The Return of the Queens

Chapter 17

A couple of weeks later Thea and Barbara were training in the warehouse that they had been using for a couple of months. Thea was seeing a lot of improvement in Barbara since they had started her training. Right now, though, it was time to train with weapons. Thea was going to let Barbara pick what she wanted to use in the field and those weapons would be what they focused on, but she would have to be proficient in all weapons before they finished her training.

"Ok, I want you to pick the weapons that you want to be your primary weapons in the field. So, do you see anything that you would be interested in?" Thea asked.

"I would like to use eskrima sticks and throwing stars. I would also like a grappling gun so I can get out of places. It would also be good to have some smoke bombs as well so I can escape places." Barbara said.

"Wow, you have really thought this out, haven't you?" Thea asked.

"I try to be prepared for everything that comes my way, so I guess you could say yes to that." Barbara said.

"Ok, lets train with the sticks first then we will move to the throwing stars." Thea said.

"Sounds good to me." Barbara said as the two got to work on Barbara's weapons training.

They worked with the weapons for a few hours before they decided to go to the lair so that they could meet up with the rest of the team. When they arrived at the lair Sara and Felicity were the only ones there.

"Where are Ollie and Laurel? I thought that they would have been here by now." Thea said.

"Oliver and Laurel had a social event for CNRI to go to tonight. It is just us in the field tonight." Sara said.

"I forgot that they had that. Anyways, we will be fine for tonight. Can we go talk somewhere in private?" Thea asked and Sara nodded.

"Let me guess, you want to break up with me?" Sara asked.

"No, why would you think that?" Thea asked.

"You have been spending a lot of time with Barbara, and you both came in at the same time today." Sara said.

"Oh that. I have been training Barbara so that she can protect herself. That's all that we have been doing." Thea said.

"Really I was starting to get worried. I thought you were cheating on me." Sara said.

"No, I would never do that. You should see her. She is a natural. We just started on some weapons tonight and she picked it up like it was nothing." Thea said.

"If it was just for protection, why are you training her with weapons?" Sara asked.

"I think we could use another person in the field with us. Anyways, I think I have an idea for her suit. Would you like to help so that we can surprise her?" Thea asked.

"I would be happy to help." Sara said.

Meanwhile, across town Laurel and Oliver were at a fundraiser for CNRI. Oliver had talked Walter into giving money to the legal aid office. They were now walking around trying to talk to everyone that was at the party so that they could butter them up so that they would give money to the cause. All of a sudden Oliver sees someone that he had not seen since before the Gambit went down and he didn't really want to see them now.

"Oliver, it was good to see that you survived the accident with the Queen's Gambit. I see that you also picked up where you left off with Laurel as well." The man said.

"Glad to be back and yes we are together and stronger than ever. How have you been Carter?" Oliver asked.

"I have been doing well. I am a doctor at Starling General and I have written a couple of books as well. While you were gone, I tried to get Laurel to date me, but she was so hung up on you I never stood a chance." Carter said.

"Well, I guess you can't win them all. It was good to see you Carter. Have a nice night." Oliver said as they walked to talk to some other people that they had not talked to yet.

"You know, I always thought that guy was a douche bag. I am so glad that you were never like him. I know you had you douchie moments back in the day, but you were never like him." Laurel said.

"Well being around you helped with that. You taught me that not everything was about money. Carter never had anyone to teach him that stuff. So, I guess I have you to thank for that." Oliver said.

"So, how do you think the fundraiser is doing? It looks like it is bringing in a lot of money." Oliver said.

"Looks like it is doing good. We won't really know until the end of the night. Some of the people will only make pledges, so we won't get that money tonight." Laurel said and Oliver nodded.

"Well would you like to dance. It has been a long time since I have done this so take it easy on me." Oliver said.

The two went out on the dance floor and just swayed to the music. They did not even realize that a new song had started they were so focused on each other. They finally realized that the music had stopped when they heard the MC talking on the microphone.

"Can I have everyone's attention please. I would like to thank everyone to coming out to tonight's event for CNRI. All of your donations will be going to a good cause. Thanks again for coming out tonight and hopefully we can do this again next year. There will be two more songs and then we will be calling it a night. So, enjoy yourselves." The MC said.

"You want to dance some more, or do you want to head out before all of the traffic?" Oliver asked.

"One more dance and then we can head out." Laurel said and Oliver nodded as they started to dance again.

When the song was over, Oliver looked Laurel in the eyes and said, "I love you, Laurel."

Laurel looked back at Oliver and said, "I love you too, Ollie."