Second Chances: Arrow

Chapter 26

Ever since he'd come home from Lian Yu, Oliver had been looking for his own place, since it was getting harder for him to sneak in and out of the mansion under his mother's gaze, not to mention he was a grown man who was tired of living in his mother's house.

That was why he'd started looking for his own place, though this time, he wasn't looking for an apartment, he was looking for an actual house for more than one reason and he had several preferences about the location.

The first one was that the house needed to be isolated, since he wanted to have his privacy, especially while he worked as Green Arrow. The house and its property needed to be something that Oliver could actually buy, as in, once he bought it, there was no lease, no mortgage, nothing like that, so he wouldn't need to get permission from anyone to make any improvements or changes. The house also needed to be easily defendable, since he knew that some of his enemies would learn his identity and when they did, they would come for him. Finally, the house needed to have plenty of space for obvious reasons.

And he'd finally found a place that finally fit all those requirements. It was a small ranch located in the outskirts of Star City that had actually previously been owned by some wacky rich survivalist who believed that the end of the world was coming. Oliver couldn't help but chuckle about how the world actually had ended, but that didn't matter now. Anyways, Oliver had to give the man credit, he'd clearly tried to prepare for every kind of doomsday imaginable, short of Crisis of course, since he doubted anything that was on Earth could've survived that energy way, but anyways, the guy had died, ironically of old age and apparently he'd been disappointed that the world hadn't ended before he died. Oliver would never understand some people, though it did make it easier for him now.

It was clear that the previous owner had intended to live out the apocalypse in style, since the main house was built to include every comfort imaginable. The house wasn't quite as big as the queen mansion, but that was fine with Oliver, since he didn't need a huge house. However, the house was still more than large enough for him, though it would probably need some redecorating, since while Oliver wanted his privacy, that didn't mean that he didn't want company.

The main floor of the house included the foyer, which led to a very large living room, though Oliver knew that he'd need to go shopping for new furniture, since most of the previous owner's furniture had been sold at auction to pay off his debts. Anyways, along with the living room, the house also had a very large kitchen that Oliver knew he'd never allow Laurel anywhere near, since her cooking skills had not improved at all in this reality, along with a laundry room, a den, a dining room that contained a backdoor that led out to a deck complete with a pool, along with a few other spare rooms, one of which Oliver knew he'd probably turn into some kind of home office once he figured out exactly what he was going to do for work, since while he wasn't going to be opening Verdant again or taking over the family business, he didn't think that now was the right time for run for mayor yet, plus, he had to admit, there had been a certain level of satisfaction in working with the SCPD after he'd been exposed, but he didn't want to join the cops, since he knew how corrupt they were. But thinking about the Anti Crime Unit he'd set up did give him some ideas, but he'd think more about that later.

The front porch also had a porch swing and Oliver knew that the whole porch would require a little work, but it was solid. The second floor had several bedrooms, including a master one with a built in ensuite full bathroom, along with three other bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom as well and the master bedroom also had its own terrace.

And the cherry on top was that the previous owner had really gone all out on making sure that this house was the perfect place to live during the end of the world, since he'd turned the basement into a home theater, complete with a very large screen on one wall with chairs and couches set up and even a popcorn machine set up down there.

The property also had a guest house that looked like it hadn't really been used since it was built, since due to his paranoia, Oliver doubted that the previous owner hosted many guests, which meant it would need work, but that was fine with him.

The final addition to the ranch was the barn that Oliver had quickly learned was used as a cover for the guy's underground bunker, which looked like it would make an excellent back up base, since Oliver did not want to put his prime base underneath his house, especially since the bunker did show up on the plans for the house, since the realtor had mentioned it.

One thing Oliver found interesting was that didn't look like any demolition had been done to install the bunker and it turned out that the bunker had been built into a network of tunnels that ran under Star City, something Oliver had not known about until now and guessed was another post crisis change, but the tunnels had been established back when palladium had first been discovered in deposits around the city and had started being mined out, which was why Abby's family had moved to Star City and it was also how the Queen Family had originally made their fortune, since his great grandfather had used the palladium to start Queen Consolidated.

"Wow, quite the bachelor pad you bought for yourself." Laurel said with a smile as Oliver showed her around his new home.

"I got a good price considering how long this place was on the market and it'll be easy to keep spare gear here without people finding it thanks to that survival bunker downstairs." Oliver said.

"True, but still, it seems like a lot for just one person." Laurel said, looking around.

"Well, maybe it doesn't have to be for just one person." Oliver said and Laurel looked at him in shock.

"Are you messing with me? Because the last time I even remotely suggested living together, you cheated on me with my sister." Laurel said.

"Well, I'm a lot more mature than I was before." Oliver pointed out.

"True, but Ollie, we've only been together again for a few months." Laurel said, since even though she wanted this more than anything, to finally be able to truly start spending her life with the man she loved, she needed to be sure that he wasn't just rushing into this, since that's how everything went wrong in the first place.

"And we've loved each other since the day we met and in this reality, I was never blind to what was right in front of me. I know I made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I want to build a better future and I want to do that with you. But only if you want to." Oliver said, only to have Laurel kiss him.

"I just want to be sure that you're not rushing into this. But technically, we never broke up in this reality and we both never really stopped loving each other in the old one, so I guess in a way this is strangely overdue." Laurel said and Oliver smiled.

"So that's a yes?" He asked.

"Absolutely. Besides, from what Felicity told me, I need to start living off your cooking." Laurel said and Oliver chuckled.

"Maybe I'll teach you a few things." Oliver said.

"We'll see. But there is a room I can turn into a home office right?" Laurel asked.

"Take your pick." Oliver said and Laurel smiled.

"I guess I'd better go start packing and see if Abby wants my apartment before I put it on the market." Laurel said.

"If your landlord gives you any crap about it, I'll buy you out of your lease." Oliver said.

"I appreciate that." Laurel said as she kissed him again.

"I just hope your dad doesn't try to shoot me when you tell him." Oliver said and Laurel chuckled.

"You're forgetting that dad likes you now and approves of you. Just don't blow it again." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"Yes ma'am. But we should probably go shopping for furniture and decorations that suit both of us, since no offense, but I think that your current furniture set is a bit too small for this place. Or at least the living room.

"I'll see if anyone on the team wants it and if not, I can put some of it in the den and sell the rest." Laurel said.

"Then let's get going." Oliver said and Laurel nodded, since they both had moving to do.