Second Chances: Red Arrow

Chapter 3

I know this is out of order, but I realized that before I could continue with my arrow plans, I needed to get this Red Arrow chapter done first.

"So, how should I play this?" Emiko asked Oliver as they walked up to the door of the Queen Mansion.

"Just play along. Mom promised a small gathering." Oliver said.

"I would be relieved, but we both know that Moira Queen's definition of a small gathering is not the same thing as most people's." Emiko pointed out.

"Hey, she wasn't that bad at my homecoming party and I was returning home from being assumed dead for five years." Oliver pointed out.

"True, but then again, you always were Moira's favorite child. The golden boy, while Thea and I constantly competed for the title of daddy's girl." Emiko said with a fond smile.

"I think mom preferred Thea, since you were a tomboy, while Thea was basically a little princess. At least until she turned 12." Oliver said and Emiko chuckled.

"That is true. It still sucks that Thea couldn't make it." Emiko said.

"The stresses of this job know no bounds." Oliver said.

"True. I guess I'll need to make sure I get the chance to visit Thea at some point." Emiko said and Oliver nodded.

"Now, are you sure you're ready for this?" Oliver asked.

"As long as mom actually kept it small this time." Emiko said as Oliver opened the door and to Emiko's relief, she found that Moira had kept her promise and kept the get-together small. Though that was probably because unlike Oliver and Thea, Emiko hadn't dropped off the face of the earth, she'd just been very bad about keeping in touch. The only people she'd invited were close family friends, including Laurel, Quentin, Felicity, a few of her other old friends from school and to her pleasure, Tommy. Though she wasn't happy to see that Tommy's father was here too. In fact, Malcolm was lucky that Emiko did not have any weapons accessible to her right now, otherwise the SCPD would likely be taking her away for murder and she could tell that she wasn't the only one. Both Oliver and Laurel looked like they were resisting the urge to find something to use to kill Malcolm, but they all knew that now wasn't the time or place for that.

Speaking of Laurel, Emiko couldn't help but notice that Laurel was drinking what looked like either water or club soda instead of champagne like everyone else, but then again, she could just be trying to avoid falling back into old bad habits, though Emiko suspected it was something else, since while she'd grieved Oliver hard after the Gambit had gone down in this reality, she'd never descended into alcoholism.

Emiko sighed when she noticed the slightly fearful and distrustful look in Felicity's eyes, though she knew it was well founded, since she'd nearly killed Felicity several times.

"Welcome home Emiko." Moira said to her adoptive daughter, who smiled.

"Thank you mom." Emiko said with a smile as she hugged Moira and made a silent oath that if Oliver let Slade kill Moira again, she'd kill him and then Slade herself.

"I still wish that you were moving here permanently." Moira said, since she didn't want any child of her's, biological or not, living in a city as crime ridden as Hub City.

"Actually, I'm glad that Emiko's going to be in Hub City, since it means that Tommy will have a familiar face there with him." Malcolm said.

"Really, you're moving to Hub City?" Oliver asked his best friend.

"Dad wants me to head up a new office for Merlyn Global Group in Hub City. Trying to redevelop it." Tommy said and Oliver, Emiko, Laurel and Felicity all exchanged concerned looks, since they knew what Malcolm's idea of revitalizing a city looked like. However, they were all grateful that Tommy would be out of Star City for the Undertaking.

"Well, at least Emiko will have some company with her in Hub City. I'm just happy that all three of my children have finally come back into my life, even if Oliver's the only one who's come home to say. I just wish your father were here to see this." Moira said as she thought of her late husband Robert, since Oliver had confirmed that Robert hadn't survived the Gambit going down, he'd told her in private that Robert had killed both his bodyguard and himself in a life raft.

"I think dad would just be happy that the rest of us are alive and safe." Emiko said.

"She's right about that." Oliver said, since his biggest regret was that while he'd brought everyone else, Tommy, his mother, Laurel, Quentin and Emiko back, the one death he hadn't been able to fix was his father's, because sadly, Oliver knew that without that one sacrifice, that one death, he never would've found the strength to survive and become the man he was now. No matter how much it killed, he knew he'd made the right choice. Bringing Robert Queen back would've changed this world for the worse, since he didn't know who he'd be without that sacrifice or if he'd even still be alive now.

"Dad would be so proud of how well you've done to hold our family together, even when we were scattered all over the place. Oliver on that island, me with the Peace Corp and Thea wherever the hell she was, you're the only reason there was a Queen family for each of us to come home to." Emiko said and Moira smiled at her daughter, wishing that Emiko was her's by blood.

"Thank you Emiko. And even though I respect your desire to live in a new city, I do hope that like Thea, you'll visit often enough." Moira said.

"Don't worry, I will." Emiko promised.

"Have you given any thought about what you're going to do in Hub City?" Malcolm asked and Emiko felt annoyed, since in her opinion, Malcolm shouldn't be here, let alone talking, since he was the one who'd destroyed their family to begin with. Emiko had small memories of Rebecca and she knew that she would be horrified by the monster Malcolm had become.

"Not sure. I'm thinking something regarding public service, since Hub City needs all the help it can get." Emiko said, trying to keep her tone neutral as the party continued.