Arrow: Slade's Return

1

Ashlee, Oliver and Felicity Queen' s four year old daughter, is laying in her bed, drifting off while her parents watch her.

"I could watch her sleep forever." Oliver whispers.

"Me too," Felicity whispers back, "We should go, we need sleep too."

"Mhm." Oliver kisses Ashlee on her forehead. The couple sneak out of the room, leaving the door ajar just enough to let some light in. Oliver and Felicity walk through their mansion, fingers tangled in each other's, to their bedroom.

*****

The door opens, a stranger walks inside. He is careful, light on his feet, and knows his objective. He runs to the stairs and jumps over the rail, skipping the steps. He is cautious, he knows who lives here, and slowly approaches the corner. He looks, no one in sight, and continues. He knows the house like his own, and he reaches a door. He wants what's inside, and walks in. The door is decorated in stickers and pictures. There is a name on it. The name reads, "Ashlee." The man is in and out of the room in no time and heads back downstairs. This time taking every step, one at a time. And he's out of the house, no trace of any intruder at all, except the missing child.

*****

Felicity wakes by her alarm. "Oliver, wake up."

"Hm? Oh, good morning."

"Morning. Now get up, we need to get Ashlee ready for school and then get to QC."

"I'm on it." Oliver gets up and dressed. As does Felicity. Oliver goes to wake up Ashlee while Felicity heads down to the kitchen. Oliver reaches to open Ashlee' s door, then pauses. He remembers leaving the door open, not closed. He ignores the strange feeling and opens Ashlee' s door, "Ashlee?" He asks. He looks around the room. Ashlee is nowhere in sight. Oliver hurries down the steps and into the kitchen. "Felicity!"

"Oliver, what's wrong?" Felicity asks. She's making pancakes and grabbing the plates for breakfast.

"Ashlee, she's not in her room." Oliver replies.

"Did you look in the closet? She likes to wake up before us and hide in there to scare us sometimes."

"I checked." Oliver answers, worry in his voice. "Mr. Carrot is still laying in her bed." Mr Carrot is what Ashlee named her stuffed rabbit. She thought is was funny because rabbits eat carrots. She never lets it out of her arms.

"Then where is she?" Felicity asks, as worried as her husband.

"I don't know."

"I'm calling the police." Felicity runs for her phone and dials Detective Lance, and Oliver runs to look anywhere else Ashlee might be in the house. "Detective Lance, it's Felicity. It's our daughter, she's missing." Felicity explains.

"Are you sure she's missing?" Detective Lance asks. Oliver returns and shakes his head. "We're sure, we can't find her anywhere."

"Alright, calm down. I'm sending a team over, I'll be there in five minutes. And Felicity, don't worry, we'll find Ashlee." After that Felicity hung up the phone.

*****

Police sirens fill the room's silence. Oliver and Felicity are sitting together on one of the living room couches, crying. Roy and Thea are with them, and John is sitting on the couch across from them. Lyla is standing next to the couch John is on, holding Mark in her arms. John has Sara on his lap. They would be at school, but how could they leave their children when their friend's child was taken? Detective Lance walks in and begins to speak as Laurel and Jonas walk in. "Oliver, Felicity, I'm so sorry. Do they know anything yet?" Laurel asks.

"I was about to say, there's nothing so far." Quentin answers.

"Nothing? Not even a hair?" Jonas asks.

"Not even a hair Jonas, not so far. We're still looking." Quentin says.

"How could you not find anything?!" Roy asks aggravated and frustrated.

"Roy, it's okay. They're doing the best they can." Thea says, she rubs his arm and leans her head on his shoulder.

"It appears the kidnapper or kidnappers picked the lock on the door and walked right in. It's likely he's familiar with the place because he was careful to not be seen on any of your security cameras." Quentin tells everyone. "I'm sure you can't but I have to ask, can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you two or your daughter?" Quentin asks Oliver and Felicity.

"No. No one." Oliver says almost immediately.

"Alright, well I'll let you know if we find anything." Quentin says before leaving the room to talk to some officers.

"Oliver, maybe you and Felicity should to go to the Verdant and check on things." John says.

"Okayyy, Jonas. Will you take Mark and Sara home and watch them until the babysitter arrives, please?" Laurel asks.

"Okay, sure." Jonas says, he takes Mark from Lyla's arms and uses his other hand to walk Sara out.

Laurel watches Jonas until he gets into his car, "You can talk freely now." She says.

"Yeah, I think you should go down to the Arrow cave and look at the case file." Roy says. "See if they're holding anything back."

"And I'll ask Waller if I can use A.R.G.U.S. resources." Lyla offers.

"I'll see what I can do as District Attorney." Laurel offers.

"Thank you, both." Felicity says.

"Thea and I will stay here in case there's any news." Roy says.

"Roy, what's your excuse for everyone leaving?" Oliver's asks.

"Uhh, I'll think of something." Roy says.

"Okay. Then let's go." Oliver says. Roy and Thea remain on the couch as Laurel takes off, Oliver and Felicity head to the Verdant, and John and Lyla head to A.R.G.U.S.

*****

It's 8:21 in the morning and the Verdant is empty. Oliver and Felicity walk in and head for the stairs. Oliver is in front of Felicity and switches on the lights in the Arrow cave. "It's really dusty in here." Felicity says after she lightly coughs.

"Did you think it'd be squeaky clean? We haven't been down here in 5 years." Oliver teases. The Verdant basement, a retired Arrow cave, still has all of their equipment. It's all covered with sheets and blankets, anything to hide what's underneath from someone outside of Team Arrow. Felicity walks over to the computers and pulls the blankets off of them. She sits down and gets to work.

"This seat isn't as comfy as it used to be." Felicity says, that makes them both chuckle. Oliver walks over to a tall glass case and folds half of the sheet onto the other. Standing inside is his Arrow suit. Oliver takes a moment to remember everything he did while he was wearing that suit, all the lives saved, all the lives taken, and then he folds the half over It. Right as Felicity says, "I'm in." Oliver rushes over to the table Felicity is sitting at.

"Into the SCPD' s network?" Oliver asks.

"Into Ashlee' s case file." Felicity answers. "They don't have any suspects, or evidence." Felicity says.

"They don't have any thing? How did the person get in and out of our house with Ashlee and not leave anything behind?" Oliver asks.

"I don't know, maybe he is some kind of professional. The police think it's not personal, that they just want a ransom." Felicity says, reading more of the file. "That's good, that means they're not going to hurt her right? As long as we pay them they won't hurt her? Right?"

"I don't know, Felicity," Oliver gently pulls Felicity to stand and embraces her. "Shh, shh. It's okay, she's gonna be okay, Ashlee' s gonna be okay." Oliver comforts Felicity as they weep. They stand there, holding each other and weeping, for what feels to them like hours.