'Now, the trick is to keep your weight evenly distributed,' I heard Diggle explain to Felicity as he helped her up from the floor behind me.
I was researching the next criminal Oliver had gone out to deal with, the new felon arriving in Starling in a helicopter. On my first evening as a full-time vigilante, Oliver had decided it would be best if I took over Felicity's job for the night whilst she learnt how to defend herself and I got a sense of being fully immersed in crime fighting. Plus, I was still shaken up; I had murdered the Dodger only a few nights ago.
'I thought the trick was to avoid getting into fights,' Felicity sarcastically shot back at Diggle.
'Yeah, well Starling City's not the kind of place where you can talk your way out of trouble,' Diggle stated. 'Besides, if you're gonna be working with us, I'll sleep a lot easier knowing that you can handle yourself, at least a little bit.'
We heard the door to the Arrowcave clang, Oliver entering from after his fight with his newest victim.
'How'd it go?' Diggle asked at once.
'Badly for him,' Oliver replied quickly.
'Who him?' Felicity wondered after getting her breath back from Diggle's mini self defence class.
'An assassin for hire with an affinity for knifes,' Oliver expanded on the night's events. 'His name was Guillermo Barrera.'
'Was?' Felicity worried about Oliver's use of the past tense.
'A mercenary who mostly worked abroad,' I gave the rest of the team a background on Oliver's latest target from the intel I had happened upon whilst researching him. 'He throws and slashes knifes at his victims, right through the heart every time. Except from today, since you came back alive, and I'm guessing you killed him.'
'So we can't ask him about his intended target?' Diggle questioned with a sensible mind frame while Oliver crossed a name, Mr Barrera's, off The List.
'No,' Oliver answered Diggle's question, turning to Felicity. 'Which is why I need you to hack his phone. Barrera's world class; he kills high profile targets, and whatever job he was hired for isn't finished. We need to figure out who he was here to kill and fast, they are probably still in danger, okay?'
'While you do that, we have a thing to go to,' I reminded Oliver. 'Tommy's birthday meal-celebration thing?'
'I have to meet McKenna,' Oliver remembered suddenly, a look of brief guilt on his face.
'Good thing she didn't meet you at the heliport,' Diggle smirked slightly. 'It may not be a good idea to fall for the cop that's hunting you down.'
'Well, it's slim pickings for us vigilantes,' Oliver pointed out in defence of his new romantic pursuit.
He was definitely right about that.
'I'll get over there now, since I'm ready to go, and I don't think green is the colour you should wear tonight,' I commented as I got up to leave the Arrowcave. 'I'll tell Tommy you're held up at the club.'
'See you there,' Oliver smiled back at me as I finally left.
'Happy birthday, Tommy!' I greeted Tommy with hug. 'I hope you don't feel too old yet.'
'Can twenty eight be classed as old?' Tommy asked me jokingly. 'Oh god, I'm nearly thirty.'
'Hey Aria, I'm so glad you could come!' Laurel joined us, beaming. 'How are you with... Everything, at the moment?'
'I'm doing okay, but tonight is about Tommy, not me,' I hugged Laurel back quickly. 'How is he coping with being twenty-eight?'
Shortly after, we heard a knock at the door, which I guessed must've belonged to Oliver and McKenna. Laurel and I went to finish setting the table in the dining room whilst Tommy welcomed the two in.
'This looks perfect,' I complimented Laurel's organisation as she lit the candles in the middle of the table.
'I'm a perfectionist, Aria, I couldn't let it not be perfect,' Laurel grinned, blowing out the flame on the match she was holding.
The rest of the congregation approached us, Tommy standing beside Laurel while Oliver and McKenna stood together and opposite us.
'Ollie!' Laurel greeted him a little too excitedly in front of McKenna, hugging Oliver friendlily.
'Hi, McKenna,' I spoke to McKenna as this was going on to make things a little less awkward for her.
'Hey, Aria,' she decided to hug me, out of the blue. 'Sorry, I didn't get to talk to you at the precinct yesterday. I've tried so hard to get Pike to change his mind, but he just won't listen.'
'Oh, don't worry about that,' I smiled with understanding. 'And I'm fine without the SCPD, really.'
'Laurel, this is-' Oliver started to introduce McKenna to Laurel, but he didn't need to.
'McKenna Hall,' Laurel finished Oliver's sentence. 'We know each other from the courthouse.'
'Hey,' Oliver half-hugged me as the two carried on talking, we both trying to pretend we had only seen each other at the club on club-construction-related affairs.
'I'm gonna crack this open,' Tommy muttered, bringing a bottle of wine that I assumed Oliver had bought Tommy into the kitchen.
I stood with Oliver as McKenna and Laurel continued to talk, not knowing quite what to say. I had managed to stay calm as I watched Tommy and Oliver hold hands with and care for others, but I almost felt like I was 'fifth wheeling', sticking out like a sore thumb.
'Are you okay?' Oliver inquired as he observed me.
'Yes,' I nodded in response. 'I'm just a little... Overwhelmed, that's all.'
'If you want me and McKenna to leave, we will,' Oliver volunteered, but I shook my head at once.
'No, that wouldn't be fair on either of you, especially McKenna,' I disagreed. 'She has no idea about what happened between us, and she never will if you want your relationship to last.'
'A toast,' Tommy interrupted us by passing us glasses generously filled with his new red wine.
McKenna and Laurel joined us, I pushed between Oliver and Tommy so the couples could stand by each other and look at each other like they were experiencing true love.
'To the first birthday I have enjoyed in a long time. I got my best friend back, and I have finally figured out why poets have been in business for the last few thousand years.'
'Happy birthday, baby,' Laurel said quietly, kissing Tommy for a few seconds in front of us all.
'Cheers,' Tommy said as we delicately clunked our wine glasses together while another knock sounded at the door.
'I think that's the food,' Laurel told us as she left to answer the door.
'Thank God she didn't cook,' Oliver whispered to us once she was just out of earshot.
'Amen,' Tommy smirked at his friend's comment, while McKenna just looked at me with a lost look on her face and I quietly chuckled.
I guess McKenna didn't get the joke; after all, she had only just been reacquainted with our little group.
Soon, Laurel returned with a new guest. Malcolm was there to celebrate his son's birthday, uninvited.
Laurel, Oliver and especially Tommy's faces fell as a result of Malcolm's presence, the three having resentment towards the assassin due to his treatment of his son. I tried to stay neutral after having made amends with Malcolm, McKenna looking to and fro the rest of the guests in complete confusion.
Poor McKenna. She didn't ask to fall for Oliver and get dragged into all the Merlyn family mess.
'Oliver,' Malcolm greeted Oliver first.
'Mr Merlyn,' Oliver replied back monotonously.
'Aria,' Malcolm decided to choose me out of everyone for the second, and last person to acknowledge other than Tommy.
'Hello,' I was polite as I could be amongst the group of Malcolm Merlyn haters.
'I've been trying to get in touch with you,' Malcolm turned to his son, his tone sounding far more than annoyed.
'What are you doing here, Dad?' Tommy skipped any pleasantries, acting very ticked off.
'Happy birthday, Tommy,' Malcolm responded, revealing a small box wrapped in blue paper and a white, fancy bow tied around the gift.
'Just give us a sec,' Tommy stated to us before leaving outside with his dad.
'Of course,' Laurel smiled to reassure Tommy everything would be alright.
'Sorry about that,' Tommy returned cheerfully not even five minutes later, a wide smile on his face.
'It's fine, buddy,' Oliver smiled back, everyone taking a breath of relief in unison.
Feeling my phone buzz, I unlocked the device to find a text from Malcolm telling me to go outside.
'I won't be long,' I announced as I left the apartment.
Malcolm was waiting for me round the corner of the corridor, out of sight from the apartment door.
'Do you want me to get Tommy to come out again?' I queried, slightly bewildered as to why he had called me out to speak with him.
'No, I think I've talked to my son enough,' Malcolm shook his head at once. 'I am being honoured by the Starling City Municipal Group at their Appreciation Gala, and I wanted you and Tommy to come, but since he declined the invitation before I could give him yours, I had to bring you out here, now.'
'What are they... Honouring you with?' I asked, interested in what Malcolm had been awarded.
'Their annual Humanitarian Award,' Malcolm responded proudly. 'I wanted my son to be there, but he wanted to prove a point by letting me down and not attending.'
'Maybe I can convince him to go,' I suggested as Malcolm bestowed me the written invitation. 'Thank you for inviting me, I'm surprised you would have chosen me of all the people in this city you could have. Moira Queen, for one.'
'She's already said yes,' Malcolm beamed. 'And why would I not invite you? You helped me protect Tommy when I needed you to, and you have become someone I would be proud to call my daughter.'
'Your... Daughter?' I was taken aback by Merlyn's compliment.
'Yes,' he confirmed what he had said to be true. 'I may have not been able to raise my own daughter, but I taught you many things that made you who you are today. You remind me of a girl, a warrior I met at Nanda Parbat. Her father taught me things beyond this world, and then I got the chance to teach some of them to you.'
'What else did he teach you?' I was too curious now to just go back to the party.
'I can't tell you here, it's too public,' he warned cautiously. 'But if you ever feel like you need to know more to make you into a better vigilante, just ask, and I will teach you things beyond your imagination.'
When I returned to the apartment, the high-quality takeaway cuisine Laurel had ordered arrived just behind me, the others almost rejoicing on empty stomachs.
'Thai,' Tommy approved of Laurel's choice in culture as he looked at what type of food we were eating. 'And expensive Thai.'
'Well, it is your birthday,' Laurel merely said back before they began another kissing session.
McKenna soon had to leave, telling us that she had an early shift the next day and she didn't want to be too tired or drunk for that. That left Tommy, Laurel, Oliver and I in the apartment, the four of us being together leisurely for the first time in a long time.
'This is nice,' Oliver commented, a bit too merry. 'The original four, all together at last.'
'Those were the good old days,' Tommy joined in with Oliver's tipsy reminiscence. 'We had nothing to worry about back then but whether we were going out that night to get wasted or being sad and staying home sober.'
'Those were also the days when you both landed in the SCPD every night,' I remarked, all four of us laughing.
'I don't know why I thought you were both so cool,' Laurel pondered aloud.
'We still are,' Tommy smirked, but couldn't keep a straight face at what he was saying. 'We're so cool, we have a nightclub, so there.'
'I think you need to go to sleep, Mister,' Laurel instructed Tommy with a giggle.
'I think you both do,' I raised by eyebrows at them. 'Am I the only slightly sober one here?'
It didn't take me too long to guide Tommy and Laurel to the apartment bedroom, and once they had laid down on the bed, both of my friends fell straight to sleep. Oliver and I were the only ones awake, so it was lucky that I had forgiven him before the party.
'Hey,' Oliver grinned like a Cheshire Cat, the booze not affecting him too badly.
'Hi, Ollie,' I smiled back. 'Do you... Want anything? Water?'
'No, no I'm fine,' he shook his head. 'I need to talk to you, and I can now that they've gone to sleep.'
'What is it?' I wondered while I poured myself a glass of wine.
'It's about... What happened between us, on the night of the fundraiser,' Oliver started slowly, as if he didn't want to mess up his big moment of telling me what was on his mind. 'I didn't really apologise for putting you in that position, not properly.'
'Oh, don't worry about that, Ollie,' I reassured him, not wanting the instance to blow up or put any bother between us. 'It doesn't just take one for a kiss to happen. I went with it, when I knew you were dating McKenna.'
'But you were upset,' Oliver reminded me. 'And I had really bad timing.'
'Listen, Ollie,' I decided to let him know I wasn't upset or angry, or anything else, about it. 'It was only a kiss; you've done a lot worse in the past when you were in relationships or dating other girls. I am not bothered about what happened, and I am going to let it slide if you will.'
'I know that,' Oliver nodded as if he could read my mind. 'But that's not why I'm worried about it. I think it, I, could've been the reason why you shot the Dodger. I made you emotional, and when you're trying to catch the bad guys, emotions get in the way and have serious consequences.'
'Oliver, I am not letting you take the blame for me murdering someone!' I reacted rashly at his discussion. 'I pulled that trigger.'
'I know you did,' Oliver accepted what I had said. 'But you can't blame yourself entirely. There were probably a lot of reasons why you did what you did. Everything happened at once, and you were on overdrive.'
'I guess you're right about that,' I admitted. 'I had found out my friend was a liar and had betrayed me, that the Dodger and his Renegade friends had been playing me this whole time, and that this Prometheus guy knew a lot of things about me, and you, I didn't want anyone to know. Oh, and that kiss.'
'What did they know about us?' Oliver inquired suggestively. 'Anything... Private?'
'Oh God no, nothing like that,' I cringed at what Oliver was implying. 'They knew about our secret identities, and what we did in our day-to-day lives. They also knew things that I would rather not want the public to know.'
'The island?' Oliver pressed.
'No, well I don't think so, anyway,' I disagreeing with his guess. 'Maybe the Prometheus guy did, but I'm talking about something else. They knew about Isaac, and they were trying to use his death against me, to scare me. They knew too much about my past.'
'I'm sorry,' Oliver uttered as he put his right arm around me, trying to calm me down as I started to cry.
'I... Didn't mean to cry,' I said as I finished sobbing. 'Sorry.'
'It's okay,' Oliver spoke softly.
'It was almost like they could read my mind,' I described how the Renegades had acted with me. 'They knew how I felt about Tommy, and...'
I looked up at Oliver silently, not knowing how to back out of this one.
'Do you love McKenna, Ollie?' I questioned him quietly.
'I don't know,' Oliver shook his head ever so slightly.
'Do you love me, Ollie?'
'I...'
But he never cared to finish his sentence.