Oliver and I finally make it to the location that the Mayor is holed up in, ready to get him.
The tracker still beeps on for right now, and the Mayor sees it.
"I thought you deactivated the tracker!" he yells at one of his lackeys before hitting the tracker with the end of his gun.
I look across the room, where Oliver is and see a gangbanger coming up behind Oliver, ready to shoot him.
In a few fast seconds, I pull out an arrow and shoot the gangbanger in the chest with a tranq arrow.
Then, guns open fire at me and I run the length of the balcony, all the bullets missing me. Then, I shoot a few more of the Mayor's lackeys before jumping off the balcony, still shooting.
Oliver covers my back and I cover his, still trying to get to the Mayor. But, then, the Mayor and uninjured members of his gang leave the building. Then, Oliver and I walk over to the weapons crate.
"Weapons are secure." Oliver says into his com link.
"And the Mayor?" John asks to both of us.
"Still in office." I say before we both leave this place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oliver and I go home to his place. Danny's sleeping at home, since he's really tired today so I told him to go home instead of his apartment.
We walk up to his room and I sit down on his bed, thinking.
He takes his jacket off and kicks off his socks and shoes off as I do the same. Then, I just sit on the bed, still thinking.
"What's wrong, babe?" he asks me, his voice filled with concern. "And don't say, 'Nothing', I know you better than that."
I chuckle slightly since that's what I was going to say. Then, I just sigh.
"I'm thinking of Sara." I admit.
"What for?"
"I'm thinking about how she hasn't told her family that she's alive."
"But, you said that you understood why she hasn't."
"I do. But, the thing is: she's SARA. She can't have done anything so horrible that her family won't love her."
"Maybe she has."
"Maybe. But, doesn't she know that no matter what, her family will always love her?"
"Maybe she needs to reminded."
"Yeah... maybe."
Then, I feel Oliver come onto the bed, right behind me, and crawl up to me. And then, I feel his hand come up and pull all the hair on my left shoulder off, then his lips softly graze my neck, sending shivers down my spine and making me close my eyes and softly moan.
Then, Oliver's other arm wraps around my waist as he starts to kiss my neck, sometimes softly biting. His hand slips under my blue blouse that I wore today for work and rubs against my stomach, slowly climbing up.
Finally, I can't stop myself.
I spin around and crash my lips onto his. Then, I turn my body around and straddle his lap, locking my knees on his waist, and my hands find their way into his hair.
Oliver's arms tighten around my torso as our lips move in a passionate and fast pace.
Then, his hands go down to pull my shirt off and they succeed, exposing my black lace bra. Then, he pushes me to lay down on the bed.
After my back landing on the bed, my hands go to pull off his shirt and after doing so, I throw his shirt to the floor.
Then, his lips reclaim mine and my right leg lifts until it wraps around his waist. And I flip us around so I'm on top of him.
~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~
We lay down, exhausted, but we're both wearing smiles. I pull the blankets up to cover us.
"I love you, Elena." Oliver tells me as he kisses the top of my head, I hear the smile in his voice.
"I love you, too, Oliver." I say, tired but happy.
And then, I fall asleep with the love of my life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, I wake up before Oliver and I just stare at him. I love his stubble that sharpens his features, his strong jawline and cheekbones, the way he breathes slowly through his nose.
"You're staring." Oliver suddenly says, guess he's not asleep.
I smile, nonetheless. "I'm gazing." I say in a slightly correcting tone of voice.
"It's creepy." Oliver goes on without opening his eyes.
"It's romantic." I argue.
He turns his head to see me and finally opens his eyes, before pulling the pillow under his head over his face.
"Hey!" I exclaim as I push the pillow off, slightly laughing.
Then, he quickly flips us around so that he's on top of me and crushes my lips with his. I smile and kiss him back.
We kinda make out, then I flip us around and start to sit up before pulling my lips away. "Okay, I need to go shower." I say, trying to leave the bed.
Oliver smiles and pecks my lips. "Great, let's go." he says, trying to also get off the bed.
"Nope," I say as I make him lay down on the bed. "Just me. I actually want to have time to work out this morning."
With that, I go to take a shower, alone, making him groan in cute pouting way. Meanwhile, I'm smirking like I'm a Salvatore, but I still lock the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a shower, I get dressed in a black sports bra, black tank top, dark blue skinny jeans, black Vans, and my black leather jacket. I let my hair dry as it hangs down.
Then, after Oliver gets dressed in a dark blue tee shirt, jeans, black tennis shoes, and a dark brown leather, we both ride our motorcycles to Verdant. We get off and put our helmets on our bikes. Then, I feel someone looking at me, and it's not Oliver.
I look to my right and see... Sara.
At the sight of her, I smile and run to her and wrap my arms around her. I feel Sara smile as she hugs me back, tightly.
She DID miss me, after all. Sara, Laurel, and I were always the best of friends, more like sisters actually. I missed her terribly.
We pull apart and then we walk into the club, where Sara goes back to being serious and turns to Oliver and I.
"Did you guys tell my family I'm alive?" she asks us, a slight tone of worry in her voice.
"No." Oliver says, shaking his head.
"Of course not." I tell her, truth in my voice.
She starts to walk away before Oliver goes in front of her. "Sara, I saw you die." he says, confused.
"Not the first time that's happened, is it?" Sara asks him, slight sarcasm in her voice. "What happened to Slade?"
Slade? Who's Slade?
"Where have you been?" Oliver asks her, avoiding her question.
"Everywhere." Sara says, not really answering.
"That's not an answer." I state to her.
"Well, it's the one you guys are getting." Sara says, stubbornly, before softening. "About a year ago, I started hearing tales of the Starling City vigilante. The man in the green hood. I knew it was you."
Then, Sara looks at me. "I never thought that you were the Swan, Elena." she admits.
I smirk a little at this. "A few things have changed since you last saw me. But, I never knew you for a fighter. Where'd you pick that up?"
"Met some rough people. Thought I should get rough, too." Sara says, once again not answering the question.
Why won't she just tell us everything- anything?
"Sara," Oliver says, slightly exasperated. "Why did you come back?"
Sara stands in silence for a few seconds before answering.
"The Earthquake," she simply states, and then I understand.
"Because you wanted to make sure your family was safe," I say, slightly nodding in understanding. "And now, you're still here. Watching over them. Protecting them."
"So, did you came here to make sure that we didn't tell them? Or because you were hoping we had?" Oliver asks her.
Before she can answer, someone knocks on the door. I sigh as I look at Oliver, giving him a silent message.
He nods as he says, "I'll get rid of them."
Then, he goes to the door as Sara looks down, tears in her eyes. I hug her again.
"You were hoping that we did, weren't you?" I whisper in her ear, knowing how she felt.
Sara wraps her arms around my torso and starts to silently cry. "Yes. I miss them so much, Lena." she tells me.
I sigh, not knowing what to do. Then, we both hear Oliver say:
"Mr. Lance?"
Sara and I pull apart and walk to the back of the door, and look out the small window. And Lance is here.
"Hi." he says to Oliver.
"Something I can help you with?"
"I'm here about my daughter."
Oliver freezes and I look over at Sara, my thoughts go directly to her.
"Laurel." Lance clarifies.
I see as Sara, Oliver, and myself take a quick sigh of relief. Then, we listen to the conversation.
"Is she okay?" Oliver asks him.
"Yeah. Well, no, she's not." Lance says, troubled. "She got pulled over for a DUI last night. I tried talking to her about it, but... she wasn't hearing me."
"Elena told me that she saw her the other night. It seems that... she didn't seem like herself." Oliver says, choosing his words carefully.
"No, I know. She seems like me." Lance says as he exhales deeply. "Elena knows this, but I don't know if you know, but when you and Sara disappeared, I hit the bottle pretty hard. I know that you and Elena are Laurel's really good friends. And right now, she needs a friend. Maybe talk to her?"
"Sure." Oliver says as he nods.
Lance sighs. "Anyhow," he says as he starts to walk away.
"Mr. Lance!" Oliver calls to him, making Lance turn around.
"Yeah?" Lance asks.
Oliver seems like he doesn't know what to say. "I'd be happy to talk to Laurel. I'll call Lena later and we'll both talk to her." Oliver says, reassuringly.
Lance smiles a little bit. "Thank you." he says before he turns around again and leaves.
Then, Oliver turns around and comes through the door. He turns and looks at me.
"I know." I say as I nod.
Then, we both look to see Sara, but she isn't here anymore. She's gone. Again.
We sigh at this. This is going to be difficult.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After working out for a few hours, a shower (separate showers, you sick people), and changing into new clothes (I'm wearing a dark blue long sleeved cocktail dress that go right above my knees, black flats, a silver necklace and earrings, and my hair straightened down my back) we find Laurel walking through a park to get to the office.
We both walk to her side, both of us staying quiet. Then, Laurel looks to her side and sees us.
"Oliver, Elena. Hi." she says, a little unsteady; very unlike normal Laurel.
"Hey." we say together as we smile.
"What are you guys doing here? Is everything okay?" she asks us.
"I don't know." I say, a little abruptly. "IS everything okay?"
She looks at me, bewildered, but then she figures it out. She scoffs. "You've got to be kidding me. My dad went to you guys?" she asks us, slightly offending me. "I mean, I get why Elena's here. But, he spent the last six years cursing Oliver's name, and now you're like, what, gossip buddies?"
"Laurel," I interrupt before she can bash my boyfriend anymore. "He's worried about you."
"Perfect." she says before she turns around to look at me. "A recovering alcoholic and a recovering party boy are trying to tell me how to live my life. Don't you see the hypocrisy here?"
"What I see is somebody we all care about having a rough go at it." I try to reason with her.
She scoffs again. "Do know how many times I've had to pull my dad out of a bar? Or how many times that I've had to drive him home while he's passed out in my back seat? Just because he can't cope with losing Sara doesn't mean I can't handle my life. Feel free to tell him that during the next chitchat." she says, coldly, before she starts to walk away.
Oliver turns to look at me and tries to say something about this, but I lift my right hand and hold up my pointer finger, still looking at Laurel, telling him that I got something.
So, I walk quickly behind Laurel while Oliver stays where he is. I have something that I have to tell Laurel, something that she doesn't know.
"Laurel, wait!" I call to her, making her turn around as I walk right up to her. "You think you're the only who had to help a family member into a car because they can't even walk straight?"
"When have you ever had to do what I had to, Elena?" Laurel demands.
"It started right after Oliver and Sara left!" I snap, my anger starting to rise higher and higher.
"Oh, really? Who was it?!" Laurel almost yells.
"IT WAS DANNY!!!!" I lash out at her.
Automatically, her anger drops and shock takes its place. Like I said, she didn't know this part of my family's life because Danny and I decided not to tell anyone.
"What?!" Laurel asks in bewilderment.
I take a deep breath before I go on. "Danny started to drink after the Gambit capsized. He lost his best friend and the girl who was his first love in one swoop.
"It wasn't that bad... until our mom died. Then, he not only hit the bottle really hard, but he also hit drugs really hard. I had to drive him home every night for... I don't even remember the number of nights.
"We both had our own hard time, I buried myself in work and a lot of business trips, he became addicted to alcohol and drugs. It took three years for the two of us to straighten up. We helped each other. And he has been completely addiction free for three years. And I am so proud of him." I finish telling the tale of Daniel Swan's hardship.
She sighs, ashamed of herself. "Lala," she starts. "I am so sorry..."
"So you see, Laurel," I say after she trailed off. "You are not the only person who's gone through a rough patch."
Then, I turn around and walk back to Oliver, I know that he heard everything.
"Lena," he says as we both start to walk away. "I didn't know..."
"How could you have known?" I ask him (rhetorically). "Danny and I have never told anyone. It was already a pain in the ass to keep the media from spilling it, we didn't want to let anyone we care about know about it."
And without another word, we both left in our own cars to go to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours later. The Glades: The Cash For Guns Event
I lean against my gray Camaro with blue racing stripes, watching the event going very well, Oliver can't come yet, he's really busy today. Of course I donated money and, unfortunately, Sebastian refused to keep my name out of it.
Anyway, I'm now wearing a gray flowy tank top, light brown leather jacket, black skinny jeans, and brown ankle high heels, my still straightened hair hanging down my back.
My arms are crossed over my chest, thinking of what happened with Laurel this morning.
Suddenly,...
"You don't show up when you say you will. And when you promise not to, here you are." says Sebastian as he walks towards to me.
"It's going well?" I ask him over my shoulder, not bothering to look at him.
"Last check, we've taken in over 200 gun in only three hours." he says, smiling triumphantly.
I sigh and nod, my thoughts somewhere else, not allowing me to focus on my conversation.
"Try not to look so happy about it." Sebastian kids, seeing my face.
"A lot on my mind, Alderman." I say, simply and a little harsher than I meant.
"My job IS to help the people of the City with their problems." he tries again, kindly.
At this, I finally turn around to see him. I see in his eyes that he won't leave it be. So, I inhale deeply before speaking.
"Two people, who are very important to me, are... having a hard time." I start, choosing my words carefully. "Sisters, actually. And neither of them are making it very easy for me to help them."
"Sooner or later, we all go through a crucible. I'm guessing yours was losing two of your best friends and your mother." Sebastian starts, giving me a moment to swallow- a habit I have developed when someone mentions my mother- and to brush my bangs out of my face.
"People believe that there are two types of people who enter a crucible. Those who grow stronger from the experience and survive it" -He nods pointedly at me when he says this- "and those who die. But, there's a third type.
"The ones who learn to love the fire. They chose to stay in their crucible because it's easier to embrace the pain when it's all you know anymore. That's why I'm on the clock to help this city. To help it before it becomes used to living like this." he finishes nodding toward the event behind us.
"Living is not for the weak." I say something that became burned in me from years that have passed.
Sebastian looks at me shocked at what I just said. I hesitate before saying: "An... old friend of mine used to tell me that."
"That's a wise friend." Sebastian says, smiling, to which I nod to.
"Yeah..." I reply as I chuckle, half-hearted.
Really, it wasn't an old friend who told me that at all. It was my father who always said that as he trained and tortured me. He said it so much, it was practically burned into me.
Suddenly, a truck roars towards us and guns blaze! Instinctively, I pull Sebastian away from the speeding truck as it crashes the wooden barracks that close up the street.
The guns blaze and people duck and cover before it stops before a man shouts out:
"LISTEN UP, PEOPLE!! THIS IS YOUR MAYOR SPEAKING!!!" shouts an African American man from the back of the truck.
"NOW, I DON'T REMEMBER THIS HERE EVENT BEING SANCTIONED!! WHAT HAPPENS IN THE GLADES ONLY HAPPENS IF I ALLOW IT!!"
Sebastian stands up and walks in the direction of the truck, and I stand up as well. "YOU'RE NOT THE LEADER OF THIS COMMUNITY!!" Sebastian shouts back at the Mayor. "YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR THESE PEOPLE!!"
The Mayor leans in Sebastian's direction and I run to Sebastian, knowing full well what was going to happen. "And neither do you. Not anymore." he says before he motions for his men start open fire on Sebastian.
As I run to Sebastian, I see... Roy and Thea! I grab Sebastian and pull him behind a police cruiser as the bullets start flying. We kneel to the ground and keep our heads down.
The moments that pass are filled with the sounds of guns being fired, the grunts of people possibly being shot, and I pray that Roy and Thea aren't amongst them.
Then, we hear the truck's squealing tires go away from us. I stand slowly to see the truck gone, many people laying on the ground, but I don't see Roy and Thea. I run to the car I saw Roy and Thea at and I see them behind the car, safe.
"Hey," I say as I approach them. "Are you guys okay? Are you hurt?"
"No." Thea says as she shakes her head, Roy shakes his head as well.
I sigh in relief before standing up and walking to where the Mayor was and look in the direction where he went. I clench my fists in anger.
That coward... He had so many innocent people shot and now they're hurt.
We're going to get this son of bitch... We have to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I park my car at the back of Verdant and go through the back door to the Cave. Then, I run down the stairs to see everyone there. Even Oliver.
He turns as he hears me and an expression of relief replaces an expression of worry. He runs to me as I get off the stairs and wraps his arms tightly around my waist.
"Oh, thank God you're okay." he whispers in my ear as my arms go around his neck and my head buries itself him the crook of neck.
He holds me like for a little while before letting me go because someone else was there. Standing by Felicity was my little brother, looking racked with sadness, worry, and now relief sets in.
I pull away from Oliver and run to my little brother, who wraps his arms around me instantly. I try to return his near bone crushing hug.
"I thought I lost you like we lost Mom." he says, his voice broken with the sobs that had been loosed before.
I laugh softly. "It'll take a lot more than that for you to lose me, Danny boy." I say to him, kindly.
We pull apart to hear the news on Felicity's computer. We all look at the screen as Oliver comes behind me and grabs my hand, tightly, and I grip his hand as well.
"The shooting was committed by the gang leader only known as 'The Mayor', who, up til now, has never been seen in public. We do want to warn our audience that some of these images are graphic."
The reporter stops talking to show The Mayor and his men shooting people. Felicity stopped it to take The Mayor's face and run it through the database.
"The coward finally decided to show his face." Diggle says as we all watch Felicity do her magic.
"Vanity is going to cost him." Oliver says, anger in his voice. "If it wasn't for my vow of not killing people, I would kill this son of a bitch."
"I wouldn't let you." I say. "You've come too far to relapse, Ollie."
"You could've been shot, Roy and Thea, too!" Oliver argues, his anger would scare anyone, but it doesn't scare me.
"And The Mayor is not worth you breaking your own promise." I say, my hands slide out of his and cup his cheeks. "I don't want it to happen to you and neither would Roy and Thea."
He sighs as he grabs my wrists, keeping my hands on his cheeks, and leans to my touch. "When I heard about the shooting and I knew that you were there, all I could was pray that you were okay. I was terrified that I lost you." he admitted, softly.
I smile a little as my hands drop to rest on his chest. "You can't get rid of me that easy, Oliver." I say, warmly.
"I 'borrowed' the FBI's facial recognition software." Felicity says, literally doing the air quotes. "Got a match. Xavier Reed."
"Did Mr. Reed serve in the military?" I ask, still looking at Oliver.
"No military service." Danny says answers for Felicity.
"Family members?" Oliver asks this time, he staring at me as well.
"Reed was in and out of foster care his whole life. Wait, hold on." Felicity says. "In 1996, Reed spent three years with a foster family, and their son, Ezra Barnes."
"He served three tours in Iraq. He's stateside now." Danny reads off the computer.
"Twenty bucks says he was stationed at Camp Kirby." Diggle bets.
"Pay the man." Danny says. "The Mayor's foster brother is assigned to a weapons convoy that carries SCAR 16's by truck."
"The convoy's scheduled to come through Starling City, tonight." Felicity adds.
"FN SCAR 16's are military assault weapons with grenade launchers." Diggle says. "The Mayor gets ahold of these, it's game over."
I shake my head as I turn to Diggle. "He won't." I say, my voice fierce and still.
I'll make sure of that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alright guys, this episode is almost over. Just hang in there, okay? I promise I'll write as often as I can.
Happy Reading!
-Aleina Lister