Discovery Devotion Destiny

Accepting Change

"One has to accept that change is the only constant in our" lives.

-Johnny Lever

The grating sound of metal scraping echoed in the room. A sweet, delicate hand holds the blade as it's dragged again and again across the whetstone. In one swift move, the blade goes flying across the room piercing one of many photographs of one Dr. Katherine Queen, affixed to the wall.

"You know there were fewer holes in these walls before you moved in." a voice spoke from the door. "I mean, I think everyone gets it. You hate her, but maybe you shouldn't take that hatred out on the very expensive walls of my house."

"This plan is taking too long."

"Yeah, well we thought she would die in the coma, and now she's up and about, so now the new plan is in effect. Right now we move at the whim of Prometheus, and so we wait."

"Well, I'm not sure I can."

There was a weird sculpture Katie found herself staring at, that stole her from the moment. It was a red clay sculpture of a kneeling woman, her arms crossed over her forehead. There was something about it that drew her in. Katie was currently in the middle of her third therapy session with an old friend, Nicholas Adams. The therapist had just asked a question before glancing up to see the woman seemingly enamored by his sculpture.

"It was a gift," he stood to his feet and stood beside her as he looked at the sculpture as well. "From an old friend. I guess she picked it up in some small village in Mali. She said it had a cool story that she would share when she came back."

"What's the story?"

Nick cleared his throat, dropping his eyes from the sculpture. "No idea. She was killed one night by a roadside bomb." Katie frowned, glancing over her shoulder to the man who looked back over to the sculpture. "Now I will never know." he glanced back down to the notepad before looking back over to Katie. "I asked how everything was going, at home." she didn't answer the question and he sighed. Trying to get her to talk was like pulling teeth. It reminded him of their earlier sessions from years ago. She had up that wall, keeping everyone out. He just had to figure out how to once again get around it. "You know I can only imagine how strange it must be to wake up one day and find out your life has just moved on without you."

"I doubt whatever you do imagine could come close to how I feel right now," Katie muttered as she walked off to stand by the window. Nick chuckled at the move.

"You know I've always wondered why you do that."

"Do what?" she kept her eyes out the window.

"Why you gravitate toward the window in the room whenever you find yourself in a conversation you'd rather not be in." he walked over to take a seat in his chair, before tossing down the notepad to look over to her. "I have a theory though. Care to hear it?"

"Knock yourself out."

"Ok, well I think you like to stand near windows because you've spent an awful lot of time feeling trapped," he watched the slight tensing of her shoulders. "Windows, both figuratively and literally are an opening to the outside world. A way to escape." she didn't say anything, and Nick sighed as he slid a hand across his chin. "I told you in our first session that this only works if you talk to me. What is happening to you is traumatic, and I know you have to have some kind of thoughts about it."

Katie closed her eyes and dropped her head against the window. She hated coming to these sessions. Not because she didn't think they could help, because she knew they could. She's witnessed patients find themselves out of dark places through therapy, and yet she found it difficult to open her mouth and let her feelings just come spilling out. She knew it was from years of being surrounded by people who only had ulterior motives...people who never really wanted to help her, only use her for something they wanted. She lifted her head and looked over to Nick who sat watching her, waiting for her to say something. When she looked at him, she didn't see a man with an ulterior motive, she never did. It was just hard to shake years of conditioning...years of being taught to trust no one. She glanced back out the window, realizing she'd already broken that rule by allowing herself to be pulled into a family she had no memory of and had no intention of ever leaving. And so she turned and walked over to sit in front of Nick.

"I feel...angry." she finally said and he simply nodded before picking up his note pad and taking notes. "I feel powerless." he glanced up to her as she turned her eyes away from him and continued. "I feel lost even though I've been told that I'm found." she glanced back over to the man and shrugged. "It feels like one day I woke in someone else's life, and each day I'm waiting for her to come back and I'm afraid she won't."

"Why are you afraid?"

"Because if she doesn't come back then the world is stuck with me and I'm not-" she dropped her head and slid her fingers through her hair. "I'm not who they think I am." she looked back up to him.

"And who are you?"

Katie looked at the man, her initial answer to that question would probably ensure extra therapy sessions. Coming out and saying that she was a monster probably would sway questions in a direction she didn't want to go because they would take her back to a time she wished she could forget.

"I don't know. But I'm not someone they should revere. Or someone they should care about-" she shook her head. "I'm not someone Oliver should look at like—" she dropped her face to her hands.

"How does he look at you?"

"He looks at me like I'm not the total and complete mess, I know I am." she looked over to Nick who was still scribbling notes in his note pad and she rolled her eyes. "It feels wrong," he stopped writing and looks up to her. "It feels wrong to even entertain this life as even possible when deep down I just know it isn't. Not after everything."

"You don't think you deserve this life?"

"I don't." she looked over to him with a shake of her head. "A husband who loves me, a beautiful daughter, raising my cousin who actually likes me after I single-handedly ruined her life. And this damn city thinks I'm some sort of saint."

"Katie, you have to realize that the person you are now, grew into the person these people know. I know not remembering makes all of this tough, and I know you're frustrated with people telling you about yourself when you can't remember, but you made this life happen. At some point in your life you felt that you did deserve this life."

Katie turned away because that was the question she wanted answered. What happened that shifted her focus? What changed that she stopped trying to push people away and started being open to letting them in?

"When you started seeing me, you once mentioned that when you returned to this city, you had no intention in staying." she glanced back over to him with a furrowed brow. "Your father passed away, and you said there was nothing keeping you in this city," Katie rolled her eyes at the mention of her father. Oliver had told her that the world thought he was dead, and she was only realizing more and more how much of a bastard he really was.

"And why did I stay?"

"Why are you staying now?" he countered and she slid back in her seat and thought on the question.

"Oliver Queen," she shook her head. "He wants his wife, and I'm not-"

"Except you are. You may not remember the tumultuous relationship between you and your husband, but deeply rooted in that relationship from friends, to dating, to being married, you found something. Something that changed you." she turned away. "You're not a stranger in someone else's life and maybe if you accept that, it may ease some of your fears. Maybe even find that thing that turned your life around."

"I'm not even sure how to do that. Immerse myself in this life-" she shook her head. "This woman I became is so not me and I just don't know how to be her."

"Then take small steps. How about with Oliver?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean right now, what is your relationship like?"

Katie turned away and shrugged. "It's different I guess, but kind of the same. I mean we're friends, but I can feel there's something more there. A shift that I can't remember, but I know it's there. We're married, he's my husband, and we have a daughter, but I guess we haven't..." she looked back over to Nick. "I guess there's a level of intimacy married people have that I'm not sure I can-" she turned away. She could never shake that nagging feeling when she was with Oliver that those feelings she was having, those desires to touch him or kiss him were wrong because he just wasn't hers.

"Ok, you and Oliver are married. He's your husband, and you're his wife. You are Katherine Queen. Try to solidify that part of your identity within yourself."

"How?"

"I don't know, uhmm... kiss him." Nick said and Katie frowned slightly. "Unless you don't want to kiss him."

"Well, no that's not it. I mean, of course I want to kiss him, I've always wanted to kiss him. It's just...it would be weird." Nick chuckled and Katie glared over to him. "What kind of therapist laughs at his patient for expressing an opinion?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed, I just-" Nick met Katie's eyes and sighed. "You're not afraid that it would be weird, you're just afraid of shifting this comfortable friendship you and he have right now."

"And what's wrong with that? He doesn't seem to mind."

"Well I think I can safely assume Oliver wouldn't think kissing you is weird. According to some of the pictures I've seen of you two in the past, you were a very affectionate couple." Katie turned away and sighed. "Look I don't want to push you into doing something you're not comfortable with. I just want you to try to find some way to step into these shoes that is your life. You might start to feel differently once you do." Nick glanced down this watch. "I think that's our time. I really appreciate you opening up today, and I hope we can continue trying to find a way to get you more comfortable with your life."

When Katie stepped out of Nick's office, she couldn't stop thinking about his words. She had to admit that she was comfortable with how her relationship with Oliver was. It felt safe. But she always felt as if there were moments where he wanted more and she just pulled away. Katie walked into the bathroom down the hall from Nick's office, immediately going over to the sink to splash water on her face. She looked up to the mirror, pausing as she always did to look back to the stranger who stared at her.

"You are Katherine Queen," even to this day saying the words out loud seemed strange. "Oliver is your husband. He's yours." she let out a sighed before grabbing some paper towel and patting her face dry. Her eyes lifted back to the mirror, and soon a smile came to her lips. "You're going to kiss him." she tossed the paper towel into the trash bin before pushing out of the door and heading for the elevator. She pressed the button, waiting for the doors to open, her thoughts now coming up with some plan to kiss one Oliver Queen. When the doors finally opened, she paused her step because the subject of her thoughts was standing in front of her. "Oliver? What are you doing here? I thought you had meetings all morning." he smiled as she stepped on.

"They didn't take as long as I thought." he glanced out into the office. "Your appointment's over?" he turned back to see her nod. "I'm sorry, I told Thea my schedule should be clear for these things, but-"

"Stop apologizing. I really don't expect you to be at every doctor's appointment I have. You're the Mayor, and like a hero. Your free time is very limited." the doors opened and Oliver caught her arm before she could step out, and she turned to him with a furrowed brow.

"For you, for the kids, nothing is more important, so it doesn't matter what I'm doing, my schedule will change when I need to be with my family." she narrowered her eyes.

"Did that meeting end early, or did you skip out on them?" Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but then he just sighed. She smiled with a shake of her head as he looked back to her. Do it now! Kiss him! She didn't...because she was a wuss.

"Oh—" Oliver and Katie turned to see Steve standing at the open doors of the elevator looking between them. "I didn't think you were coming to this appointment, boss?"

"That's because Oliver is playing hooky from his mayoral duties." Katie says and Oliver glanced over to see the smirk on her face before she steps off of the elevator. "And Thea will blame me." she looked back to see him following behind her. "I'm really fine, you can head back to City Hall, maybe catch the meeting you're skipping to be here."

"It really wasn't an important meeting." there was something about the way he said it that made her not believe him.

"Oliver you're the mayor, all of your meetings are important."

"Not more important than being here for you, so stop trying to get rid of me," he glanced over to Steve. "I'm going to take her home, you can go on ahead." Steve didn't immediately follow the order, his eyes glancing over to Katie hesitant to leave. Katie looked over to the guard, and sighed.

"I think he's worried about us."

"Steve, it's fine, I came with a detail from City Hall, and they're going to be pulling in soon."

"Well protocol permits that they should be here as soon as you step off the elevator," Steve turned away in frustration. His opinion on Oliver's mayoral security team was no secret. He thought they were all idiots, and the incident at the press conference only validated his opinion.

"Steve-" the man turned back to Oliver. "It's fine, I told them to take their time because I actually wanted a moment alone with my wife."

"Oh, I should— Steve shook his head. "I'm sorry sir, I will-" he pointed behind him before turning and making himself scarce.

Katie turned to Oliver with a quirked brow. "You wanted to be alone with me?" Oliver looked over to her with a smile.

"Actually, yeah. How did your session with Nick go?" Katie looked at him for a moment before turning away. Of course he wanted to talk about her crazy session. Oliver noticed what looked like a slight hint of disappointment cross her face and he wonders if that's not what she wanted him to say. "I just thought-"

"No," she turned back to him with a shake of her head. "It went as well as one can hope I guess. It's still weird. I'm not a sharer and I don't actually like to talk about my feelings which makes these sessions seem pointless, but I guess there are moments of reflection." she shrugged turning back to him. "They actually make me think about things I didn't really think about before."

"What sort of things?" Oliver asked and Katie turned away, letting out a slight sigh.

She wasn't sure she should bring up the whole kiss thing, since it really did seem kind of weird. She has no idea why.

"Nothing, just stuff," she clears her throat and turns at the sound of the engine of Oliver's car. "So what was the meeting?" Oliver looked over to her.

"It was a budget meeting." Oliver said walking over to open the door for her. He stood at the door, and turned to see she hadn't moved. Oliver let out a sigh, closing the door, before walking back over to her. "In the last couple of months, hospitals have been closing. We're meeting with the CEO of Amertek to present to them a free clinic to help this city and get people the medical attention they need. We're hoping to get them to help cover the costs of getting the clinic up and running." Katie frowned, turning away slightly. "Twinkie—" she turned a glare to him.

"Did you seriously just tell me that you skipped a meeting that could help upstart a free clinic in this city?" she poked him in the chest. "Me, the woman who has seen what cities, and villages are like without any kind of medical facilities." she shook her head before turning and storming over to his car and opening the back door. "You're going to this meeting and you are going to make the best damn pitch you have ever made." Oliver walked over to stand in front of her. "This is an important meeting."

"You're right, it is important, but the choice in front of me was either go to that meeting, or come here to make sure you were alright after your session."

"And you chose me?" Oliver smiled, turning away a bit. He wanted to say so much to that question. Once again every emotion he held for this woman just threatened to spill out of him. He turned back to her brown eyes and let out a breath.

"Without a second thought," he replied and Katie looked at him for a moment, holding his gaze. Just kiss him! She bit her bottom lip, the temptation just right there, before turning away from his gaze. Yep, still a big ole wuss. "Thea can cover the meeting, and I-"

"You're going to the meeting," she turned back to him and let out a dramatic sigh. "And so am I." she turned slipping into the car, and Oliver felt the smile tug at his lips before he got in as well.

The drive to city hall was...not what Oliver expected. Katie found his notes for the meeting and had spent the majority of the ride reading over them. She had pulled a pen out of her purse, scribbling out things and writing new ones.

"No, this is just a repeat of what you said early on and something like this shouldn't have repetition," she muttered as her eyes focused on the notes. "Oh, I know, you can move this here, and then end with this." she stopped scribbling and read over her final product. Oliver sat beside her, watching her, totally mesmerized by how much passion and energy she focused on one pitch. He knew the idea would be important to her. He'd actually thought it up when she was still in a coma. He was going to name it after her, but he's sure she'd shoot that idea down now. Oliver saw a sudden frown on her face as she read.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just-" she turned to look at him. "This idea seems like something that would fall into the New Beginning's Initiative. From what I read online, this sort of good will venture would be right their alley. Why are you going to Amertek, and not RI?" Oliver turned away. It was initially the plan to go to Robins Incorporated with the plan, but after the whole fiasco with Annabelle, he figured he should keep his distance.

"It just didn't seem like the right fit." Oliver said turning back to the woman whose brow furrowed. "Bringing this to RI would mean bringing it to Annabelle and I just didn't think that was a good idea." Katie looked at him for a moment before turning away. "I thought you would think my limited interactions with her would be a good thing."

"No, that's not it, it's just-" she turned back to him, and the way he stared at her always made her thoughts jumbled. She shook her head. "You bringing this to Amertek actually looks like you're avoiding her. I just don't want that to overshadow how important this is." she glanced down the paper, now riddled with her own notes. "Look I don't care who funds this, I'm one hundred percent behind anyone who will help make this possible." she handed Oliver the papers and he looked over to her for a moment, and that desire to just kiss her right then in that moment was so strong. His fingers brushed against hers as he took the papers and neither could ignore that spark as they did. He couldn't help it when he leaned in to her.

"Sir-" Oliver suddenly froze, and turned to his driver in annoyance. "We're here." Oliver turned to Katie who suddenly turned away from him and grabbed her bag. And just like that the moment was gone.

Slipping his hand over Katie's had become a normal routine for Oliver when they were in a public place. It wasn't for show, or because they wanted to portray something they weren't, it was honestly his way to keep her near. He always had a bit of anxiety when they were out in public, always wary of who was around them and their possible intentions. And it would seem that it was a routine Katie would accept. When he took her hand, she never pulled away.

Walking into City Hall. Oliver held Katie's hand, smiling and greeting those they passed. Katie found her face starting to hurt from the smiling, relief only coming when they stepped onto the elevator. It was empty, but Oliver still held on to her hand.

"At some point my lips are just going to fall off my face." Katie said suddenly and Oliver looked down to her and laughed. "A person should not smile this much. I'm sure there's like a medical concern about it or something."

"Well if anyone can find it, I'm sure you can, doctor." Oliver said as the door slid open. They walked into Oliver's office, surprised to see Thea there waiting for them. Thea turned her eyes lighting up when she sees Katie.

"Hey, I didn't know you were visiting today." Thea said, smiling when she saw their linked hands, before turning to her brother. "I thought I was going to have to go solo for this Amertek meeting."

"I had a change of heart?"

"And by change of heart, he means I made him come." Katie says looking over to Oliver with a smile. She turned to face him, pulling her hand from his grasp to straighten his tie. "You are going into this meeting and you're going to pitch your ass off." her hands fell to rest on his chest and she looked up to his eyes. "Remember why this is important, and convey that with your words and make them see it."

Oliver found himself once again practicing a lot of restraint right now with his wife. But the passion in her words about this clinic, and seeing how important this was to her after only just learning about it, just made him remember why he loved her. It was a trait he admired and also inadvertently found sexy as hell.

The silent staring between the two seemed to speak volumes, which is why Thea cleared her throat to bring them back to the moment. They both turned to her with raised brows.

"We should be heading down to the boardroom." Thea said and Oliver nodded before turning back to Katie.

"Right, well good luck and-"

"You're coming with us." Oliver suddenly said, taking her hand and pulling her with him. Katie turned her confused eyes from him to Thea who seemed amused. They stopped outside of the door, and Katie pulled her hand from him.

"I can't go in this meeting."

"Why not?" Thea asked with a smile that only annoyed Katie. "I actually think this is a good idea. To have a doctor here actually express the importance of the clinic. They will hear this, especially if it comes from you."

"What do you mean if it comes from me?" she turns to Oliver with a shake of her head. "You think this is going to go one way, and it's going to go another. I mean look at me," Katie looked down to her outfit which consisted of dark blue jeans and a white buttoned shirt covered by a short light beige trench coat. "I don't look like someone who should be helping with this, so I'm just going to go back to your office and-" she turned around to leave.

"Twinkie, wait-" Katie turned back to Oliver. "Between the three of us, who knows what this clinic could truly mean for this city. You just told me that I have know why this is important and to make them see it. You can make them see it." Katie looked over to the man, before looking over to the hopeful eyes of Thea Queen before letting out a groan.

"Fine, but you do this pitch how you planned and I will just add my two cents if it's needed or if there's any medical questions." Oliver smiled before pulling open the door. "And you don't have to look so pleased with yourself."

"Impossible," Oliver whispered as she walked into the meeting room.

Arianna Locke had one mission today and that was to convince Oliver and Katie to let her join his crack team of recruits. After school, Ari had Hank bring her to Oliver's old campaign office.

"I still don't see what this place is?" Hank says as he glances back to the girl who rolls her eyes. "And let me guess, you're not going to tell me."

"Nope. It's on the list of designated places I'm allowed to be and that's all you need to know. I'm meeting Oliver here, so you can head home." Ari turned to get out the car, before stopping and turning back to the man. "You're not even going to give me a hint at what this awesome birthday present is?" the man laughed as he shook his head.

"Not on your life, kid." Ari just rolled her eyes before getting out of the car and heading inside. She stopped before opening the door, glancing over her shoulder with a slight frown. She'd spent many nights blindfolded with Nyssa and her attempts to help heighten her senses. She thought it was a load of a crap, and yet in this moment, she has the strangest feeling of being watched. She didn't see anyone, which made her believe that she was just being paranoid, and so she headed inside.

Turning the familiar corner in the office, Ari looked up surprised to see Bruce standing at the elevator doors. He looked back over to her with a furrowed brow.

"I have a nagging suspicion that you're not supposed to be here." Bruce says as the doors opened.

"Well I have a nagging suspicion that black really isn't your color." she moves around the man and walks into the elevator. Bruce can't help but laugh as he steps inside as well. "So-" Bruce turns to her. "You know my birthday is coming up, right?"

Bruce furrows his brow. "It is?" he shakes his head and turns back to the doors. "Hmph, I didn't know that." Ari glares because she knows he's lying. The doors slide open and Bruce steps off.

"Whatever old man, just make sure you have a gift on that table." she says and Bruce just chuckles as he walks over to Felicity. The blonde looks over her shoulder to see Bruce, but her eyes shift to the teenager and she shakes her head.

"Nuh-uh," Felicity stands to her feet. "You, young lady are absolutely prohibited from being here and you know that. Ever since that stunt you pulled."

"That wasn't a stunt!" Ari says dropping her backpack on the floor and walking over to Felicity. "That was me helping. Oliver was dealing with a bunch of stuff and so I-"

"You went after a crazy person on your own?" Felicity asked and Bruce let out a snort and she turned to him with a furrowed brow. "You find something amusing about this."

"No-" he looks over to Ari and shakes his head. "What you did was beyond stupid, kid, but it reminds me of someone." he turns back to Felicity with a look she suddenly understands and can't help but shake her head. "She's Richard, in teenage girl form."

"you're not helping." Felicity turns back to Arianna and just shakes her head. "Oliver and Katie have made it pretty clear that your inclusion here should be limited. Plus, Oliver no longer needs your help. I'm back, and he's training a new team. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

"Right, like I shouldn't worry about him going out there with weirdos named Wild Dog." she said and Felicity quirked a brow. "and you're probably wondering how I know that name."

"I am wondering how you know that name." Felicity says seriously as she takes a step toward the girl. "Did you hack my systems, because my sweet Ari, if you did-" she placed a hand on Ari's shoulder.

"If you did, I would be totally impressed!" they turned at Curtis' voice. The man was currently attempting to climb up the salmon ladder, but he was clearly struggling. In his search for Wild Dog's location, he'd been jumped by some guys and the entire ordeal left him feeling helpless. It was a feeling her never wanted to experience again. The next time he saw Oliver, and heard that he agreed to recruit a new team, he asked to be one of them.

Felicity shook her head before turning back to Ari who shook her head.

"I didn't hack you. There were some papers in Oliver's office at the house and I saw the name when I was grabbing a permission slip." Ari let out a sigh. "And this has nothing to do with just me being worried about Oliver. This is about me, wanting to help this city too. Like all of you do." she glanced over to Curtis, and shook her head. "And if this is the kind of help he has, he's going to need me." Ari walked over to the salmon ladder. "Curtis, you have to remember to breathe!"

Felicity turned to the girl who was giving pointers to Curtis. Bruce stood beside her as well, watching her.

"Richard started off young." Bruce suddenly said. "Alfred told me I was crazy, that he was just a kid, but that kid had something-" Felicity glanced over to him. "He had a fight in him. A fight that I couldn't stop. I had to give it direction." they both turned back to where Ari stood beside Curtis, motioning with her arms and legs the best way to climb the ladder. "He's trying stop something I don't think he can, and if he keeps trying-"

"It could end badly." Felicity mutters as she turns and heads back over to her computer. "Well you try telling Oliver that and see how he reacts." Bruce walked over to see what she was working on.

"Anything new on Conhan?"

"No, he was struck with an arrow and a sword. Literally overkill."

"And what you've told me about this Tobias Church guy, that's definitely not his MO."

"Totally different than the Bertinelli murder, too." Felicity pulls up a new screen showing the files from the case. "Ballistics show that he was shot by his own men." she looks over to Bruce. "That just screams Church. In Hub City, he killed every crime boss in town so he could unite everyone under one super-gang under his control." Bruce's eyes look back to the screen. A guy like this, silent for too long only meant he was planning something. Felicity looked back over to the man, leaning slightly into his jacket and he looked down to her in confusion. "What's that smell?" she stands to her feet and grabs the lapels of his jacket, and just brings her nose against his collar and sniffs, before pulling back and looking to his eyes. "That's perfume. Why do you smell like perfume? Is there something you want to tell me?" Bruce brought his hands around the woman's waist and she let out a sigh. "They're here, aren't they?"

"Got in this morning."

"Oliver is going to kill you and then me for not telling him." Felicity says before laying her head on Bruce's chest. She sniffed once more before once again pulling away and looking up to him. "Must've been one hell of a hug hello." she pulled from his grasped and sat back down at her computer. Bruce looked down to his jacket and sniffed it a bit, and sighed before walking over and pulling off the jacket to sit beside the woman. Felicity looked over to Bruce who pulled up the case files and began reading them and she couldn't help but smile. The sounds of Robyn's cries made the woman jump up and quickly run to check on her god daughter.

The meeting seemed like it was going well. Katie stood off to the side, watching as Oliver and Thea were just about wrapping up their pitch. She hadn't actually said anything, which she didn't hate. Oliver and Thea covered the important points which only verified her suspicions that they really didn't need her in here.

"In a—in a day, we can provide medical care for up to a thousand people." Oliver said looking between the CEO and vice president Janet Clark and Evan Wender.

"Plus we already have about 30 doctors and nurses just waiting to volunteer." Thea added, and both Janet and Evan glanced from Thea to Oliver.

"We're looking for a company to cover logistical expenses and-"

"Ok, you can stop." Evan says holding his hands up. "Your pitch is good, and this is definitely something I see Amertek getting behind."

"But before we get that far, I think we should hear from the actual doctor in the room," Janet said and they all glanced over to Katie who looked a bit nervous as she looked over to Oliver but turned back to Janet with a smile.

"Sure, what can I tell you that wasn't covered in this meeting?" Katie asked and Janet smiled.

"You tell me. I'm actually a bit hesitant, seeing as Robins Incorporated has been the financier of most of Mayor Queens initiatives, and now there's this one and you're shopping it around." Janet glanced over to Oliver and Thea before turning back to Katie. "We just want to make sure we're seeing the whole picture here and not stepping into something we may not make it out of."

"Ms. Clark, I can assure you that us coming to Amertek with this and not RI has absolutely nothing to do with the development of this clinic." Oliver chimed in. He turned when Katie walked over and took a seat at the boardroom table across from Janet and Evan and they turned to her.

"Do you know why free clinics are important?" she asked and they looked between one another before turning back to her. "That was rhetorical a question you don't have to answer because I'm just sitting here really hoping you do. So a study from a while back said that 8.5 percent of people in the United States are uninsured. That's about 27.5 million people. Without free clinics those people can't get a check up to catch that melanoma that's probably going to metastasize, someone's grandpa doesn't get their cardiac medication, or someone's child will have to suffer through their asthma and live a life without an inhaler." Katie looked between Janet and Evan. "Who funds this clinic isn't important. I don't care who helps get this started. It can be you or it could be the next company we meet with. That's your choice. But there aren't a lot of clinics like this around when there really should be. We're here asking you to see why this is important and to help us help the people of this city." they stare silently at her for a moment and she's not sure what to make of it.

"And what will your involvement be with this clinic?" Janet asked, and Katie just glanced over to Oliver and Thea. It was Thea who answered the question.

"Katie will be overseeing the entire thing. With her expertise in the medical field, and the fact that the people in this city respect her and support the causes she stands behind." Thea turned to Katie who tried not to express the surprise and annoyance she felt. She simply cleared her throat and turned back to Janet and Evan.

"Amertek is in, and not just for logistical expenses, for the whole thing." Janet says with a smile as she and Evan stand to her feet. She reaches out and shakes Katie's hand. "And honestly, we were in with just the logistics with the pitch from your husband and Ms. Queen, but to know you're going to be heading this up, well I would be a fool to not step all in on this." Janet and Evan walk over to Thea and Oliver, shaking both of their hands as well.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Thea says looking over to Oliver who shakes Janet's hand.

"Thank you-that's incredibly generous."

"Please. You're not only helping the people of this city, but you'd be doing us the favor." Janet says with a smile.

Evan chuckles. "And by "us," she means our stock price. Good PR is worth literally its weight in gold." they head for the door, and Oliver follows them out.

"Uh, well, we will make sure this clinic is a success and that everyone knows they have Amertek to thank for it." Oliver says closing the door behind them. He and Thea turn to Katie who looks between the two of them before turning and stalking out of the room. Oliver groans, turning to Thea.

"It really seemed like the right thing to say at the moment." she says meekly. Oliver just shook his head before going after his wife. He found her in his office, standing near the window.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea she was going to say that." Oliver walks over to stand next to her. "I will call Janet and tell her that Thea misspoke."

"Don't. Apparently my involvement was a selling point." she looks over to Oliver and lets out a sigh before letting her back fall against the window. "It's just running a clinic seems so...counterproductive to trying to get my memories back."

"Maybe not. You were a doctor at Glades Memorial for a while and then Safe Haven. Maybe working in the clinic could trigger something." Katie turned away and thought about it. Maybe being able to focus on something else for a change could also be a plus. Something that had nothing to do with her memory loss or of this life she was plopped into. Practicing medicine was always her safe place. The place that made the most sense.

"Fine," she looks over to Oliver who smiles and it just annoys her. "Stop doing that! I'm starting to feel like a push over right now. Agreeing to everything you ask, which I once promised myself I would never do." she turned away and he couldn't stop smiling, couldn't stop being happy with being in the same room as her, couldn't stop being excited with every conversation they had. She looked over to him and to see that smile and she couldn't help but to want to just grab and kiss him, and yet that nagging doubt made her turn and walk away, placing some distance between them. "Uh, I should go." she looked over to Oliver. "There's still a few things to get done for Ari's birthday party." she pulled her bag over her shoulder before pulling out her phone.

"I can come with you." he said and she looked over to him with a quirked brow.

"No you can't. You're going to be busy running your camp for wayward vigilantes." she said with a light chuckle. "I have to check out this cake and then grab Robyn from Felicity before heading home."

"Your evening sounds so much better than mine, Mrs. Queen," he says and she doesn't expect the sudden sensation in her lower regions at the man simply calling her Mrs. Queen. She bites the corner of her lip and turns from his eyes.

"Yeah, well, anyway, I should go." she turns and hurries out the door before Oliver can say another word. She hurries to the elevator, pressing the button repeatedly.

"You know that doesn't actually make the doors open any quicker." Katie looked over to see Thea. "I'm so sorry I totally stuck a foot in my mouth. I didn't mean to volunteer you for something if you're not ready."

"Thea, it's fine, I will do it." she glanced over her shoulder in time to see Oliver who was walking over. The moment the elevator doors opened, she quickly stepped inside and pressed the closed door button. Thea looked over to see her brother before slipping inside just as the doors closed.

"What the hell was that?" Thea asked and Katie looked over to her before shaking her head. "Were you just running away from Oliver?"

"Yes," Katie turned and dropped her head to the wall. "Because I'm an idiot and because stupid Nick now has my head really messed up." she turned her head to see Thea staring at her waiting for her to explain. "If I tell you something, can you promise not to tell a soul. Not even your brother." Thea frowned for a moment but nodded.

"Sure, what's going on?"

"Today in my therapy session with Nick, he suggested that I try to immerse myself fully into this life, as Katherine Queen." she turned her head back to the wall. "He said I should start with my marriage."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea, but he suggested I start by kissing Oliver." Katie slid her hands to her face with a shake of her head before turning back to Thea. "Which seems simple enough, but when I'm standing in front of him, sometimes it feels like we're in high school, and he's the popular guy, and I'm the geek girl he didn't want anyone to know he hung out with."

"But he doesn't feel like that now, you know that."

"Of course I know that, but the thought of me just kissing him." Katie shook her head and turned as the doors opened. "I spent years wanting to kiss Oliver Queen and I never did because I never felt like that girl." she looked over to Thea. "I know I sound ridiculous, but it still feels weird you know. To wake up one day and no longer be Katherine Robins, but Katherine Queen, Oliver Queen's wife. It's still hard to believe."

"And what will make you believe it?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." Katie waved goodbye to Thea before stepping off of the elevator. Thea watched her until the doors closed. She stood there for a moment before reaching forward and pressing the button for her floor. When the doors opened, she looked up to see her brother.

"Is she gone?"

"Yeah," she saw the disappointment wash over his face before he turned and headed back to his office. "Ollie-"

"I don't know what happened. We were talking and then she just ran out of here and I don't even know what I did." they walked into his office.

"Ollie, you didn't do anything." Thea said and her brother turned to her.

"She talked to you?"

"She did and I can't say what about, but what I can say is, you didn't anything to make her run out of here. She's just dealing with some stuff."

"Which I could help her with if she would talk to me, which she doesn't seem to want to do. I mean she talked to you instead of me."

"Which should tell you something." Thea sighed. "Look, I came back up here to suggest that you do the press on the clinic." Thea saw the look on Oliver's face and groaned.

"Actually, maybe you can."

Katie flipped through a book that showed what seemed like every themed cake under the sun. The baker in charge of making Ari's cake wanted Katie to come down for a taste test to ensure it was the right flavor. She heard a slight hum, and when she looked over she just shook her head at the sight of Steve who seemed to be enjoying the samples on a nearby table.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked and Steve turns to her, quickly wiping his mouth with the paper towel and swallowing the bit of cake he'd just ate.

"Sorry," he once again before moving around the bakery, glancing out the window.

"So has Ari hassled you about a birthday gift yet?" Katie asked glancing back down to the book.

Steve laughed, "She has. I got her a bell." Katie looked over to him with a quirked brow and he laughed. "Me and the rest of the guys are all giving her gag gifts. Things that make noise, since shes always sneaking around." Katie chuckled before turning back to the book. She didn't turn when the bell rang as the door to the bakery opened.

"I'm here now." she heard the man's voice and lifted her head. She turned to see the man with the phone pressed to his ear. "I'm not an idiot, I can pick up a cake Claire. It's not rocket-" he turned, meeting Katie's eyes and he seemed taken aback. "I'm hanging up now." he ended the call, his eyes still looking over to Katie. "Sweets?"

"Michael?"

Michael took only a single step before Steve appeared in front of him. "Sir, I'm going to need you to keep your distance."

"Steve, it's alright." she placed a hand on his arm as she moved around and took a step closer. "I know him."

Soon Katie found herself sitting in a coffee shop, looking at another face from her past she really didn't expect to see.

"So you're the COO of my father's company?" Katie asked and Michael smiled with a nod.

"Well I was appointed when it was your company." he replied and Katie sat back in her seat with a furrowed brow and he just laughed.

"You find this amusing and I feel like I'm in the twilight zone." Katie says with a shake of her head before turning back to the man. "The last thing I remember with us was-"

"That night. That fucking, shitty night, that I will always regret." Michael says leaning forward on the table. "I know I apologized-"

"Yeah, and I still have no idea why." she replied looking over to the man. "We both realized something was missing and that night when I saw you with that girl-" Katie shrugged. "I was angry, but I also wasn't as angry as I should've been. We weren't ready to be married."

"Well honestly, I think I was ready to marry you, but there was always something holding you back." Katie turned away and let out a sigh. Michael stared at the side of her face for a moment, now only realizing just how long it's been since he's seen her. He missed her and he didn't realize how much he would miss her until she wasn't there to be annoyed by him.

"So I hired you as my COO," Katie looked back over to him. "And does Oliver know about us?"

"He knows that we were a thing way back when, maybe about the engagement, but I don't know. That was a conversation I wasn't apart of." Katie looked at him for a moment unsure what she was currently feeling right now. Once upon a forever ago, she actually thought she would spend the rest of her life with the man sitting across from her. She thought she'd finally gotten over her infatuation with Oliver, and found someone who truly loved her. "I still can't believe you're sitting here in front of me and we're having an actual conversation." He smiled and Katie remembered why she never realized sooner that the feelings she had for him weren't completely genuine. There was always something about one Michael Carroll. That thousand watt smile that made the girls just swoon. She glanced down to her hand, to her wedding ring, and smiled before looking back up to the man.

"I should probably go." Katie grabbed her bag, and reached inside for her wallet, but Michael held out a hand.

"I got it." he said and she simply nodded before standing to her feet. "Well it was good to see you, Sweets. I'm glad that husband of yours doesn't have you locked away from the world."

"I'm glad you're doing good, Mike." he brought his arms around her in a hug that she returned. When they pulled back, Katie gave him a friendly jab to the shoulder. "Make sure the Robin soars high." she looked over to Steve giving him a nod and watched as he stood to his feet and headed to the door.

"I could actually use your help with that?" Michael says and Katie turns back to him. "The company isn't doing as well as it should right now, and we believe it's because you're not there."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you coming back. That place could use that spark you have, Sweets. Annabelle has no idea what this company is and what it means to this city."

"You are aware that I'm like going through my own personal crisis with the whole memory loss thing. I can't go back to that company when I can't even remember who I truly am." Katie shook her head. "I'm sorry Michael, I wish I could help."

"Don't say no yet. Just think about it. That building still has your name on the side of it. You're the last Robins in this city, and that company was built from the blood of your family. It could use your help." Katie looked at him for a moment before giving a nod.

"I will think about it, but I'm really not making any promises. I really do have a lot going on."

"I get it, but thinking about it is all I ask." he smiled once again, that charming smile she hated and loved at the same time. She shook her head before turning and following Steve out of the door.

Oliver arrived at the bunker, stepping off the elevator, only taking a few steps before tripping over something. He looks down to the familiar purple back pack and begins scanning the bunker. He glances over to Felicity and Bruce who are focused on something on the computer. He glances over to see Curtis doing a poor job and the salmon ladder. He just doesn't see Ari.

"Get back here, stinker!" he turns at the sound of her voice followed by Robyn's laughter. He follows the sound over to the combat mats where Robyn is crawling away from Ari, who is on her hands and knees crawling behind the girl. The moment Oliver walks over, Ari looks up to him and quickly stands to her feet. "Uh, hey, you're probably wondering why I'm here." Oliver looks up to her for a moment before stepping forward and picking up Robyn who squealed in excitement when she realized it was her father who'd picked her up.

"You were supposed to go straight home. Those were the terms of your punishment." Oliver says walking over to stand in front of Ari. "This is the last place you should be." he nudged his head. "I'm taking you home."

Ari followed behind him. "Uh, you can't, you're training the baby vigilantes, remember. Plus Katie should be here soon for Robyn." Oliver stopped and turned back to her and she stood tall. "I want you to train me too." Oliver looked down to her for a moment to gauge if she was serious or not and the way she held his gaze answered his question and he just shook his head.

"Get your back pack, you're going home."

"But Oliver-"

"There are no buts!" Oliver yelled turning back to her. He felt Robyn jump in his arms and he sighed before placing a kiss to her head. "I'm sorry," he turned back to Ari who looked a bit shaken at his tone as well. "Ari, I'm sorry for yelling, but the answer is no." he turned away from her.

"Evelyn Sharp!" Ari called after him. "She's 16 years old! What makes her so different from me?" Oliver turned back to Ari, walking over to stand right in front of her.

"The difference is you have me who will not allow you to put yourself in danger. You have me to push you into do things a girl your age should be doing instead worrying about the things that happen here." They both turned at the sound of the elevator opening, and out walked Katie. "The difference between you and Evelyn is that you have a cousin who would skin me alive if I even thought of training you for this." Katie walked over with a smile as she looked between Oliver and Ari.

"What are you doing here?" she asked and Ari simply shook her head before stalking over to pick up her backpack before heading onto the elevator. Katie turned to Oliver who sighed. "Do I even want to know what that was about?"

"I tell you about it later," He replied passing Robyn over to Katie who peppered the girl in kisses the moment she was in her arms.

"Oh, I missed you so much." she placed a final kiss to her head before hugging Robyn to her chest. Oliver would never get tired of the sight.

"Oliver!" Oliver lifted his head to Felicity's voice, "you're going to be late." Felicity walked down the steps to Katie.

"So how she'd do?" Katie asked as she and Felicity walked over to grab Robyn's bag. Oliver watched them for a moment before looking over to see Bruce now standing in front of him.

"You're back."

"Yeah, there was just this thing I had to do." Bruce said vaguely and Oliver just shook his head. "So a new team. Need some help training?" Oliver looked over to the man with a furrowed brow. "What. I'm being generous."

"Yeah, too generous, especially since I know you're against the whole idea of a new team."

"Hey, not everyone can handle the pressure of doing it all on their own." Bruce shrugged and Oliver scoffed. "That's not an insult, just a statement of fact."

"I might punch you for your statement," Oliver says turning and loosening his tie. "And no, I think I can handle training these guys on my own."

"Then why is Felicity going?"

Oliver shrugged. "She's there to make sure I'm not too brash." Bruce snorted and Oliver turned to him for a moment before walking away.

"Hey," Oliver stopped and looked back over to the man, clearly annoyed with this conversation as he always was. "If you want my opinion about Ari, I think maybe you should give her chance." Oliver looked at the man for a moment before stalking over to the him.

"Bruce, I will never ask for your opinion when it comes my kids, at all, so you should keep them to yourself." Bruce simply rose his hands in surrender and Oliver just turned around and headed off to get changed.

Bruce looked back up as Katie and Felicity were heading back over. "Hey, how about I head to the house with you guys?" Katie turned to him and shrugged.

"Sure, but you're not helping Oliver with training?"

"Apparently he doesn't need my help." Bruce said before walking over and placing a kiss to Felicity's cheek. "Plus I think I would rather spend my night hanging out with this beautiful girl," Bruce pulled Robyn from Katie's arms and watched as he tickled the girl who erupted in a fit of laughter. He turned back to Katie. "I'll get them up to the car," Katie nodded before watching the man walking over to the elevator. She looked over to Felicity who had a look as she watched Bruce stepping onto the elevator.

"That's a look," Katie says and Felicity looks over to her in confusion. "I know seeing a man holding a baby causes certain emotions. Trust me, I know. So are those emotions telling you that you're ready to have kids?" Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but closed her mouth because she really wasn't sure what to say. Katie suddenly shook her head. "I'm sorry, that is like a really personal question and I should not have asked that."

Felicity placed a hand on Katie's arm and shook her head. "No, that's a totally valid question for you to ask me. We're best friends, and to answer your question, yes, I may have thought once or twice about me and Bruce having kids."

"Have you guys ever talked about kids?"

"No, not really. That's one of those serious conversations we've never ventured into."

"Well you have the look, so maybe you should venture." They turned to see Oliver now dawned as the Green Arrow. Felicity looked over to Katie who had her own look at the moment.

"You have a look too and it's also pretty obvious." Felicity chuckled before looking over to Oliver. "I'll meet you over there." he gave her a nod before grabbing his quiver and pulling it over his shoulder and plucking his bow from the stand.

"You know I don't think I will ever get used to seeing you like this." Katie says as Oliver walks over to her. "You wear a lot of hats, Mr. Queen. Mayor, vigilante, dad-"

"Husband," he added and she met his eyes to see that smile once again. That smile that twisted her insides. She needed to go. She took a step back.

"I should go. They're waiting for me." she quickly walked over to the elevator, before glancing over to Oliver. "Good luck tonight." when the doors opened, she stepped inside, turning to see him still standing there watching her until the doors slide closed.

Felicity had hope that training wouldn't be as painful as she was currently witnessing. Everything started off cool as she walked into see their three trainees. With Curtis, there was Rene AKA Wild Dog, and the young sixteen year old Evelyn Sharp. The lesson seemed simple enough. Get passed Oliver and ring the bell behind him. She grimaced once again when she watched as Oliver slammed Rene to the ground hard.

"Get on the line!" Oliver's modulated voice ordered, and he watched the three recruits hobble back to the line in exhaustion.

Felicity let out a sigh when her phone suddenly vibrated. She looked down with a furrowed brow at the notification and when she swiped up her eyes went wide at the picture she saw. She glanced back up to see another round of knock down the amateurs and so she stepped forward.

"Alright, I think we should call it a night." Oliver looked up to her and she just gave a nod.

"Fine, we will meet back here, tomorrow, same time." Oliver turned and walked over to Felicity who quickly walked with him out. "What's going on?" Felicity opened her mouth, but stopped when she heard another beep, but this one not from her phone. She looked over to Oliver who reached inside of his vest and pulled out his cell phone. Felicity looked slightly nervous as she watched his reaction. "Evan Wender was attacked." he looked up to Felicity who looked at him for a moment. "Is that what you were going to tell me?"

"Um, not really."

That night, Oliver sat in his car, glancing up to his house before looking back to his phone which was stuck on one photograph. Said photograph was taken earlier today. It showed his wife, in a very friendly embrace from Michael Carroll. The image stirred something inside Oliver. Something he was afraid would come crashing out the moment he saw his wife, which is why he now sat in the car. Trying to make sense of the picture. Trying to come up with a story to explain it. But he couldn't stop looking at it. Seeing this guy's hands wrapped around her just made him so angry.

Oliver looked up at the sound of the front door, and when he looked up he sighed at the sight of Bruce walking over to the car. Bruce looked into the car at the man and Oliver just stepped out.

"So you saw the picture?" Bruce asked and Oliver glared at the man. "It was just hug that the press turned into something it wasn't." Oliver didn't say anything as he shook his head. "Oliver, listen to me, if you go in that house and do what I'm afraid you're going to do, you will lose her." Oliver looked over to him. "Every picture has a story. That picture of her and Michael has a story, just like that picture of you and Annabelle. Just let Robins tell you the story before you react." Oliver didn't say anything as he turned to walk inside the house.

When he stepped inside, he looked up to see Katie stepping from the kitchen. She stopped when she saw him.

"Hey," she walked over, clearly noticing his rigid stature. That's how she knew he saw the picture. Right now he wasn't relaxed, or even comfortable. "Where would you like to start?"

They ended up in the kitchen, both staring down to their mugs of coffee.

"It really was just a chance encounter with an old friend."

"Old friend?" Oliver asked looking over to her. "I remember your interactions with him before and you two never seemed liked friends. You've never used that term to describe him." Katie looked at him for a moment, once again dropping her head.

"Well I use the term because I have absolutely no idea what other term to use. He was this guy who was once a big part of my life, we broke up and then I ran into him at a bakery." she looked over to Oliver. "We had coffee, we talked , and then I left to pick up my daughter."

"Well there's a hug in there you seem to be excluding from the story," Katie took note of his tone and she wasn't sure what the make of it. This was clearly jealousy, which she understood. She'd seen a picture with Oliver and Annabelle that didn't have as much contact, and yet it still brought out that ugly green monster. But in time, she realized it wasn't what she imagined in her head. She wished Oliver could see that this picture really just showed hug with a friend, nothing else. He still wasn't looking at her. "I'm here, trying to be everything you need."

"And I appreciate that Oliver, I appreciate everything you do, for me and those kids." he looked over to her. "Why don't you tell me what's really the problem?" Oliver turned away without a word.

"Ironic isn't it? You wanting me to talk to you, but when I want you to talk to me, all you do is run away from me." he slid his chair back and stood to his feet. "I'm going to have a busy day tomorrow with this Wender attack and I should get some sleep." he didn't wait for her to respond before turning and walking toward the stairs.

"Wait," Katie stands to her feet and he stops and lets out a sigh turning to her. "You think I'm running away from you?"

"I don't think. Today, at my office you ran away, at the bunker, you ran away." Oliver shook his head. "Obviously, there's something here with me that you're running away from. Katie, I get that waking up with no memory of this, of us, is a lot and if you think this isn't what you want." he paused hoping for some sort of argument or rebuttal to the statement, but she just continued to silently stare at him and he can feel his heart break in that moment. He shook his head before turning and heading upstairs.

"Wait!" Katie said again and Oliver stopped and turned back to her. "Right now, this moment, I feel like crap and apparently you feel like crap because there is an issue right here. Right now. That issue isn't fixed." she shook her head. "You don't walk away until its fixed." she turned back to him and he looked at her for a moment, suddenly remembering the promise they made to each other. They didn't walk away from an argument, or disagreement, they stuck in it until they figured it out. He gave a nod before walking back over to stand in front of her. "Oliver, I'm not running away from you, and I'm sorry you feel as if I am." she closed her eyes and let out heavy sigh. "The truth is I'm still trying to figure this out." she opened her eyes and looked up to him. "Being Robyn's mother, it comes natural, being Ari's Guardian, I can do that, but being your wife—" she dropped her eyes from his because that intense feeling he always stirred inside of her threatened to steal her words. "Before waking up in an ARGUS medical facility, my last recollection of a relationship with you was just friends." she looked up to his eyes. "There was this line, you on one side, and me on the other. And from my side all my feelings were kept safe and to myself where they could never be shot down or poked fun of."

"That would never happen." Oliver promised and Katie held his gaze for a moment before shaking her head.

"Three and a half years go, she-" she swallowed the emotion in throat and looked back up to him. "I figured out that it was safe to cross the line." she took a step toward him, closing the distance as she lifted hand and rested it on his chest. "The me right now is trying to figure that out, so please just be patient with me." Oliver took in her words and wanted to kick himself. He knew she was adjusting to a life she didn't remember, and yet he just wanted her...all of her. He wanted to touch her and kiss her and make love to her. She was right, he just needed to be patient. He would wait for as long as she needed.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't-" she dropped her head to his chest and he brought his arms around her in hug. "Don't apologize for how you feel. I get that this is tough on you too." Oliver tightened his grasp, relishing in the feeling of this woman in his arms. They stood like that for a while before they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. Both lifted their heads and turned as the door to the kitchen pushed open and in walked Thea.

"Oh-" Thea came to a stop the moment she walked in to see that she'd just interrupted a moment she wished she hadn't. "Sorry, I'll just head up to bed."

"Thea, it's fine." Katie says pulling from Oliver's reluctant grasp. "I actually wanted to talk to you. Uh, this Clinic, could you get me everything you have so far. I'd like to read over it a bit so I will at least know what I'm getting into."

"Of course, I actually have some stuff up in my room, I'll bring it over."

"Thanks," Katie glanced over to Oliver. "I'm going to head up to bed. Good night."

"Good night," Oliver watched as Katie turned and walked up the stairs and he lets out a sigh the moment she was out of sight.

"You overreacted about the picture, didn't you?"

"I did." Oliver turned back to his sister.

"But you guys looked like you figured it out." Thea watched as Oliver turned away as if thinking about something. "Ollie, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm going to head to bed too," he turned back to his sister and placed a kiss to her cheek.

"Ok, well good night, don't forget we're meeting with Janet tomorrow. Hopefully this attack won't cause her from funding the clinic."

"We'll talk to her." Oliver assured before turning and heading upstairs.

The next morning, with Oliver and Thea off to meet with Janet, Katie found herself standing outside of Ari's door. She took a step forward, and knocked.

"Ari, it's me, can I come in?" Katie tilted her head as she waited for a response, but nothing came. "Hey, you're upset, and I'm here to listen." the door suddenly swung open and appeared the glare of the teen.

"Since when?!" Ari snapped angrily before turning and storming back into her room. "Neither one of you ever listen to me. You tell me what to do like I'm a child." Katie walked into Ari's room, but giving the girl some space as she lets her back fall on the wall behind her. "For once I want you to listen to me and actually hear what I'm saying." Ari turned back to Katie and let out a huff.

"Tell me." Ari folded her arms over her chest.

"I want to join Oliver's new team." Ari said, and she paused, waiting for the expected argument, but her cousin didn't say anything as she continued to stare. "That's it, that's what I wanted to say."

"That can't be it, Ari. What you're asking is big, and you haven't told me anything that would even convince me to be ok with this. Why should I allow this?"

"Well because-" Ari took a step forward. "I trained with Nyssa, and I know you and her have issues, but she's nice to me and she helped me. I can defend myself now." Katie looked at her for moment, as if waiting for her to continue. Ari soon realized that probably wasn't the best argument. "And, I'm familiar with the Felicity's tech, so if she decides to up and head back to Gotham, I'm a great substitute." she paused again, and Katie quirked a brow. "I really don't know what else you want me to say."

"You still haven't told me why you want to do this." Ari dropped her eyes and Katie walked over to her. "Ari-"

"You probably read about the story of Damien Darhk taking me, right?" Ari looked up to Katie who let out a sigh, but nodded. She remembers reading the story and the feeling of anger that washed over her. "He had me for days, and I was so scared. Like I was terrified that I wasn't going ever get home, and that smug prick just laughed in my face." Ari stood tall. "I want to do this to stop people like Damien Darhk. I want to do this for people out there, who were like me and Will. Victims of some mad man and used as pawns. There are more people out there like Damien Darhk, and I want to help bring them down." Katie looked at her for a moment, before placing a hand on her cheek. "I can do this." Katie saw the look in the girl's eyes and she honestly didn't doubt that she could. There was just something about this, something about letting her out there to risk her life, that she couldn't just get past. "Please just think about it."

She could at least think about it, Katie thought. "Ok," Katie pulled her arms around the girl in hug. She'd be lying if she said she didn't understand the girl's motivation. It wasn't unheard of that people who'd been victimized would want to prevent it from happening ever again, to themselves or others. Katie placed a kiss to the side of her head. "Ok, get ready for school," with that she turned for the door as Ari went to grab her back pack. Katie stopped when curiosity suddenly got the best of her. She looked back over to Ari. "Who's Will?" Ari stopped and looked over to her cousin. "I remember reading that he'd been taken by Damien, but there was never a reason given." Ari turned away and shrugged.

"I don't know. His mom and Oliver were friends I guess, maybe it was a way to manipulate Oliver." Ari replied and Katie simply nodded before walking back into the hall. She stood there for a moment before turning and heading to her room, and grabbing the laptop and flipping it open. She pulled up the article once again.

"Samantha Clayton?" Katie lifted her head, the name not ringing any bells. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something with this. She glanced back down to the article, scrolling down until she saw a picture of William and his mother. Katie tilted her head a bit, zooming in on William's face. It was his eyes that made her gasp, snap the laptop closed and toss it on her bed.

Thea let out a heavy sigh as she watched Oliver walking Janet out of his office. He'd just promised her that if her company didn't pull their funding from the clinic, that the city would indemnify Amertek if anything happened at the opening. It could possibly cost them millions, and yet her brother was a risk taker.

Once Janet was gone, Thea walked over to her Oliver. "So is the plan to see to it personally with the new team?" Oliver turned to her with a shake of his head.

"No. They're nowhere near ready."

"Then what's the backup plan? Twinkie?"

Oliver sighed but once again shook his head. "No, just Me. I'm not sure if I should test the waters with my wife after last night. Plus I will be fine. It's one of the advantages of having the mayor moonlighting as a vigilante."

"Or the vigilante moonlighting as mayor." Thea said as Oliver opened the door. Her eyes widened when she saw Katie standing, baby Robyn in her stroller. "Oh, hey!" Thea quickly came over to coo over the baby who only giggled at her aunt. Katie smiled before looking up to Oliver who looked happy, but confused as well.

She was being crazy. And yet when Katie saw her daughter this morning, looked in her eyes she couldn't stop thinking about that boy whose eyes were exactly the same. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, and yet she felt as if she should be told.

"Hey, two visits in a row." Oliver says walking over to her. "Not that I'm complaining. I live for these visits." Oliver reached down and picked up Robyn, kissing her cheek before turning back to Katie who looked slightly nervous about something. "Was everything alright?"

"Uh yeah, I-" she stumbled over her words as she began to doubt if coming here to broach the topic of a secret child with him after their tiff last night. She let out a sigh and just shook her head.

"Hey I know, how about I go show Robyn off while you two talk." Thea said plucking the child from her Oliver's arms before heading off. Oliver turned back to Katie before pulling open the door. She walked inside, sliding her hands through her hair seriously regretting doing this.

"Twinkie about last night, I really am sorry for-"

"I told you not to apologize for that," she turned back to face him. "I'm not here because of that." Oliver frowned slightly at the seriousness of her tone. Did she remember something?

"Ok, what's going on?" he asked and Katie looked at him for a moment, opening her mouth only to close it. She closed her eyes, trying to muster up the nerve to ask this question and so with one final deep breath, she opened her eyes and walked over to stand in front of him.

"Do you have a son named William Clayton ?" Oliver assumed he looked as if he'd been punched in the gut after she asked the question. Will was a topic he definitely didn't know how to explain to her, even though he truly did plan on telling her. He should've figured that at some point the news could come out before he could. She waited for him to say something...anything, and yet she soon realized his silence was the answer she was waiting for. "He is, isn't he?"

At this point, Oliver only saw one course of action. The truth. He opened his mouth to respond, but his office phone rang. He let out a sigh, glancing over to the phone.

"You should get it." Katie says backing away with a shake of her head. "This was...I don't know what this was." she turned back to him and shrugged. "I'm not even completely sure what I wanted to happen which seems be aligning with all of my crazy so far." she turned grabbing Robyn's baby bag before turning back to Oliver who hadn't moved from that spot in front her even as the phone continued to ring. She let out a huff before walking over and picking up the phone. "Mayor Queen's office," she frowned before looking over to Oliver. "Actually this is Katherine Queen, Arianna's guardian. Can you tell me what happened?"

The moment they arrived at the school, Katie pushed open the door and hurried down the hallway, Oliver in step beside her pushing Robyn in her stroller. If she weren't completely worried right now, she might pause and take in the fact that she was walking down the halls of her old high school. Right now she couldn't remember the terrible high school years. She hurried into the office, the receptionist whipping her head up the moment Katie bolted in there.

"Hi, I'm here for Arianna Locke. I was told she was in a fight."

"Mr. and Mrs. Queen-" Oliver and Katie turned to the old gray haired principal, Mr. Theodore Harris. He'd been the principal for years, even when they attended. "If you would come in my office, please." Katie glanced over to Oliver who took her hand before they walked into the office. "Please have a seat." Katie shook her head.

"I'm not sitting, where is Ari?" she was getting quite impatient. She wasn't told much over the phone, just that there was a fight and that they needed to come right away.

"Ari is alright. She's a bit scraped up, so I sent her to the nurse, but-" Katie no longer listened to the man before she huffed and turned to storm out of the office. Oliver let out a sigh, grabbing the handle of the stroller about to follow. "Mr. Queen, we really need talk about this. Now the fight seemed to be instigated by a boy in Arianna's class, but she threw the first punch. The parents are threatening legal action if something isn't done about this." Oliver slid a hand over his face before looking back to the principal. "They've agreed to a mediation to possibly discuss what happened and how to prevent this from happening again. If nothing is done, they will pursue this, and deem it as showing favoritism because she's the child of the Mayor."

"Fine, a mediation is fine. Call my office with a time and me and my wife will be here." Oliver turned stalked out of this office. This was definitely new territory. When it came to school, he never worried about Ari. He's seen her grades, talked to some of her teachers and they all say how intelligent she is. They mention how much they enjoy her in class. She never got into trouble in school. For this to be happening now, he could only assume the reason. Oliver stepped through the familiar halls, turning a corner and walking into the nurse's office where she found the nurse standing in the corner as Katie seemed to be tending to Ari's scrapes.

Ari looked over to Oliver the moment he walked in and she let out a sigh before turning away from his expected gaze.

"Fighting, really?" he asked and Ari didn't say anything as she watched her cousin smoothing a bandage on her arm. "What do you have to say for yourself?" she just continued to ignore him as she hopped from the table and grabbed her backpack. She headed for the door, and as expected Oliver moved to block her. "Arianna, you need to talk to me right now."

"I have been talking, you're just not listening." she slipped around him out of the office and Oliver let out a deep breath before looking over to Katie who met his gaze.

"It's our job to deal with that, right?" Katie asked and Oliver cracked a smile but gave a nod.

"Yes it is."

"That's what I thought." Katie says before turning to the nurse who seemed stuck in that corner. "Alright, nurse Waters, so I've taken a peak at what you have stocked here and it's not enough. I would like to rectify that."

When they pulled into the driveway, Ari was the first to get out of the car, slamming the door as she stormed into the house. Oliver and Katie sat there for moment, needing a few more moments of quiet.

"She really wants to do this," Katie says and Oliver looks over to her. "The vigilante thing." Oliver rubbed her eyes with his fingers before dropping his head back to the seat.

"I know, but that's definitely not happening. She doesn't even know what she's asking. She has this fantasy of what I do, and-"

"Why did you tell her about any of it?" Katie asked and Oliver turned to her. "You obviously don't want her involved in that part of your life, so why did you tell her?" Oliver looked at her for a moment. Telling Ari the truth about who he was, was a difficult decision. Most of the time he's positive he made the wrong decision, but in that moment she could see that there was something going on around her, and he couldn't lie to her. He wanted her to be aware of his life and the dangers tied to his life. He didn't expect her to latch on to it as tightly as she has.

"At the time, it seemed to be my only choice." Oliver says vaguely. It was the truth. Katie was off somewhere possessed by an evil entity and Ari, being the great observer that she was, knew something was wrong and because she's just as stubborn as her cousin, she wouldn't let it go. Katie watched as he turned away, and that's how she knew there was probably more to that explanation. "How we ended up here doesn't really matter much, does it. We're here and we need to deal with this?" Katie turned away as well, her eyes looking over to the flowers that beautifully bloomed in her neighbor's yard.

"The boy she had a fight with, he called her little orphan Ari," Katie says looking back to Oliver who turned to her. "Said her dad was dead, and her mom's gonna rot in prison until she's dead, and she lucked out with the rich Daddy and Mommy Queen-Bucks." Oliver shook his head.

"Is it wrong that I'm glad she hit him?" Oliver asked and Katie laughed.

"Well if you're wrong, then I'm wrong too. Looks like Ari has found herself her own Tommy Merylyn, At least she had the courage to stand up for herself." she chuckled with a shake of her head. "I wonder what that idiot is up to?" she glanced over to Oliver, seeing the grim look on his face. "What?"

"Tommy died almost three years ago," Oliver said and Katie frowned turning away, suddenly struck with sadness. She'd made peace with Tommy, called him a friend. The last time she saw him, he made some stupid joke about her being the next Dr. Quinn medicine woman. Up to this point, she actually expected to run in to him and he'd make some totally insensitive joke about her amnesia and she'd pretend to hate it, even though she'd love the familiarity of something that actually made sense.

"My friend's dead, and I can't even remember. How messed up is that?" she dropped her head back on her seat and closed her eyes. "Today's just throwing a plethora of unexpected information at me. My cousin wants to fight crime, you have a secret son, and my friend's dead. And I'm pretty sure, at one point or another I actually knew all of these things." she glanced over to Oliver and sighed. "This really sucks." he reached over and took her hand and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying.

"I should've told you about Will. I planned on telling you, I just couldn't figure out how to even start that conversation."

"And, you didn't think, 'Hey Twinkie, just so you know I have a son by another woman', would work?" she looked over to Oliver and he slid a hand over his face.

"It is not an easy conversation to have." he looked over to her. "And yes, you did know about him." she looked at him for a moment before her eyes looked down to their hands.

"He's older...so before..us, right?" she didn't want to meet his eyes. She was afraid that if he looked at her, he'd see just how much weight the answer to that question held in this moment. He gave her hand a squeeze and she finally turned to him.

"A really long time before us." he assured her. He turned away and sighed. "He's got to be about eleven now." Katie saw the ghost of a smile on his face.

"They're not in Star City?"

"Yeah, it was too dangerous. They lived in Central City and there was always the chance that someone would try to hurt them to get to me. Now they live some where far, and safe, at least that's what I hope. I don't have their location. Which is also another safety measure."

"That's kind of ridiculous," Oliver turned to her with a look of confusion. "Was I ok with that decision?" she looked at him after hearing his words and she couldn't fathom the idea of letting him send his son away to protect him, not when he had Ari and Robyn here as if those same dangers didn't apply to them. Oliver turned away slightly. "Let me guess, it was one of those things where you were going to tell me, you just couldn't find the right time." Oliver turned to her, looking at her in her eyes.

"You know I have this fear," he looked down to their conjoined hands before bringing her hand up and brushing a kiss to her fingers. "That one day I am going to just mess everything up and you're going to see just how much better you could do without me." he lifted his eyes to hers and she silently stared at him with an expression he couldn't read. The moment was interrupted when Oliver's phone suddenly rang and he shook his head.

"You're a very popular guy, Mr. Mayor." she reached into his pocket and answered his phone because at this point she knew that he never would. He seemed intent on not answering his phone in the middle of a conversation with her. She glanced down to the phone and saw Felicity's face before bringing the phone to her ear. "Hi Felicity."

"Oh, hi, I thought I called Oliver."

"You did, but he was doing that thing he does where he ignores his calls in an effort to prove how important a conversation with me is."

"That's kind of swoon-worthy," Felicity said and Katie looked over to Oliver who tried to decipher what they were talking about.

"A bit," Katie replied. "So did you have new information on what happened to Evan?"

"Not yet, I was just calling to remind Oliver to maybe use a bit more tact when dealing with our new recruits tonight. The whole bees and honey analogy could be very educational."

"How bad was he?" Oliver looked over to her with a furrowed brow, now wondering if they were still talking about him. She looked over to him and rose a brow as she chuckled at something Felicity said. "A bell huh? Well I'm sure there is reason behind his madness, but I will pass along your message." she handed him his phone and turned in her seat to face him. "Why do I get the feeling that your reluctance with Ari has more to do with your training methods."

"That's not it. She's not ready for this life. Plus there's so much she could be doing, things kids her age should be doing."

"Except she's not like kids her age. One of her guardian's is a vigilante and the other just woke up from a coma without any memory of the last couple of years of her life." Katie let out a sigh. "The problem is we don't think she's ready for this, but she thinks she is. One of us needs to be proven wrong."

"You're suggesting I actually train her?" Oliver sat there slightly confused. He assumed he already knew what her answer to that question would be.

"Well not with your current training technique. I'll think of something." she gave a nod, turning away in thought.

"We're going to have to meet with this guy's parents." Oliver said with a shake of his head. "To talk about what happened and how we can make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Well that's easy, they just have teach their son how not to be a little asshole." Katie says turning back to Oliver. "But as history has taught me, assholes are only bread from asshole parents which means, this whole situation may end with someone else getting punched." she let out a deep breath. "Alright, I'll go talk to her, and you can go play the vigilante trainer from hell." without really thinking, she turned and pressed a kiss to his cheek. It was the exact moment after that she realized what she'd done, and suddenly froze. Oliver turned to face her, their faces now a hairs breadth apart. "I just kissed you." Oliver smiled, his eyes looking to her, before trailing to her lips.

"You did. How do you feel about that?" she thought of the question, that minuscule of space between them only clouded her thoughts. Also clouded her inhibitions...which is the only reason why she thought to lean in, but soon the wailing of the toddler in the backseat stole the moment. They both pulled away before turning back to Robyn.

"Alright, little bird, let's get you in the house." Katie says before turning back to Oliver. "I'll see you later."

That evening after getting Robyn all settled for bed, Katie once again found herself standing outside of Arianna's door. She's been attempting to figure out what to do, and all roads seemed to lead to only one choice. She walked over to the door, and knocked. She listened for a moment, and when nothing was said right away, she thought that maybe the girl was asleep.

"Come in."

Katie sighed before pushing open the door to find Ari sitting on her bed doing home work. Katie walked over glancing at what she was doing and slightly whistled.

"This is AP Trig," she looked over to Ari. "I didn't take this until I was a senior."

"Yeah, I guess some of my teachers think I need a bit more of challenge. I'm in a few AP classes this year," Ari glanced back down as she continued writing. "So am I grounded?"

"That's still under deliberation. I mean given the situation I understand the desire to punch someone like that guy." she took a seat on the side of the bed and Ari looked over to her. "But in certain situations we also have to practice restraint. You have to assess the situation and determine an appropriate course of action." Ari looked over to her cousin for a moment before sitting down her notebook.

"You know that kind of sounded like the advice from someone training someone else in situational awareness, and if I'm not mistaken that is required knowledge for a vigilante."

"It is, but that's not why I told you. Ari, I get that you're all confident now in your ability to defend yourself, and you don't want to feel like a victim, but when you're in school and some punk kids says some stupid things to you, you have to take the non violent route." she stood to her feet and looked down to the teen. "You have to be able to determine when and if violence is necessary, because there are some situations that can be solved with that brain of yours." and with that she turned and headed for the door, but stopped and turned back to her. "And that was the advice of someone who will be training a possible vigilante." Ari's eyes brightened as she stood to her feet. "Ari, you want to do this, you believe you can, well now you're going to prove it to me."

"What about Oliver? He said-"

"I know what he said, and we're not really going against what he made clear. We're not training you to be a vigilante, but a-"

"Possible vigilante, right," Ari said a smile coming to her face as she headed over. "So when do we start?"

"Finish your homework and then change into something you can move around in and meet me downstairs." Ari nodded before turning and quickly grabbing her book to finish her work. Katie stood there at the door a few moments longer watching the girl.

"This is so fucking crazy," she thought.

Felicity once again grimaced as she watched Oliver took down Everlyn, Curtis and Rene one by one. They'd been at it for hours, their perspective team at this point covered in bruises. She glanced down to her phone seeing a message from Bruce. It was a video file with an attached sad puppy emoji. She shook her head before opening the attachment. It was the video from Evan's attack. She frowned as she saw something that looked impossible.

Felicity glanced up about to call down to Oliver when her phone suddenly rang. She looked down to Bruce's face and sighed before bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hello Mr. Wayne," she greeted.

"Hello Ms. Smoak, did you get my message?"

"I did, thanks for sending this...whatever this is to me. I now have only more questions." she glanced down to Oliver. "I should probably tell Oliver, once he finishes this ridiculous training."

"Oh, so you're still there?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Nothing...just, it was getting late and I assumed you'd be heading home." Felicity quirked a brow before turning and walking away from the commotion of the training. "I guess coming back really did mean coming back."

"And what does that mean?" Felicity asked. "Oliver needs a team, and I'm here to make sure he doesn't push them so hard that they walk. This is what I do." Bruce was silent for a moment and Felicity let out a sigh.

"You're right, I'm just being selfish with wanting you all to myself. I'm sorry Ms. Smoak, I'll let you get back to it."

He ended the call, and Felicity pulled back the phone now feeling slightly guilty. She began to wonder if she'd let team life occupy more of her time than her time with him since they've been back. She let out a sigh before walking back to the overlook about to call down to Oliver.

"On the line!" Oliver ordered.

Rene shook his head as he stood out of breath. "I'm here to learn something, man, not just get beat up."

"I told you. I'm teaching you."

"Teaching us what, exactly?" Evelyn chimed. "Because, actually, I find myself agreeing with the scary, weird guy."

"The goal of this exercise is to figure out the goal of this exercise. Now get on the line!" Oliver turned about to walk back over to the bell.

"Then why isn't your other sidekick trying to figure out the goal of this mission?" Rene asked and Oliver stopped and turned back to him. "That kid from the night you shot me with that damn arrow. The one who almost blew us up,"

"Actually you're the one who almost blew us up," Oliver stalked over to stand in front of the man. "She actually had a greater chance of disarming that bomb than you."

"Who is she?" Evelyn asked and Oliver looked over to her really not liking Ari being a topic right now. He turned back to Rene.

"She's no one, and she's never coming here. Now on the line!"

"Actually, Green Arrow, can I talk to you for a second?" Felicity called and Oliver looked over to her. "Now."

The second Ari finished her homework she quickly changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tshirt and headed down stairs. She stopped and looked around for her cousin. Ari turned to see Katie coming from the kitchen, her hand digging inside a box of cookies wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing before.

"You're not changed," Ari said and Katie looked down to her clothes and shook her head.

"Oh, I didn't need to change. Come with me." Katie says moving around the girl. With a furrowed brow, Ari turned and followed. Ari started to get confused as they ventured to a part of the house she usually never went. It was the hallway, the door that lead to the basement at the end.

"Are we going down the basement?" Ari asked.

"Yep, is that a problem?"

"I mean no, but I've never actually be down that basement since I've lived here." Ari said as they reached the door. Katie stopped and looked over to her. "It had the weird keypad lock and you always said you kept it locked because of your high tech washer and dryer that could blow the house up," Ari turned away only now realizing how stupid that sounded. "I have no idea why I never questioned that."

"Yeah, well the washer and dryer are pretty cool, but I'm assuming that's probably why you weren't allowed down here." Katie turned, entering a code into the keypad. "I actually was recently reintroduced to this basement that apparently I designed for one purpose." Ari followed Katie down the stairs. There were no lights so she didn't see anything. The moment her foot touched the floor, the lights suddenly came on, and she was met with the sight of a massive space, a washer and dryer off to one side, a desk and a chair to the other. There were a few boxes around, and Ari found herself not very impressed.

"It's just a basement," she said and Katie looked over to her and chuckled.

"Yep, it's just a basement on this side, but-" Katie walked over to a far wall and reach up and flipped a switch that suddenly opened the wall to reveal a secret room. "So this room was later discovered apparently when I was in a coma, Ari followed Katie into the room, her eyes going to the combat mat in the corner , there was a hanging punching bag, and a dummy. Her eyes soon went up to the walls that seemed to be covered in various combat weapons. "I think I've been down here once and got freaked out and never came back down."

"Freaked out, why? This place is awesome." Ari says walking forward to get a better look around. Katie watched her as she looked around the room. She wanted to tell her that she didn't think this room was awesome. When Oliver brought her down here and showed her this room, it only solidified the fact that she really did change. He said she would come down here to let out her aggression, and free the darkness from the years of torture and to her that made sense. She would need an outlet...something like this was probably therapeutic. But then he told her that over time she stopped coming down here, but he didn't know why. This place was just a reminder that she had no idea how she fixed what she felt was broken inside of her.

Ari rubbed her hands together before turning back to Katie. "Ok, so where are we starting."

"Oh, nothing in here, I was just showing you that the basement was more than a basement. You're going to be in the front." Katie says turning and walking and Ari followed in confusion. Katie reached over and flipped the switch to close off the room before walking over to the desk. Ari walked over to stand beside her now noticing the candle and a box of matches. Katie reached down, plucking a match from the box and striking a flame to light the candle. "Your first lesson is to blow out that candle." she looked over to Ari and she had to restrain herself from not laughing at the perplexed look on her face. "The only rules, you can't blow it out with your mouth, or your hands or feet or actually any part of your body."

"So I can't physically do anything? What am I supposed to do, blow it out with my mind?"

"Well that's what you have to figure out?" Katie gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'll be upstairs if need me." and with that Katie skipped upstairs.

Ari turned back to the flickering flame of the candle and just rolled her eyes.

That evening when Oliver arrived home, he noticed more guards visible around the house and quickly got out of his car.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked to no one in particular, but expected someone to answer.

"Everything is fine Mr. Queen," Oliver turned to Hank who walked over. "Mrs. Queen is sitting in the backyard, and we're just being a extra cautious per your orders." Oliver let out a sigh. Since the incident with Church, Oliver has made it a point with the security protecting his family to be extra vigilante.

"Right, thanks," Oliver gave the man a nod before walking into the house. He glanced around finding it very quiet as he pulled off his jacket and began rolling up his sleeves. He headed through the house toward the backdoor. When he stepped out, he glanced around but didn't see her right away.

"She climbed the tree," a voice spoke and Oliver turned to see Steve standing near the base of the stairs. Oliver frowned slightly as he walked down toward the man.

"I thought you had the day off?"

"Yeah, well my day didn't work out the way I thought it would." Steve looking over to Oliver and just shrugged.

"Anything I can do?" Steve gave a slight smile but shook his head. Oliver gave the man a pat on the shoulder. It was Steve who Diggle introduced to him when he decided to bring in some security for their home. Apparently they served in the army a while ago. There were always similarities between the two that Oliver always noticed. It's probably why he trusted the man and his team with the lives of his family. "Well if you need anything, just let me know."

Oliver turned and headed out into the yard that was only illuminated by a few lights. He walked over to the tall tree that sat a bit further from the house, and looked up to see her feet dangling as she sat on a limb. He chuckled and she looked down to him.

When they were kids, she would always climb this tree and he never would. He'd always had a bit of a fear with heights when he was younger, something she knew very well. Whenever they were playing and he would chase her, she would always climb this tree to get away from him and he always hated it.

"You coming up?"

Years later, suffice to say he no longer had a fear of heights and so he walked over and jumped to grabbed the lowest hanging limb and used it to pull himself into the tree. Climbing up further, he maneuvered himself to sit beside her. He lifted his eyes to see the lights of their neighborhood and some distant lights of the city.

"It's been a while since you've been in this tree." Oliver looked over to her and she just stared down into the empty cookie box in her hand. "How did it go with Ari?" Katie glanced over to him and sighed.

"She's still working on her first lesson." she nudged her head back to the house. "She hasn't come back up so I don't think she got it."

"So we're actually doing this?" Oliver asked and Katie just looked back down to her box, hoping cookies would magically appear. She'd been sitting in this tree stress eating since she actually made the decision to do this and now she was questioning everything. "It's dangerous-"

"I know-"

"She could get hurt, like seriously injured."

"I know that too,"

"Then why are you considering this?" Oliver asked and Katie looked over to him. He was so worried about Ari. She wasn't his daughter, but he felt that intense need to keep her just as safe as he would keep Robyn and Katie. They were all his girls and it was his duty to protect them until his dying breath, and he felt like letting Ari do this was just a risk they didn't have to take. "Twinkie, you don't know the dangers that lie in those streets the way I do. It's no place for a child. I don't want her to do this."

"I know that as well, but after all of that, she's still determined. So we can say no, but I doubt that stops her. She's like Jeremy in that way," Oliver turned away at that and she saw the way his jaw clenched. "Us telling her no won't stop her, and I think you know that. What we can do is control this. We can get her to see exactly what she's getting herself into because I think you were right, she does have this fantasy of what this is. Let's show her in a way that teaches her and stills keeps her safe, and if at the end of it she still wants to do this-" Oliver turned to her. "We're going to have to let her." she turned and dropped her head on his shoulder. "And you're going to have to help because I have no idea how to train someone to dress like the uni-bomber and go out and fight crime." Oliver laughed as he brought an arm around her. He knew she was right, that telling Ari no has proven in the past to just be a sure fire way to get the girl to do the complete opposite of what he wants her to do.

"So what's the first lesson?" he asked and she let out a snort.

"Well it's kind of tougher than ringing a bell," Katie said as she looked out to the city. "I put a candle in front of her and told her to put it out." Oliver frowned as he tried to understand the goal of that lesson. "She can't actually physically do anything to do it though." Oliver soon realized what she was trying to teach and thought it was actually pretty clever.

"Where are you?!" they both turned at the sound of Ari's voice.

"And there is the frustration I expected." she pulled away from Oliver. "I should-"

"Wait," Oliver jumped from the tree before turning and looking up to the woman and held up his hands.

"You know I've climbed out of this tree millions of times?" she said before she turned and slid from the tree slowly before releasing the limb and falling into Oliver's arms.

"Yeah, but I like catching you." Oliver says and Katie just shook her head before turning to see Ari stalking over.

"Look if you didn't want me to do this, then that's all you had to say! But don't stick me in some basement with some crap lesson." and with that Ari turned and stalked back inside the house.

When Katie walked into the house, she found Ari grabbing a bottle of juice from the refrigerator. She looked over to Katie and turned to stalk away.

"It wasn't a crap lesson, just because you couldn't get it." Katie says walking over to stand in front of Ari. She grabbed the bottle of juice from her hand and slammed it on the counter. "and you will always speak to me with respect, do you understand?" Ari looked at her for a moment, still clearly angry, but nodded.

"Yes."

"Now, the lesson Ari. I need you to tell me why you think it's crap."

"Because it's impossible," Ari threw her hands up in frustration. "You can't put out a candle without doing something to put it out."

"You're right," Ari frowned as she looked to the woman.

"But you told me I couldn't-"

"That's right too."

"So the goal of my lesson was impossible to complete, so what was the point?"

"Ari, do you know what's the hardest lesson for someone new to this job is?" It was Oliver who spoke and Ari and Katie looked over to him. "It's when you're put into a situation and you have absolutely no idea what to do because it seems impossible." he looked over to his wife, suddenly back to that moment where finding a way to save her seemed impossible. He turned back to Ari.

Ari let out a sigh. "Then what do you do?"

"You use that brain of yours." Katie says with a smile. "You think about the objective and what you're capable, of doing, and if someone tells you to do it and you know it can't be done, or you know that it shouldn't be done, then you stand on it."

"So you wanted me to tell you no?"

"No, I wanted you to see a task put before you and I wanted you to decide what the outcome should be. Ari, you're probably not aware of this, but I spent a long time with my life being out of my control. I was a chess piece moved and placed wherever everyone else saw fit and I couldn't question it. I had no choice and I promised myself that when I got free of that life, I would never be put in a position where I couldn't speak up, where I couldn't question the authority when I know better. That is the most important lesson I want to teach you." she placed a finger on Ari's forehead. "You are special Arianna, and I can teach you how to hit harder than your opponent. I can teach you how to throw a knife ten different ways, but this brain in your head will be your greatest weapon, I'm going to make sure of it." she dropped her hand to the girl's shoulder. "Now get to bed, it's late and you have school." Ari looked at Katie for a moment before suddenly throwing her arms around her in a hug.

"I'm glad you're back." Ari whispered before pulling away. She glanced over to Oliver for a moment and he wanted her to say something, and yet she just turned away and hurried upstairs.

"Aw, she's going to make you work for it, isn't she?" Katie chuckled looking over to Oliver with a shake of her head.

"Apparently." Oliver let out an exhausted sigh as he turned back to Katie. They stood there in a silent moment of smiles before Katie felt that fluttering in her stomach and had to turn away.

She cleared her throat. "So I think I'm like seventy five percent certain the Clinic opening won't be completely terrible." she noticed Oliver's slight frown. "Why do I feel like that may change?"

"There's a chance Evan's attacker could make an appearance," Oliver took out his cell phone and pulled up the video Felicity had shown him earlier. Katie walked over and glanced down to the screen.

"What the hell?" Katie saw what looked like some kind of cloth extending from the assailant's hand that was around Evan's neck retracting back into his jacket. "What was that?" she looked over to Oliver who just shook his head. The whole topic of meta humans and mysticism hadn't come up for obvious reasons. "It's something weird, isn't it?"

"We think so."

"I'm gonna need more sugar for this." she sighed before turning to grab the other box of cookies she said she would save.

Felicity pulled her car to a stop and let out a tired sigh. Her eyes glanced up to their house. When they returned to Star City, and figured they'd stay a bit longer, they figured a long term residence would be needed. Felicity figured they just stay at an apartment or or a loft. She was actually surprised when Bruce brought her to an actual home and she could honestly say it's not quite what she expected. It was massive, of course, which seemed to be Bruce's style. It was very modern. Lots of large windows, which wasn't that big of deal since the house sat in the middle of large acre of land and there wasn't a neighbor for miles. She got out of the car, glancing up to the large, block style mansion and would always think of how pretentious it looked. But she would never say that to Bruce who was all too proud of himself for picking it out all on his own.

Her heels clicked along the brick path that led to the door. The moment she pushed opened the door, she was already reaching down to pull them off.

"You're home," Felicity was half bent down, one hand holding the strap to her shoe the other holding her purse and keys when the voice startled her causing her to slightly jump dropping the contents in her hands. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Felicity glanced up and plastered on a tight smile as her eyes fell upon the greek goddess that was Diana Prince. The leggy brunette walked over with a smile of her own, bending down to pick up Felicity's purse and keys and handing them to her.

"Thanks," Felicity said starting to feel the awkwardness creep up her spine. She hated being alone in a room with this woman who totally intimidated her. She was literally standing in front of this beautiful, kick ass, goddess and she could never imagine being the one chosen given the option between the two of them.

"Ms. Smoak, you're home," Felicity smiled as she let out a sigh of relief as Bruce appeared from the hall. She glanced over to see him as he headed over to her, instantly wrapping his arms around her and placing a kiss to her lips as if the greek goddess wasn't standing right in front of them. And she loved it. He pulled back and looked down to her with a smile. "I missed you today."

"Aw, Mr. Wayne, how was your day?"

"Frustrating," Diana said and they both turned to her. "They're all just frustrating" she turned to Bruce. "Especially him." and with that the woman turned and disappeared into the house. Felicity laughed as Bruce groaned as he dropped his head to her shoulder.

"They're getting impatient?" Felicity asked and Bruce groaned what she thinks is a yes. "You need to tell Oliver they're here." he didn't say anything and Felicity huffed before pulling back to meet Bruce's eyes. "It is literally killing me to see him and not tell him what the hell is going on. We need to tell him."

"My sentiments exactly." they both turned to see that they now had an audience as Clark, Diana, and Kara stood in the foyer staring at them. Clark turned to Bruce who shook his head. "Putting this off won't change anything."

"Which would be a problem if Robins showed any signs of harboring that thing." Bruce said for what felt like the hundredth time. They'd all gotten into Star City just a few days ago. With the news of Katie awakening from her coma, they all needed to know if the darkness that almost destroyed the world had come back with her. It was a fight that they weren't crazy about getting back in, and they wanted to be certain they wouldn't have to. They wanted to see Katie for themselves, talk to her, but Bruce held them off, since without her memories she had no idea who these people were and them showing up could be the trigger that really does break all hell loose. "It's gone, and all of you coming here was unnecessary."

"Bruce we're here because if that entity ever comes back it could truly be detrimental." Diana said. "I know you want to protect her, and I know Oliver wants to protect her, but we really need to be certain that it's truly gone."

"Ok, but I guess I see this from both sides," Kara said looking from Diana to Bruce. "Making sure all the evil that was in her is really gone, is important, and should be done, but are we forgetting that she has absolutely no memory of anything? I mean we don't know what ambushing her with all of this could do. I can only imagine her life right about now hasn't been the easiest."

"It's hasn't." Felicity said and they all turned to her. She usually didn't interrupt the whole hero pow wow, but when it came to the topic of her friend and what she thought was best, she made sure her opinion was heard. "However you handle this, you need to handle it carefully," she glanced over to Bruce. "In a way that will not hurt her. Part of that means, whatever plan happens to figure this out, Oliver needs to be included." Bruce groaned as he slid a hand across his face. "There's too many heroes in this city for him not to notice at some point and-" she sniffed the air when the smell of something strange hit her nose. "What the hell is that smell?" she turned to the others who sniffed the air as well. They all turned and began following the scent that lead them to the other side of the mansion, standing in front of the massive window that looked out to the back yard. "Why is Constantine having a bon fire in out backyard?"

"He's been doing this all day," Bruce said as they all watched the man as he spun around the flickering flames, his mouth moving.

"If he's been doing it this long, I'm not sure it's working." Kara said tilting her head as she watched the man.

"And is that a good thing or bad thing?"

"No idea, but I'll be glad when Zatanna gets here to dial him back a bit." Bruce replied before pulling an arm around Felicity's waist and pulling her away from the others.

"You know a private conversation is like totally impossible with all the super hearing super heroes in our house, right?" Felicity asked and Bruce glanced over to the others who glanced back to him before turning away and he sighed. "Bruce-"

"I'm going to talk to him. I will. Me and Oliver's relationship is very hot and cold, so at one moment we could be the best of friends and the next he wants to put an arrow in me. I just have to approach him at the right time, when he's in a good mood."

"That's probably not any time soon."

"You get anything more from that video I sent you?"

"No, but Oliver and his new team-mets will be staking out the clinic tomorrow in case our mummy friend makes an appearance."

"He's letting them out in the field?" Bruce asked and Felicity rolled her eyes. "That seems kind of stupid."

"It was my idea!" she swat his shoulder and he rose his hands. "Plus that clinic is huge and Oliver won't be able to do it on his own."

"Then maybe that's it," Bruce and Felicity turned to see Diana who walked over to them. "Oliver needs back up, and we're here."

"I don't think that's good idea," Felicity said with a shake of her head. "This is a clinic, there will be lots of civilians and this can not turn into some ultimate super hero fight that could put these peoples lives at risk."

"Well we've been doing this for a while now, Ms. Smoak, I think we know how to keep people safe." Diana replied with a slightly condescending tone.

Felicity grit her teeth, before pulling on a smile that she turned to Bruce. "I'm going to bed now." she didn't wait for a response before turning and walking from the room.

Bruce turned a darkened look to Diana and she looked back to him in confusion. "What?"