk?

And there was a part of her that was just about fed up with all these attacks on her.

Laurel dropped her clutch so she had one hand free to reach back and grab a fistful of the Dodger’s shirt while knocking his arm that held the stun baton behind. She failed to duck his own swing at her when she spun around, but before he could follow it up Laurel returned it with her own punch to his face.

He dropped the baton with a grunt, and it went rolling out of reach for the both of them. She could either let go of her grip on the Dodger to run for it or—

Laurel tightened her hold on his shirt collar, dragging him closer, and grabbed his arm with her other hand, twisting his wrist so that he let out a sharp gasp of pain. “Get this thing off me.”

“And why would I do that, darling?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m gonna march us right back through those doors for everyone to see.”

Dodger’s eyes narrowed. “If you do that I’ll—”

“What, blow us both up?” Laurel couldn’t help a smirk as she watched the realization sink in. “You don’t like to get your own hands dirty on a job, do you? That’s why you force other people to steal. Well, sometimes the people you want to use know how to fight back.”

“You’re bluffing,” he rasped.

“No, Mr. Norton, you are,” she said. “Which one of us is going to call it?”

They stared at each other for several tense moments, Dodger trying to break her hold and Laurel keeping a firm grasp on his arm. It was her only option at this point; letting the thief go meant her death. If he proved stronger than her, this wasn’t going to end in her favor.

She couldn’t pinpoint how long their confrontation had been going on, just that there was sweat beginning to bead at her brow. But it was long enough that the door to the main hall opened again, and Oliver stuck his head back in.

“Laurel, are you—” He froze.

Dodger struggled harder, and she scraped at his calf with her heel in retaliation. He gave a yelp and then glared.

“Ollie, hey,” Laurel said, forcing her tone to remain light. Whatever Dodger would think of her, they couldn’t afford anyone getting ideas that Oliver had been here to set him up. “Get Mr. Diggle?”

Oliver stood there another moment before turning sharply and indicating to someone back in the main room. Then he came forward and took hold of both Dodger’s wrist and his neck, shoving him up against a wall.

“Oliver!”

“Who are you, and what have you done to Laurel?” It was a wonder he’d even remembered to play ignorant considering he wasn’t bothering to hide his anger in the slightest.

“The better question is what’s she done to me,” Dodger replied. “Unbelievable. A vigilante spoiled my first attempt in Starling and now this. Your police should hang up their caps in shame.”

John came through with some additional security from the event, and he took over holding Dodger in place while the thief was searched. A device turned up that was apparently linked to the collar still around her neck.

“Here, hold still. I handled bombs in Afghanistan,” John said, one hand on her shoulder. He hit one of the buttons and the collar popped loose. Laurel let out a breath as John removed it and passed it over to security.

“I’m not scared. I don’t know why I’m shaking.”

“That’s the adrenaline,” John told her. “It’ll wear off.”

Oliver meanwhile was doing his best impression of an indignant rich person. “I want this man in a cell at the SCPD.”

“Of course, Mr. Queen. We apologize for the ordeal you and your guest were put through.”

Dodger was taken away, and Oliver immediately turned around to face her now that it was the three of them. “What happened?”

“I was about to head back out to you and Digg, but Dodger grabbed me from behind. He must have been looking for people on their own to use as his proxy.” Laurel shrugged. “I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction.”

“You’re okay?”

“Yeah. He threatened me, mostly, but I wasn’t hurt much.” Her side where he’d struck it was a little sore, but nothing felt broken or anything serious.

Oliver stepped forward and cupped her face with both hands. For a single moment, Laurel thought — but he pressed a kiss to the top of her head instead. She couldn’t help a slight feeling of disappointment she did her best to hide.

The murmur in the main room was getting loud enough to be noticed, and in the distance the wail of a police siren was getting louder. Laurel sighed, not at all in the mood to stand around answering questions or giving a statement while the paparazzi no doubt hovered around taking pictures.

“What’s the betting it’s my dad?”

“Could be McKenna Hall. She was at the scene when I went after Dodger the first time. But they can wait. You two head out the back, and I’ll talk to the organizers and the cops.” Oliver made to leave, but paused and looked to Digg. “Stay with her.”

“You got it.”

As much as she didn’t want to be coddled, she was also glad for the excuse to get out of there, so Laurel followed after Digg to the lot where he’d parked. It felt weird to get in the back when she was the only other person in the car, but Oliver would be rejoining them at some point.

“So, not exactly a night on the town,” she remarked.

“No. Never is when it comes to Oliver. But now we can focus on getting the truth about Malcolm Merlyn, so I’d say this worked out for the best.”

Malcolm Merlyn. On one hand, if it was true that meant they were that much closer to stopping things. On the other, her heart felt heavy whenever she considered the idea that Tommy’s dad might be involved. What would that do to their friend?

“Sort of makes you grateful to the Dodger for the distraction,” she muttered.

“Maybe so. But Laurel—”

She looked up. Her friend and trainer gave her an approving nod.

“Nice job.”

She smiled back at him. “Thanks, John.”

—-

“We’re really making a habit of this,” McKenna remarked as she walked up to him.

Oliver tote his gaze from where Dodger was being led to a squad car by a cop and shook his head. “I kept my nose clean this time. Just here to represent my family.”

“So how come you’re the one being questioned?”

“Norton tried to attack my date, and I said I’d answer the questions for her for the moment. She promises to come down to the station tomorrow for a more complete statement, but I had my bodyguard take her to the car to avoid the cameras.”

“Ah.” McKenna gave a single nod. “I will need your date’s name now, though. Has to go in the file.”

It was definitely fortunate she was primarily working this case as opposed to Lance. Oliver still briefly cleared his throat before replying, “Dinah Laurel Lance.”

McKenna looked up instead of writing, both eyebrows raised. “Well, that’s a turn up for the books. Sorry, not professional.”

“That’s okay. We knew people would find it a little surprising.”

“Alright. I know Laurel’s good for showing up to the station, so I’ll let you get back to her. I hope she’s okay.”

“I’ll tell her you said so.” Oliver turned and started to walk towards the exit, but McKenna calling out to him brought him to a stop.

“Hey, Oliver!”

He turned back.

“I’d appreciate if you continued to keep your nose clean, if you catch my drift. Or me and the others in the bullpen are never gonna hear the end of it.” She cracked a wry grin as she said it. “Sorry.”

“I deserved it. And I promise you’ve got nothing to worry about.” He was able to leave after that for the car and got into the back. “We got lucky.”

“McKenna?” Laurel asked, and he nodded. She relaxed back against the seat. “Good.”

“He’ll probably be finding out soon,” Oliver felt he had to point out. He wasn’t insulted that Laurel seemed keen to prolong that moment; the last thing he really wanted was Lance even more on his case.

But there was something on his mind that was troubling him. “You fought Dodger.”

“Yeah. Well, I knew if I went along with what he wanted, we’d lose him.” She wasn’t looking at him. Instead her gaze was on her hands where they played with the clasp on her clutch. “The thing is, I’ve sort of been, um—”

“I offered to give her some pointers on keeping safe,” Digg interrupted. “She’s got defensive basics down. We’ve just been going over technique.”

“Uh-huh.” Oliver highly doubted it had actually been John to make the offer. More likely, Laurel had asked and he had agreed. He looked at her. “We talked about you staying safe.”

She was eyeing him with that familiar stubborn light in her eyes. “Well, sometimes fighting back is how you stay safe.”

“But sometimes that can end badly. I am grateful that didn’t happen tonight, but the people I go up against are dangerous, Laurel. They don’t fight fair, and there are times when I nearly haven’t won. And times when I haven’t.”

“I know that. And I never said I wanted to take on the Dark Archer in hand-to-hand, but I want to be useful to the team,” she insisted. “And that starts with me not being helpless.”

“I never said you were, but Laurel, I need you to be safe.”

“You’ve said.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. If something happened to you out there because I got you involved in this mission, I couldn’t live with myself.”

It was silent in the car for a long moment. Laurel’s lips were parted slightly, and she couldn’t seem to find the words for a moment. “Ollie…”

“Laurel, we’re at your building.”

“Okay. Thanks, John.” She reached for the handle and glanced once back his way. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he echoed softly as she left the car. He watched as she walked up to her building and disappeared through the doors with a swish of the skirt of her dress. Maybe it had been too much to hope for a lovely evening, but even when she was walking away from him she was beautiful.

Diggle’s voice called him back to reality.

“Man, you really lost your smooth moves on that island.”

Oliver sighed. “Home, John.”

When he did step through the doors of the mansion, he walked into something of an ambush. Thea popped out of the sitting room and gave a sigh of relief at the sight of him. Then she called back over her shoulder, “He’s home, mom!”

“Speedy, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, well you tell us. You’re the one who went to a gala where that bomber guy showed up.”

Right. He walked up to her as their mom was standing up from the couch and shutting off the news.

“I’m fine, promise.”

“What were you even doing there anyway?”

“I was on a date with Laurel,” he answered his sister. “Which you will probably see covered in the next tabloid issues. So don’t read those.”

“Laurel?” His mom repeated. “You’re seeing her?”

“Yeah.” He watched her for a moment. She seemed almost alarmed. “Is that okay?”

His mother recovered her usual grace with that question. “Of course it is. I’m just surprised, I suppose. Pleasantly.”

“Yeah, he really lucked out on that one,” Thea remarked.

He looked at her. “Don’t you need to be in bed so you can be well-rested for school?”

Thea rolled her eyes and made off for the stairs. “Night.”

He and their mom both replied in kind, and then Oliver turned back to her. “I’m sorry for worrying you or Thea. I promise everything was fine tonight. We were in more danger from the paparazzi than a bomber.”

“They can certainly be as ruthless as one,” she agreed.

He nodded and started to make his own way to the stairs.

“Oliver?”

He backed up until the sitting room was in view again. “Yeah, mom?”

His mother walked up to him, her hands clasped together. “Perhaps, in light of all the attention from the press, it might be best for you and Laurel to take some time away from Starling. There’s the beach house in Coast City. I’m sure some staff could have it ready within a week.”

“Not exactly beach season yet, mom.”

“No, maybe not on the West Coast,” she agreed. “There’s always some of the other vacation properties.”

Oliver stared at her for a moment. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she wanted him out of the city for another reason. And maybe he did know better. But whatever his mother was mixed up in — whether it involved Malcolm Merlyn or not — couldn’t involve getting him out of the way. At least, not when she didn’t know his identity.

“I’ll think about it,” he told her. It was an empty promise, but hopefully it would put her at ease for the time being. “Maybe once the club is up and running.”

“Alright.” She placed a hand to his cheek and smiled. “It’s good to see you happy again. I really am proud of you, sweetheart.”

In spite of everything he did and didn’t know about her, he couldn’t help himself feeling touched by the praise. “Thanks, mom.”

“I just want you to stay safe.”

“I try to,” he lied. His mother couldn’t know, of course, that there were reasons he had to take risks out there if he was going to save this city.

It took him a while to reach sleep once he had gotten into bed. He was tired, but there was still so much on his mind.

His mother wanted him to be safe while she engaged in who knew what; in turn, he wanted Laurel to be safe while going out there and risking his life most every night. Was he too much his mother’s son? Was it hypocritical of him? How did he balance his care for Laurel with respecting her decisions?

Oliver rolled onto his side and reached for his wallet. He took out the old picture that still sat there, his thumb smoothing over one of the folded corners. For five years, Laurel and her life and safety had kept him going through the worst tortures. But now that he was back, maybe it was time to stop imagining her or what she might say. Maybe it was time to listen to the actual person.

—-

“Detective, you got a minute?”

Quentin looked up from his desk at Hall’s approach. She was a good cop, even as new as she was. He’d been considering bringing her onto the task force for some time now. “Yeah, what can I do for you?”

“Nothing, really. Just wanted to give you a heads up. We brought in the Dodger.”

“I heard. Good work on that.”

She smiled briefly, but shook her head. “Can’t take too much credit. Private security at the gala detained him after an altercation with one of the guests.” She paused. “That guest was your daughter.”

Quentin’s mouth dropped open. “Laurel? What was she doing at one of those things?” She hadn’t been anywhere near that high society nonsense, not since—

“She was there on invitation. And she’ll be coming in to fill out a witness report for me tomorrow. Just thought I’d let you know.”

Hall left for her desk before he could demand any further information. But he had a rotten feeling in his gut, and it started with a Q.

He made sure he was in the bullpen bright and early the next morning, not wanting to miss Laurel’s arrival. Quentin hadn’t had a real chance to talk to her since their fight about the Hood’s phone, and that had been eating at him. So had Merlyn’s information about her sniffing around something to do with the Triad. And now with this, well, the silent treatment was out the window. Clearly if he didn’t keep a close watch on things, his daughter tended to lose her head.

Laurel showed up around 10:30, easily navigating her way through the station. Hall had gone for coffee,

Which left Laurel standing in the bullpen looking for the right desk. There was his opening.

“Hey, honey.”

“Dad.” Laurel’s expression was guarded at best. He might have felt guilty about that, but more likely she was feeling guilty. “I’m actually hear to see McKenna about a witness report.”

“Yeah, I heard. You were at that fancy auction last night. And how might you have come by an invite to that?”

Her voice was flat as she responded, “Dad, don’t do this here.”

“Do what? Catch up with my daughter? See if she’s doing okay? Ask her why in God’s name she’s decided to spit on her sister’s memory and go back to that cheating—”

“Yeah, that. That exactly,” Laurel cut him off just as his voice was starting to raise. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that Oliver is a changed person. I don’t know how much more evidence you need put in front of your own eyes, but he is. And I know that doesn’t bring Sara back, but I also know it was never his intention for her to die out there. So you can stop acting like it was.”

“Why are you wasting your time on him? Defending him? Just answer me that,” he said. “You’re always involving yourself with the wrong people. I just don’t know what I did for you to grow up that way.”

Laurel scoffed, her arms folded.

“Well, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Laurel, hey.” Hall had just entered the bullpen with her mug. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“That’s okay,” his daughter replied, turning away from him completely. “I probably would have been held up regardless.”

She joined Hall at her desk, and they were both talking too quietly for him to pick up anything of use. With a scowl, Quentin returned to his own seat.

Laurel left the station without a goodbye, not that he was inclined to give his own. Hall got up without the file and left the room. Quentin glanced around. Hilton hadn’t come in yet, and no one else was going to call him on it.

He got up from his desk with some papers in hand and crossed the bullpen to Hall’s desk. Laurel’s witness report was still sitting right on top. He flipped through the testimony, his eyes widening as he read.

She’d fought off that thieving maniac? With a bomb collar strapped around her neck? What was going on in this city? And where the hell had Queen been?

Quentin had to hurry back to his desk at the sound of Hall’s approach, but his mind was buzzing. Laurel could have died last night. He could have lost his only daughter, all because of some date she’d been on with Queen. That rich idiot didn’t know when to quit.

He took off from his shift a little early and headed down to the bar. It was that kind of day. Quentin sat there, shoulders hunched as he nursed one, and then two, and then three drinks.

Trouble followed that man wherever he went. Less than two days after he’d come back, he’d been kidnapped. Then there’d been the hit at that party he’d held while under house arrest. Now this. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was a pattern.

Actually, there’d been something else. He’d been there, too, that first night someone had tried breaking in to Laurel’s apartment. The Triad.

That had seemed open and shut. Martin Sommers had been working with them, and Laurel had been in the midst of prosecuting him. But then strange how Queen had just happened to be there.

And then again, when he’d first gotten worried, when he’d found out she had a client with Bratva ties — she’d been handling Queen’s case. She’d told him when he begged her to leave the Bratva alone that she didn’t have that client anymore...just after he’d dropped the charges on Queen.

Laurel wasn’t an idiot. If she really was seeing Queen, something about him had to be different than when he’d left on that boat. But that something didn’t have to be good. Laurel was just as bad as he was about attracting trouble. Quentin just couldn’t let go of the idea that there was some kind of connection between these seemingly disparate events.

Was he drunk? Was he crazy? Seeing something that wasn’t there?

Quentin put down some money for his tab and stumbled off the stool. He had to get this down in writing. Start drumming up some leads.

As he left the bar, he got a whiff of himself. It was pretty obvious where he’d been. He couldn’t go to the station like this.

Lance staggered home, his intent to shower and then to get to work on this clear in his mind. But by the time he cleared the front steps it was all he could do to make it to the couch.

Tomorrow. He would start tomorrow.

[theweekinarrowfic]

Completed Arrow Multichapters on AO3, May 12-25, 2019

NOTE:  I’m now crossposting to https://theweekinarrowfic.dreamwidth.org/

Need more Arrow in your life?  Why not try one of the multchapter fanfics recently completed by our talented fic writers? (Two-week post because I was traveling for a job interview last weekend!)

Olicity

Star Stuff by imfallingforyoureyes102 (2/2, 25 May 2019 ) - “The nitrogen in our DNA,” Felicity pauses, her eyes turned to the ceiling as if in thought, “the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood,” Oliver’s turns away from the window to face her, “The carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff. You are made of star stuff." Felicity’s face is wide open, just like she has always been with him, and for a second Oliver thinks – no, he believes, without a doubt, that if he is made of stars, Felicity is the sun. (Or, Walter Steele doesn't really know what to think of his stepson's budding relationship with his executive assistant - he doesn't want to think about what it means. But then he happens upon Oliver on the verge of falling into the darkest corners of his mind and watches as Felicity slowly and surely pulls him back to the light.) Part 5 of On the Outside Looking In

Oliver the //pseudo// Artist by Vixx2pointOh (6/6, 22 May 2019) - Despite Oliver's intentions to recreate the habitat of a sloth, his 13yo sister had somehow convinced him to drive her in the middle of the day to what seemed like a deserted high school.He ends up in an art class, where he gets more than he bargained for. Part 11 of Oliver The ...

Tu n'es plus seul by Amelia_Queen (8/8, 22 May 2019) - Depuis son retour de l’île, Oliver a trouvé une très mauvaise solution pour gérer ses émotions. C’est un secret de plus que sa famille ne doit surtout pas découvrir.

A Shot in the Dark by OliversMuse (3/3, 21 May 2019) - Part of the Silent Killer's series. Oliver and Felicity try to solve the case of a mother that was shot in her car on the way to work. Part 3 of Silent Killers

The Microchip Chronicles by CSM (10/10, 20 May 2019) - Post 713. Follows the next nine months of Felicity’s pregnancy.

What was my daddy like? by melicitysmoak (8/8, 16 May 2019) - [Future Spec Fic, takes off from the Season 7 flashforwards, canon until 7x16 only]Mia Smoak grows up without ever knowing her father, Oliver Queen, also known as the Green Arrow. She loves her mother, Felicity Smoak, and secretly admires her, but their relationship is rocky. They get separated like before, but this time Mia is afraid that her mom is in real danger, so she sets off to find her. In an unexpected turn of events, she meets her half-brother William and his companions, who are also trying to unravel the mystery of Felicity's apparent demise and why the genius wife of the former Green Arrow brought them all together after almost two decades. Mia has been isolated for most of her young life, but the few relationships she makes helps her put together the puzzle pieces of what her father was like. It's up to her to decide what to make of it all.

The last time they're together by CaptainSammyAngel (2/2, 13 May 2019) - Oliver and Felicity are on borrowed time... the time to honor the deal with the monitor has come and this is how they spend their last night together. Part 4 of Mia's journey

Felicity Takes a Holiday by BstnStrg13 (25/25, 12 May 2019) -  Frustrated by Oliver's apparent indifference, Felicity takes a solo trip to NYC where she meets with unexpected dangers. Is it super-soldiers amped up on Mirakuru, or Beasts created by Muirfield? Starts at the end of Season 2; a story of how Oliver comes to realize that he is in love with Felicity, told with help from CW's Beauty and the Beast and a whole lot of Diggle.

Other Ships/Characters

Starting Something by justafandomfollower (team-centric, 13/13, 23 May 2019) - Oliver Queen returns to Star City with the intent to right his father’s wrongs and stop the poison that has infiltrated his city. He doesn’t need to deal with Superman getting upset about his methods and he doesn’t expect the allies he makes along the way. Part 1 of The Justice League

The Canary's Legacy by Bl4ckHunter (8/8, 22 May 2019) -  Sara gets thrown into an alternate future as she copes with unsettling truth.

unexpectations by brandywine421 (Matt Murdock/Oliver, 2/2, 21 May 2019) - "Do I have to?" Matt asked, dragging his feet behind Foggy and Theo and their mom. Five years in, he should consider Anna his mom, but that would mean he had to consider Ed his dad and he already had a dad. "We paid for your PSATs so you have to suffer the consequences of your grade," Anna replied, entirely too cheerily. He didn't think that was totally fair but the mandatory soul-bond test for college applicants wasn't fair either. Apparently his grade meant he was going to go to college, but still - today sucked. "Aren't you excited to meet yours? I'm totally stoked to meet mine," Foggy beamed - Matt knew what 'beaming' sounded like, Foggy had been his best friend longer than he'd been his brother. Matt would never beam. *AU for everything ever. Matt & Oliver are reluctant soulmates - at first.

Karry Universe: Hunt for the Totems by KarryBeta; KarryMaster (Barry Allen/Kara Danvers, side pairing Alex Danvers/Sara, 16/16, 19 May 2019) - With someone after the totems its up to the Justice League to find them and to find the people destined to wear them. Part 9 of Karry Universe

Nightmare by molmcmahon (Harry Potter/Oliver, 6/6, 18 May 2019) - 5 Times Someone Finds Out about Harry and Oliver and 1 Time Someone Already Knew. Part 2 of Devil's Verse

Dear Friend, by Ray_Writes (Laurel/Oliver, 9/9, 16 May 2019) - When Felicity decides to get serious about Ray, she knows it won’t be a good idea for Oliver to be hanging around. So she turns to the world of online dating to keep him distracted. Unknown to the both of them, over the summer Joanna had set Laurel up with an online dating account in the hopes that her friend could move on from past failed relationships. There’s only one way this can end.

Secrets, Lies and Superheroes by laxit21 (Bucky Barnes/Felicity, 90/90, 12 May 2019) - Being a vigilante (or on the team of one) is complicated enough. When Oliver, Felicity and Diggle rescue Lyla from a Russian gulag, Felicity’s life gets even more complicated. Months later, after the fall of SHIELD, one of those complications comes knocking on her door. You can find me on Tumblr at: laxit21.tumblr.com

Selling Your Reason (Will Not Bring You Through) by backinthebox (Nyssa/Sara, 4/4, 12 May 2019) - "I heard you disbanded the League." "My father's League had been tainted, so yes." Nyssa allowed, even if she held back the question of who had informed Sara, since information on her well-being was apparently not among the things Oliver Queen and his ilk were sharing with Sara. Instead she returned, "I heard you've been busy saving the world." Part 2 of Holy Water Cannot Help You Now

High School and Heroes by violetwolfraven (Dinah Drake/Laurel, 2/2, 12 May 2019) - In a High School AU, Dinah Drake develops a crush on the new nerdy girl, Laurel. Navigating their friends’ disfunctional romances and school life in general, there is a lot of drama.

[jules85]

Arrow Rewatch 2018 1x10 Burned

-Training montage. I really want these back, not just because Oliver’s shirtless lol. I just want to see him training. He always talks about him being the weapon. I want to see him honing his craft, learning new skills etc.

- Oliver's off his game. He let the Dark Archer in his head.

- Poor Joanna. I liked her. I wish they'd kept her around.

- can we see more of the Star City public talking about the good the Arrow has done? Especially in season 7.

- Tommy wants a drawer.

- and Laurel is pro vigilante this week. I can't keep up.

- Diggle's arms are the size of bowling balls, according to Oliver. The man is a powerhouse.

- Oliver sitting alone in the foundry in the dark. Fastforward to 1x21 when Felicity finds him there and turns on the light.

- the scene between Oliver and Diggle is one of my faves where Oliver's talking about how he faced death before but he never feared it, coz he had nothing to lose. Now he's afraid of what would happen to his family if something were to happen to him.

'For the first time I had something to lose.'

Then we get this iconic speech from Diggle, 'Maybe you've got it backwards, Oliver. You think the people you let in have taken your edge. I think it gives you one...you can stare down death with something to live for or not. Something to live for is better.' I love this soooo much.

- Tommy needs to stop running into collapsing buildings. Seriously.

- the woman on the TV should start an I ♡ arrow fanclub. 'But these were not the actions of a vigilante...these were the actions of a hero.' Oliver is all smiley. He really just wants someone to believe in him.

- also it's nice to see someone Oliver has helped show their appreciation. 'He really is a guardian angel.'

- Quentin using Laurel to get the hood is not going to end well lol.

- the end scene with Oliver thanking Diggle and their cute little smiles are everything. The bromance is growing guys.

Rating: ☆☆☆

@blondeeoneexox @hope-for-olicity @memcjo @allimariexf

[ao3feed-oliverfelicity]

where i first met you (it makes all the difference)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2J3na32

by mogirl97

“Oliver,” he emphasized. “Mr. Queen was my father.”

“Right. And he’s dead. Drowned. But you didn’t. Which is why you’re here, at my yoga class. To do yoga, not listen to me babble. Which is why it will stop in 3...2...1…” She pursed her lips and closed her eyes, embarrassment evident on her face.

He was afraid of looking like a fool if he came to yoga but he had envisioned it being due to balancing on one leg, not the smile the teacher brought to his face. There was just something about her that felt like sunshine personified.

{an alternative first meeting for olicity}

Words: 6450, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Arrow (TV 2012)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Thea Queen, Laurel Lance, John Diggle, Joanna de la Vega

Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak

Additional Tags: Fluff and Angst, alternate first meeting with ripple effects on the canon events of season 1

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2J3na32