Second Chances: Arrow

Chapter 12

Oliver smiled as he entered his childhood home and was so happy to see that it was once again filled with childhood photos of him and Thea and Emiko. That was a major improvement since there were photos of Oliver with both of his sisters. There were also photos of Oliver wearing a military uniform, one of which was his official army portrait and another of him right after he'd completed basic training with him and Laurel in it.

"Welcome home Oliver." Moira said with a smile as she led Oliver into the parlor where Laurel, Thea, Tommy, Dig, Roy, Felicity and Rene were all waiting with a party set up.

"Welcome home Ollie." Thea said with a huge smile on her face and as she was the first one to come up and hug him.

"I missed you so much." Thea said.

"You were with me the entire time." Oliver said.

"I told you you'd find a way to cheat death. Again." Thea said with a smile, tipping Oliver off that she remembered the old reality and he suspected that the only people in this room who didn't remember were his mother and Tommy and that was fine with him.

"Okay Thea, stop hogging the castaway." Tommy Merlyn said with a grin as he pulled Thea away only to take her place hugging Oliver.

"What did I tell you man, yachts suck." Tommy said with a grin.

"You have no idea. I missed you Tommy." Oliver said.

"I knew you were too stubborn to be dead." Tommy said with a grin as he clapped his buddy's back.

"I try." Oliver said as he moved onto John.

"Sargent." Oliver said to his brother in arms.

"Private." DIg said as they hugged.

"Your training is part of the reason I'm here now." Oliver said.

"We both know that's not true." John said in a whisper.

"No Lyla?" Oliver asked.

"She wanted to come, but she couldn't get away from work." John said and Oliver nodded as he turned to Felicity, deciding to get this over with.

"You must be Laurel's step sister and the new head of my family's company Felicity. It's nice to meet you." Oliver said and Felicity nodded.

"It's nice to meet you. I can't wait to introduce you to my new girlfriend." Felicity said and Oliver could tell that she was adding that in just to let him know that she was over him and she was actually giving him her blessing to be with Laurel. That was something he'd need to talk to her about later. In private.

"I look forward to it." Oliver said before he skipped over Rene and his view finally focused on the woman he'd really been looking forward to seeing again.

"Laurel." Oliver said, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Hi Ollie." Laurel said with a flirty smile that clearly told him to get his ass over to her right now.

"Okay, Oliver, I can tell that you two clearly need some alone time, so Laurel, why don't you help Oliver take his things back up to his room." Moira said, since everyone in the room could feel the tension in it between the two.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Laurel asked.

"I made sure Ollie's room was prepared for this exact scenario." Thea said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't mind getting my stuff put away before we get this party started." Oliver said.

"Okay then." Laurel said, not even bothering to keep up a guise of resistance as she helped Oliver take his things upstairs.

"So, should we reschedule this or will they be back down shortly?" Roy asked, causing Moira to glare at him, since unlike Laurel, she did not approve of Thea's boyfriend.

"I say we give them an hour and then if they're not down by then, we just reschedule." Thea said, not at all surprised by this turn of events.

"I told you we should've held off on the party until after OLiver and Laurel got their reunion." Felicity said with a chuckle.

The moment Oliver closed the door to his bedroom, he heard the sound of bags hitting the floor and before he knew it, Laurel ran up to him and crashed her lips up against his and he offered no resistance.

"So, I take it this means we're back together?" Oliver asked with a smile as they continued kissing.

"Oh yeah. But I need to know one thing first." Laurel said as they paused.

"Felicity and I are done. She was always my second choice to you. The only reason I focused on her is because you said we could never be together because of Tommy." Oliver said.

"And I was a fool for ever saying those words. You know I never got over you. I told you that right before I died." Laurel said.

"And you won't die this time around, I will put Andy Diggle in the ground myself before I let him, Damien Darhk or anyone else touch you." Oliver promised and Laurel smiled.

"And it sounds like I won't have to worry about Felicity causing problems?" Oliver asked and Laurel nodded.

"Trust me, her new relationship is better for all of us. I actually have the same connection with Dawn that you do with Roy. She's my protegee." Laurel said.

"Can't wait to see her in action." Oliver said.

"Good. But I think we both know that's not the kind of action we want to be thinking about right now. Especially since you've kept me waiting for the past two years. You owe me big time." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"I have to admit, this is a side of you I haven't seen in a while. So confident and take charge." Oliver said with a smile.

"Things change. I've gained a lot of confidence leading the team, though you do know that you're taking over right?" Laurel asked and Oliver chuckled.

"Being a leader isn't as easy as it looks is it?" Oliver asked with a chuckle.

"No. But also, Team Arrow is your team. But do you have a problem with me being confident?" Laurel asked, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Hell no. It's sexy as hell." Oliver said and Laurel smiled as she kissed him deeply and dragged him towards the bed and let things develop from there.