Lauriver Chronicles

Chapter 103

"I still don't think this is necessary." Moira said with a smile as her children and grandchildren, along with Laurel and Helena, threw a small party at the mansion to celebrate Moira's official release from house arrest.

"Mom, you're officially a free woman again. If that isn't a reason to celebrate, I don't know what it is." Thea said.

"How about your wedding? I'm very eager to see both of my children make honest women out of their partners." Moira said, looking at Thea, since Oliver was already married.

"Or the birth of your next grandchild." Laurel said, since even though she wasn't showing yet, the fact that she was the only adult without a drink in her hand and she was making sure that none of her daughters had them either, though this was also celebration for Artemis and Yolanda's last night at home before they left for cheer and boxing camp respectively the next day.

"Which I will not be missing." Moira said.

"So, what's next now that you're a free woman?" Oliver asked from the couch, since Dr. Lamb had confined him to two weeks of rest and recovery considering his broken arm and the fact that he could barely stand without painkillers.

"Well, I was thinking of taking some time away from Star City." Moira said.

"What?" Thea asked.

"I've had a lot of time to think while I was in prison and honestly, while this city needs both of my children, it doesn't need me and more importantly, I don't need it. This city holds a lot of memories for me, most of them good, but some of them bad too." Moira said.

"That can't be the only reason." Oliver said.

"It's not. I need to figure out who I am outside of being Robert Queen's wife or your mother or even Jasmine's grandmother. Both of my children know who they are. They're heroes and I could not be prouder. But I need to figure out who Moira Queen is outside of this family and I can't do that in this city. I think I'm going to travel. See the world, since there are places I always wanted to see when I was younger, but could never convince your father to take time away from work to travel with me. I want to see the world." Moira said.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Thea asked her mother, who hugged her.

"This is something I need to do for myself." Moira told her daughter.

"You won't miss my wedding will you?" Thea asked her mother.

"Of course not and don't think I'm missing the birth of my next grandbaby either. I'll come back to visit, but Oliver, you have a city to worry about. You don't need to worry about your dear old mother anymore." Moira said.

"I'm always gonna worry about you mom." Oliver said.

"I know. But you can rest easy knowing that I'll be far away from whatever craziness you go up against next." Moira said.

"Honestly, I think that scares me more, since it'll be harder for me to keep you safe. I might need to ask Supergirl if the Watchtower can track you at all times." Oliver said, only half-kidding.

"Not funny Ollie. And seriously, when do I get my invite to the Watchtower?" Thea asked and Oliver rolled his eyes.

"When you get your league membership card and the next meeting for that kind of thing won't be for at least another few months Thea. You're gonna have to be patient. Just like Laurel, John and Tatsu were before they got in the League." Oliver said.

"He's right. We waited our turns, you can wait yours." Laurel said.

"Don't you have some kind of override authority, I mean you're a founding member?" Thea asked Oliver.

"And I abused it for my little sister, I'd lose that authority. Being a founding member may afford me a few more perks, but the only person who can rush a league membership decision is it's leader and that's Supergirl, which isn't changing anytime soon, since while the League is a democracy in that regard, we never established a term limit and I don't think anyone wants to take that responsibility from Supergirl in the first place, since I still don't know how she copes with it." Oliver said.

"I'm hungry. Can we eat now?" Jasmine asked, completely oblivious to the tone of the room as she came in, her big sisters not far behind her.

"Sorry, she got away from us while we were playing, even though the whole reason we're spending our afternoon playing with her is because she guilted us into it since we'll be leaving her alone all summer." Artemis said as she scooped her little sister up.

"I've taught her well. I used to pull the same stuff with Oliver when we were kids." Thea said with a grin.

"And I knew you did it on purpose in front of mom and dad to make me the bad guy for saying no." Oliver said with a smile of his own.

"Hey, it worked and I'm not apologizing for the fact that mom and dad loved their little princess more than their delinquent." Thea said.

"I seem to recall your brother cleaning up his act faster than you did missy." Moira said and Thea, being the mature adult she was, stuck her tongue out at her mother.

"Are you sure you want to marry this girl Helena?" Oliver asked Helena.

"Pretty sure. Especially since we both know Thea asked Laurel the same question about you." Helena said with a smile.