Shiva (Arrow - Oliver Queen)

9 / opening old wounds

Stepping out of the car to the courthouse was like stepping into a hurricane. The hoard of paparazzi amassed outside the building immediately bombarded the Queen family and their friends, shoving microphones or tape recorders in their mouths with a handful of questions. Sandra stuck to Oliver and Tommy's side as Diggle pushed a path out for them, advising them to ignore it. Sandra could ignore the people, but she couldn't control what she heard:

"How are you adjusting to civilization after living on the island?"

"Can you tell us about what happened on that island, Mr. Queen?"

"What happened to your father?"

"What happened after you were shipwrecked?"

"What happened on the island?"

Although she knew the questions weren't directed at her, they came with a painful sting. As far as the world knew, she had never been a castaway like Oliver, and had never gone through the same horrors. But she had, and each invasive question only brought up painful memories, ones she wished she could forget. No matter how much she might like, she would never be able to confide in someone - other than Oliver - about what had happened to her. The only person to shoulder all the pain, all the memories and all the death, would be her.

More than anything, Sandra wished she could just scream and drown out their voices.

What ended up being worse than the reporters, however, was Oliver's quote-un-quote 'legal resurrection'.

"There was a storm," Oliver stated, standing in front of the judge after he was asked to describe his experience on the island - and how he got there. "The boat went down. I was the only survivor."

Sandra's hands balled into fists on top of her thighs, unclenching for a moment only to roll back up again. She ignored the troubled look Tommy shot her.

"My father didn't make it."

From the corner of her eye, Sandra saw Moira drop her head. If it were her place, Sandra would comfort her, but in all honesty she hardly knew the woman.

"I almost died... I... I thought I had, because I spent so many days on that life raft before I saw the island. When I reached it, I knew..." Oliver swallowed a thick lump in his throat. "I knew that I would have to live for the both of us. And in those five years, it was that one thought that kept me going."

Sandra had had similar reasons that fueled her will to survive all those years. Many of them lost loved ones, like Oliver. Many others were much, much different.

"Your Honor." The Queen's attorney stood up. "We move to instate the death of absence filed after Oliver's disappearence at sea aboard the Queen's Gambit five years ago. Unfortunately, we will not be requesting that the declaration of death for the petitioner's father, Robert Queen, be rescinded. The Queen family is only entitled to one miracle, I'm afraid."

Oliver only reacted to the statement by turning around to look at his mother, an almost apologetic look plastered over his face. Sandra met his gaze, giving him a small nod of reassurance. He had done well.

"Court adjoined."

Sandra and Oliver were out of the courtroom quicker than the rest of their group, but Moira, Walter, and Tommy soon caught up to them. As the five walked down the staircase to the main lobby, Moira told them about their plans for the rest of the day: "Now, on to the office - everyone there is dying to see you and meet Sandra-"