A Whole New Multiverse: Arrow

Chapter 3

"So, what exactly is it you need to talk to me about?" Oliver asked her.

"Ollie, do you remember what caused you to clean up your act and stop cheating on me?" Laurel asked and Oliver quickly searched through his doppelganger's memories until he found it and realized that he'd still made similar mistakes in this universe, but it was clear he'd been trying to work through those issues.

"My affair with Samantha, resulting in a miscarriage. Yeah why?" Oliver asked, knowing that he needed to look into it and see if that really was a lie in this reality, since he hoped it wasn't, because while William may have been illegitimate, that didn't change the fact that Oliver wanted to have a better role in William's life this time around, especially since he now had some insight on how to be a better father to him. Whatever the case was, that incident had seemed to cause his counterpart on this earth to grow up and he'd come clean to Laurel about it and they'd actually started going to therapy to work through their issues. While Oliver was glad that those issues had been worked through, he was not sorry that he himself hadn't had to sit through them.

"Well, do you also remember how I seemed to get sick in the morning before you left on the Gambit?" Laurel asked and now Oliver put the pieces together.

"You were pregnant." Oliver said and Laurel nodded.

"Yeah, I was. I was going to tell you when you got back from your boat trip and I guess now I have. But instead of just telling you I'm pregnant." Laurel said.

"You're telling me I have a kid." Oliver said.

"A daughter. Her name is Jasmine Monica Queen." Laurel said.

"Queen, not Lance." Oliver said.

"Your family's been a better influence on her than mine is and I guess I was always holding out hope that one day she'd get to meet the person that she gets that name from. And now she can." Laurel said.

"Is she here?" Oliver asked.

"No. I thought it would be better if I told you about her first. My dad is watching her tonight, and only because her usual babysitter is sick." Laurel said.

"I thought you'd love to have your dad watch her." Oliver asked.

"I would, except for the fact that he blames you for what happened to Sara and honestly, sometimes I think he wants me to let him watch her so he can turn her against you." Laurel said.

"That better not be true. If your father has a problem with me, that's one thing, but if he tries to keep my daughter from me when he has no right to, well, my family does have significant pull in the SCPD." Oliver said.

"I've warned him of that several times. But it's not just Sara that he blames you for. After the accident, he started drinking and then mom walked out on us. He blames you for everything that has gone wrong in his life." Laurel said.

"Why don't you?" Oliver asked quietly, taking her aback.

"What?" Laurel asked.

"Your father's not entirely wrong. I never should've let Sara get on that boat. I should've saved her. Why don't you hate me for what happened." Oliver asked as Laurel placed her hand on his cheek.

"It wasn't your fault Ollie. If anyone is to blame for what happened to Sara, it's me. I'm the one who pushed so hard for her to go on that boat to keep an eye on you. If I'd trusted you more, she could've taken a plane and she'd still be alive. I realized that I couldn't hate you without hating myself to and if I started blaming myself, I wouldn't be able to be the mother Jasmine needed me to be. And in the end, Sara still made her own choices. I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to waste my life placing blame because then i'd just drive myself crazy. Instead, I'm trying to move on with my life, it's what she would've wanted." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"You are amazing you know that?" Oliver asked her.

"I've been told a few times." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"So, when do I get to meet her?" Oliver asked.

"How about tomorrow. But in the meantime, I have pictures that I'll show you over dinner, since I don't think your mom is going to wait much longer for us." Laurel said.

"Before we go in with the rest of them, there is something I need to show you." Oliver said.

"What?" Laurel asked as Oliver pulled out his wallet and to Laurel's shock, he pulled out the picture of her that she'd given him five years ago.

"You still have it?" Laurel asked.

"Never let it out of my sight. Your face was the one thing I always had to keep me going, to remind me that I needed to come home. You saved my life when you gave me this picture. Now, I know despite the fact that you're here alone and that you left your dad to watch Jasmine you could still be seeing someone, but I needed to." Oliver said before Laurel silenced him by placing her finger on his lips.

"I'm not seeing anyone Ollie." Laurel said, shocking him.

"Really. Why?" Oliver asked.

"Because no matter how hard I tried to move on, I realized that I couldn't. You have been and will always be the love of my life Oliver Queen." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"And you will always be the love of mine Laurel Lance." Oliver said and before either of them could fully figure out what was happening, their lips crashed together as 5 years on Laurel's end and 13 years on Oliver's end worth of emotions were expressed in their kiss.