Believe (Olivarry AU) [Book 1]

xvi. stay with me

"You can't be afraid to open your heart to the people you care about."
-unknown
________________________________

OLIVER ENDED UP GETTING HOME
safely last night. No one knows how and
no one questioned it.
He did, in fact, wake up extremely hungover.

"Woah... you good?" Joe asked Oliver
upon seeing him.
"I'm great." Oliver sarcastically said.
"You're hungover, aren't you?" Joe questioned.
"Yep," Oliver said, "kinda wishing I was still drunk, though. This headache is killer, and way worse than it ever is."
"You'll live." Joe responded, patting Oliver's shoulder before walking away.

Oliver plopped down at his desk grumpily, regretting last night's choices.
"Here." Barry said, holding a cup of coffee up to Oliver, "Looks like you need this
more than I do."
"Thanks." Oliver smiled.

"How was your night?" Barry questioned.
"It was great, until I woke up with massive headache." Oliver answered, drinking some of the hot coffee, "How was yours?"
"It was nice." Barry smiled.

"Boys, we gotta go." Joe said, walking over to Barry and Oliver, "Another murder.", he added.
Oliver perked up, becoming more alert than before. The two rushing to follow Joe.

~~~

"Again. It's all the same." Barry said as he looked over the body.
"Who the hell is this guy?" Oliver groaned
in annoyance.

"You'll know the second that I do." Barry replied, picking up the body's hand to find blood underneath her fingernails.

"Holy crap." Barry said.
"What is it?" Joe questioned.
"DNA." Barry smiled.

"Now, we can only hope that it's the killer's DNA. So that we can finally catch 'em." Barry said, finishing up what he was doing, "I'm gonna hurry over to my lab and get this processing."
"Good luck, Barr." Oliver said.

"Well, what now?" Oliver asked Joe after a few minutes of silence.
Joe chuckled, "Come on.", he said and walked out of the door with Oliver in tow.

"You've been doing this job for I don't know how long, and you don't know what to do?"
Joe joked.
"I'm still not fully here." Oliver laughed.
"I can tell." Joe said.

~~~

Around late afternoon, just as the sky was starting to darken, Oliver walked into the lab.
"Find anything yet?" He asked Barry.
"Umm.... yes!" Barry exclaimed when the computer beeped.
"Who is it?" Oliver asked, walking over
behind Barry.
"It says..." Barry paused to gulp, "Griffin Gates."
"As in Detective Gates?" Oliver whispered.
"Yes." Barry said.

"Where's Joe?" Oliver questioned.
"I don't know. Probably at his desk."
Barry shrugged.
"We gotta get this information to Singh." Oliver said, "You ready?"
"Yeah, just give me a second." Barry said, "I know Gates is here and my head is
kinda spinning."

"Don't go passing out on me, Barr. You need to stay focused." Oliver said, grabbing Barry's hand to comfort him.
"Okay, let's go." Barry nodded.

"Joe, can you come with us?" Oliver whispered to him when he spotted him downstairs.
"Um... yeah, sure." Joe said, following the two boys into Captain Singh's office.

"Did you find anything, Allen?" Singh questioned.
"Uhh.. yes, sir." Barry spoke nervously, handing Captain Singh the evidence
that he found.

"This can't be." Singh said as he looked
at the papers, "Are you sure?"
"Evidence doesn't lie." Barry said.

"Where is Gates?" Singh asked.
"I just saw him at his desk." Joe said.
"Get him." Singh ordered.

Joe opened the door and saw Detective Gates running towards the elevator.
Oliver made a run for it, and just barely
missed him.
"Dammit." Oliver cursed under his breath, running towards the stairs.

When Oliver made in down the many stairs, Gates had just made it out of the main
entrance door.
So, Oliver quickly followed after him, finally catching up to him in a dead-end alleyway.

"Why are you running, Griffin?" Oliver asked.
"You know why." Gates said.
"No, but you seem guilty of something." Oliver said, walking slightly closer to him.

"Stay back!" Gates yelled, drawing out his gun.
"Woah. Okay, okay." Oliver said, stopping and putting his hands up as a surrender.

"Let's just talk about this, Griffin." Oliver said, putting his hands back at his sides, "Please put the gun away."
"No. There's nothing to say." Gates said, shaking his head.
"Confess. You know you feel guilty."
Oliver said.

"My wife died because of those people! I don't feel guilty about anything!" Gates yelled, taking the safety off the gun and putting his finger back on the trigger.
"You do. You do feel guilty." Oliver said, "Stop this now and make it easier on yourself."

~~

Joe followed behind Oliver as he went down the stairs, not going as fast because he wasn't as limber as Oliver.

Barry hurried behind Joe.
"No, Barry." Joe said, stopping him,
"Stay here."
"I'm coming with you." Barry said,
moving past him.
"Fine, but stay inside the building." Joe said as they finished going down the many stairs.

Joe had his gun out now, hiding as he went outside and towards the direction
the men went.

Barry stood near the doors, leaning against
the inside wall.
He shook his leg as he waited, playing with his hands as a nervous habit.

Then, all of a sudden, Barry and everyone in the building heard a gun firing off.
Barry froze. He didn't know what to do.
About a minute later, he finally got his feet to move and he went outside.

Before anyone could speak or do anything more, the loud and ringing shot that pierced the air caused a body to drop down
to the ground.

Gates, now lying there dead on the ground, shot between the eyes, in front of Oliver.
Oliver turned his head to see Joe behind him, lowering his gun.
Seconds later, Oliver fell down to his knees, due to the lack of balance he now had.
His hands going down to his stomach, blood staining his hands as he finally fell down
to the ground.

"Oliver!" Joe yelled, running to aid the man now laying on his back.
"Officer down! I repeat, officer down!" Joe yelled into his radio.

"Hey, Oliver, I need you to stay awake." Joe said, putting pressure on the gunshot wound.
"Oliver!" Joe said, patting his face.
Oliver groaned because of the agonizing stinging pain in the right side of his stomach, then said, "Nice shot."

"Oh, no no no." Barry said, running over to where Joe was crouching over Oliver.
"Barry, I told you to stay inside." Joe fussed.
"I heard gunshots and you yelling his name." Barry said, looking at Oliver, who was about to close his eyes.

"Keep pressure right here." Joe said, showing Barry where to put his hands, "I'll
be right back."

"Come on, Ollie. Stay with me." Barry said, patting his face with one hand to keep
him awake.

"You guys—" Oliver laughed, causing him to cough, "need to stop hitting my face."
"Then stay awake, dumbass." Barry said.
"It's harder than..." Oliver paused, "you think..." he said, closing his eyes just as the ambulance showed up.