"So, did you tell him?' Thea asked when Oliver and Laurel entered the dining room.
"Yeah I did." Laurel said.
"I'm meeting Jasmine tomorrow, since I don't want the first impression she gets from me to include her grandfather yelling at me." Oliver said.
"Jasmine's with your father tonight?" Moira asked.
"Her usual babysitter couldn't work tonight and I had a feeling that I'd end up spending the night here, so Jasmine is sleeping over at my dad's, not that he knows that I'm not going to be home tonight anyways." Laurel said.
"So, are you two officially back together?" Moira asked hopefully.
"I don't think we technically even broke up, since I was presumed dead." Oliver said as he took his normal seat at the table next to Thea and Laurel sat down on his other side.
"But yes, we are." Laurel said with a smile and both Tommy and Thea could tell that she was happier than she'd been in a while. In fact, they were pretty sure that the only thing that would make her happier was if Sara was at this table to.
"Okay, what else did you miss? Super Bowl winners: Giants, Steelers, Saints, Packers, Giants again. A black president, that's new. Oh, and Lost. They were all dead. I think." Tommy said and Oliver had to smile, since aside from two obvious differences, this felt like deja vu to him.
"Okay, now that I know that, is there anything I missed that's actually important?" Oliver asked and Laurel chuckled.
"Well, after Malcolm and I got married, we merged our companies into Queen-Merlyn Enterprises. Malcolm's been grooming Tommy to take over." Moira said.
"What happened to the playboy who put me to shame?" Oliver asked, since he never thought Tommy would actually go to work for his father.
"You died. It forced me to reevaluate my priorities, especially after our parents got married, since it meant I was the only brother Thea had left and I was the closest thing to a father Jasmine had." Tommy said.
"More like an irresponsible uncle who I will never allow around Jasmine without real adult supervision again." Laurel said with a smile.
"It wasn't that bad." Tommy protested.
"I honestly thought you'd thrown a party in my apartment when you were supposed to be babysitting." Laurel said, causing Oliver and Thea to snicker.
"What about you Thea. How did you handle me being gone?" Oliver asked.
"Really hard. I hit rock bottom more than once. I hit it hard after mom told me about her and Malcolm." Thea said.
"It actually wasn't until Moira and I got married and I started cracking down on her that Thea really started to improve." Malcolm said.
"Cracking down on her how?" Oliver asked.
"Well, we decided that if Thea wasn't going to use her trust fund wisely, then she wouldn't have one." Moira said.
"You cut her off." Oliver said.
"I'm still cut, which I still think was an overreaction." Thea said.
"You were spending your inheritance on drugs, thank god you're still underaged and you weren't caught by the police." Moira said.
"Though I did spend a night in jail." Thea said.
"Wait, what?" Oliver asked.
"Relax, your parents talked to my dad about putting Thea through the SCPD's scared straight program. Showed her what would happen if she was caught breaking the law." Laurel explained.
"I still think your dad took too much pleasure in doing that." Thea said.
"Of course, it was probably the closest thing he was going to get to locking me up." Oliver said, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"She's been getting better since then, but dad and Moira still aren't turning the switch back on." Tommy said.
"I'm surprised they didn't do the same to you." Oliver said to Tommy.
"We didn't have to. Tommy started shaping up after Jasmine was born and he's the one who came to me asking about the company." Malcolm explained and Oliver nodded.
"Anyways, I was hoping that we could check out the city tomorrow." Oliver said to Tommy.
"I'm in." Tommy said as he shot his father a look that Oliver didn't miss, but decided to let go for now.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea with that vigilante running around." Moira said.
"Vigilante?" Oliver asked, since if Star City already had another vigilante running around, he wanted to know about it.
"A few months ago, a mysterious woman in black showed up in the Glades and began doing a number on crime in the city, targeting not only the thugs of the Glades, but also the one percenters to." Tommy said and Oliver turned to see Laurel trying to keep herself from blushing, which gave him an idea of who this mysterious vigilante was.
"Unlike the rest of this family, I actually support her since she took down the guy who supplying Starling City with Vertigo." Thea said.
"Sounds like she's just a concerned citizen trying to help this city." Oliver said and he could tell Laurel was relieved to hear him say that, further confirming his suspicions.
"Vigilantes are not helping this city. They just create more chaos." Malcolm said and Oliver had to stop himself from scoffing at that, since the only vigilante in this room that Starling City needed to worry about was Malcolm.
"Can we please not get into this debate right now. Tonight is supposed to be a happy occasion." Moira said and they all nodded in agreement at that.
That night, Oliver and Laurel entered Oliver's old room in the mansion.
"So, is there something else you want to tell me? Woman in black?" Oliver asked her with a smile.
"What are you?" Laurel asked, desperately trying to convince him he was wrong.
"Laurel, you are many wonderful things, but a liar was never one of them." Oliver said and Laurel could tell that she was busted.
"Ollie, I've wanted to be a lawyer my whole life because I wanted to help this city. I took a job at a legal firm in the Glades because I thought I could do the most good there. But it wasn't enough. I want this city to be a safe place for Jasmine to grow up and right now it isn't. Honestly, we are one step away from following Gotham's lead and becoming a dead city. I'm trying to keep it alive." Laurel sia.d
"And you won't be doing it along anymore." Oliver said, much to her shock.
"What?" Laurel asked.
"I was planning on doing the same thing when I came home. Fight for our city." Oliver said as he told her the truth about how his father died.
"Wow, that's intense." Laurel said.
"Yeah. Starling City has been divided between the Glades and the rest of the city for too long. Maybe together, we can reunite our city." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.
"I'll show you my base tomorrow after you meet Jasmine." Laurel said.
"Quick question." Oliver said.
"She knows that I'm helping the city, but she doesn't know that I'm breaking the law to do it. She thinks her mommy is a superhero." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.
"You are a superhero." Oliver said.
"I made it clear to her that she couldn't tell anyone, but I didn't want to lie to my daughter about this. And I expect you not to either." Laurel said.
"It'll be easier if I don't have to lie to her. But who watches her while you're out in the city?" Oliver asked.
"I have someone in my ear to help me. She's actually Jasmine's godmother, she watches her while I'm in the field." Laurel said.
"Who?" Oliver asked.
"The head of Queen-Merlyn Enterprises R&D, Felicity Smoak." Laurel said and Oliver was surprised, since that was probably the last name he expected to hear.
"Wow, I missed a lot." Oliver said.
"Yeah. I'll introduce you to her tomorrow. But in the meantime, speaking of things we both missed." Laurel said and Oliver smiled as he took her into his arms and kissed her passionately as they both fell back onto his bed and let things escalate from there.