Teamwork

Chapter 17 - Paradigm Shift

Sara had found Laurel fairly easily. Her sister had decided that she needed some fresh air and had therefore started to walk slowly home. After catching up with her Sara turned off the comms unit so that they could sit and talk privately for a while. Sara knew that if she was needed they knew how to get a hold of her.

"You can't blame Ollie for everything you know." Sara quietly said as she stared off into space. "Not everything is his fault."

"Yes it is!" Laurel responded heatedly. "He never should have invited you onto the Gambit while he was dating me! That was really low, even for him. Besides, because of that stupid choice he made he ruined everything. He destroyed our family, Dad's career, we even thought you were dead for six years!"

"You're right." Sara agreed. "He shouldn't have asked me. But, I should have told him no as well. Especially since I knew you two were dating. That is not his fault and neither is the fact that we were lost at sea. The Gambit was sabotaged." Sara admitted to her sister as she turned to look at her. She was not surprised by the look of shock on her face.

"What do you mean?" Laurel asked, the surprise evident in her voice. "Who would want to do that?"

"Malcolm Merlyn." Sara answered, wanting to be completely honest with her sister so that Laurel could see that she was judging Oliver too harshly. "The Queens were involved in the Undertaking from the beginning. When Oliver and his Dad left on the Gambit it was right after Robert told Malcolm that he wanted nothing more to do with the venture and that they were done with it. Malcolm didn't take to that too kindly and sabotaged the Gambit. We hit a Category 2 storm while at sea and during that storm a small explosive ripped open the hull like a can of tuna. That's when Oliver and I were separated."

Laurel couldn't believe what her sister was telling her. She had always blamed Oliver for the fact that Sara had been lost to them, presumed dead, for six years. Now Sara was saying that it wasn't his fault - that the Gambit went down because of Merlyn, it had nothing to do with Oliver. Besides that, it wasn't even really Oliver's fault that Sara was even on the boat if she took what Sara said to heart.

Laurel stood and walked a few steps away, lost in thought and still in complete shock from what she had just heard. I know Sara had to make the choice, and she could have chosen not to go. But does that make it okay? She thought as she struggled to digest everything that her sister had just told her.

"Oh no!" Laurel said as she turned to her sister with tears in her eyes. "I owe Oliver a huge apology. I never even stopped to consider the fact that it wasn't completely his fault. I just always blamed him for everything and never even stopped to consider the fact that you even had a choice in the matter! I'm so sorry Sara!"

Sara pulled her sister into a tight hug as Laurel cried. She was happy that her sister had finally had a paradigm shift, to use Felicity's phrase. She could see that Laurel had finally realized that not everything was Oliver's fault and now she simply hoped that Laurel would also see what kind of a man Oliver had become. 

"Come on, we need to head back to Verdant." Sara said after a few minutes. She knew that it was not safe for them to be away for too long and wanted to be sure she was available to the Team if she was needed.

As Sara and Laurel descended the stairs Sara was instantly on alert. She knew that she had left Felicity in the lair to do some research. The blonde was trying to find out where her Dad had been taken based off the video feed they had been watching. She hadn't heard anything else as she had been off the comms for some time while she was dealing with Laurel. What had her concerned now was the fact that Felicity was nowhere to be seen.