Chapter 25

Author's Note: As a matter of plot contrivance, Thea never left City Hall in season 5 in this reality.

"How long has this been going on?" Thea asked with a raised eyebrow as she pushed the rest of the way into Oliver's office.

Between the grin on Thea's face and over two decades of experience with his sister, Oliver just let out a sigh of irritation and accepted his fate. He had been hoping putting off him and Kara becoming common knowledge among their circles for at least a few days until they had time to fully adjust to their new relationship, but with Thea in the know there was no chance of that happening at all. After levelling his sister with his best glare, which was simply met with an even wider grin, Oliver turned his now apologetic gaze to Kara. Though, on realising it was Thea who had stumbled across them and not some random staffer Kara seemed a little less nervous, maybe even amused.

"Well come on," Thea dropped down into one of the chairs that sat opposite Oliver and kicked her feet up onto his desk. "I need details…" Her face pulled into a grimace. "Okay maybe not details details, but you've got to give me something. How long has this been going on?"

Seemingly even more amused by Thea's antics, Kara walked back across to Oliver and sat herself down on the arm of his chair.

"About twelve hours." She confessed, head ducking for a moment.

Thea's eyes went almost comically wide for a second as she processed the implication of Kara's admission before her features slipped back into a grin.

"And is this—" She gestured between Kara and Oliver. "A thing or just unresolved sexual tension in the superhero workplace?"

"Speedy, shut up." Oliver did his best to glare at his sister, but even he could see the humour in it. "But if you insist on knowing—" Oliver took Kara's hand. "We're dating."

Thea turned her attention to Kara. "You taken a few too many blows to the head lately? Because if you willingly want to date my brother you might have like a concussion or something. Even Supergirl can't have that much patience."

Kara chuckled at the teasing and rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not concussed. Yes, I do want to date Oliver. He's the best man I know." She leant down and pecked Oliver's lips to articulate her point.

"Ugh, god that's gross." Thea grimaced.

In a wholly childish move, Oliver plucked a pen up from his desk and threw it at Thea. Had it been thrown at anyone else the odds were they would have lost an eye, but Thea batted the projectile out of the air with the finesse of a League assassin.

"If you're done harassing us, Speedy, I do have work to be getting on with."

"Oh yeah, you looked really busy when I walked in, Mister Mayor." Thea laughed, but got to her feet, nonetheless. "I just came to remind you you're supposed to be making an appearance at that benefit for the SCPD tonight."

"Yeah, I know."

Thea just raised an eyebrow at him, deciding not to call him out on the lie. To his endless frustration Thea could read him a little too well. After his escapades to Earth-38 and back the gala had slipped his mind entirely. The endless events he had to attend was just one of the handful of overlaps being Mayor had with his old life as a Queen, one that he had enjoyed leaving behind for a while.

As Thea turned to leave, she plucked her phone from her jacket pocket, tapping away on it. No soon had the doors to his office swung shut behind her, Oliver could hear her raised voice.

"Hey, Sara, how quickly can you get to Star City?"

Oliver groaned in annoyance, slouching back in his chair at the potential of Sara turning up in Star City for the sole purpose of giving him grief for getting into a relationship. With Thea making calls, he had no doubts at all that everyone in their circles would know by the end of the hour.

"I'd apologise for my sister, but I think this is going to get a lot worse in the next few hours." Oliver turned to face Kara.

"If you think Alex and Maggie are going to be any more mature about all this you've got another thing coming." Kara laughed.

As he smiled a little at the familiarity, a memory popped into Oliver's head.

"Did you know the DEO has a betting pool about us?"

"Seriously?" Kara threw her head back with a whine.

Oliver squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Apparently they've been betting on when we would…well do this. From the questions Thea was asking, I think my team might be involved too."

"Oh, that's just great." Kara said with a sarcastic drawl. "Well now I guess we're just waiting for Barry to find out."

"Difference being I've got no objections with shooting Barry." Oliver smirked.

"Oliver!" Kara admonished, slapping his arm.

"What?" Oliver shrugged. "He heels fast."

XXX

Kara had offered to fly to Italy to get them lunch, and Oliver had realised that there were a lot of benefits to dating a Kryptonian that he hadn't originally realised. With a promise of the best pizza on the planet and a peck on the lips, Kara had flown out the window of his office and disappeared from sight. That she would fly to Italy on a whim just because Oliver had mentioned he used to love pizza from Rome put such a ridiculous smile on his lips that it was still there twenty minutes after she left when John walked into his office.

"What's going on, man?" John asked, barely able to hide a grin.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Oliver denied as he leant back in his chair, even though he was positive Thea would have already called John.

John continued walking towards Oliver's desk. "Yeah, your face is doing this weird thing, it almost looks like you're…smiling."

Rolling his eyes fondly at his friend, Oliver dropped the act. "Turns out you were right, John."

"I usually am, you'll have to be more specific."

"Kara," Oliver found his smile returning just at saying her name. "She doesn't just make me happy, John, she's making me feel—whole."

"Oliver Queen a romantic," John smiled as he took a seat opposite him. "Who'd have seen that coming?"

"She's different," Oliver shrugged. "That light you saw in her, it's the brightest thing I've ever seen. It makes me want to be better – it makes me believe I can be better."

John nodded thoughtfully. "You know, after our business with Prometheus I was worried you'd fall back into some old habits."

"Adrian was wrong about me," Oliver answered. "Kara is proof of that. She's the most insanely pure of heart person in the multiverse, and she chose to be with me. I still don't think I fully believe that I deserve her, but she makes it easy for me to ignore the voice in my head that tells me that. She's incredible, John."

Digg responded with a smile and a half-raised eyebrow that told Oliver everything he needed to know.

"Except when she's lingering outside the window listening in." Oliver finished with a grin, turning around to see Kara hovering just outside with a stack of pizza boxes balanced in one hand.

With a nervous smile, Kara floated the rest of the way into the room and touched down gently.

"I didn't want to interrupt." She admitted with a ducked head, putting the boxes down on the table.

Letting out a small laugh at Kara's antics, Oliver turned his attention back to John.

"Since it looks like Kara's brought enough for a small army, you want to join us for lunch?"

John got to his feet, straightening his jacket as he did, then answered. "Nah, man. I'll leave you two alone. I just wanted to be sure Thea wasn't messing me around."

"You mean you wanted to make sure she wasn't scamming you out of your money?" Oliver asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I've got no idea what you're talking about." John grinned. "I just won eight hundred bucks."

Without another word, John turned on his heel and headed out of the room, leaving a bemused Oliver and Kara behind him. It shouldn't have surprised Oliver that John would have been the one to bet in his favour, the ex-soldier had always known him better than he had known himself. That the figure was so high confirmed Oliver's suspicions that his team and the Superfriends had a shared betting pool, and the realisation that either Maggie or Alex would likely have lost money both terrified and amused him.

"Well, I guess it's nice to know at least someone bet in our favour, right?" Kara broke the silence before dropping down onto the couch and opening some of the pizza boxes.

"You realise if your sister or Maggie lost money, we're never going to hear the end of it, right?" Oliver got to his feet and moved to join Kara at the couch.

Kara laughed around a mouthful of pizza. "We won't get any peace from them anyway, at least if we made them lose some money it'll be worth it."

"You know, Zor-El," Oliver began, plucking up a slice of pizza and taking a seat next to Kara. "I think, deep down, you might just be a little bit evil."

"What can I say?" Kara leaned up against Oliver, pressing their shoulders together. "You're a terrible influence on me."

The two shared a laugh at that, before taking a few moments to enjoy their food. After finishing his first slice, Oliver turned to face Kara.

"So, that gala Thea mentioned, I was thinking, maybe you could come with me, if you wanted?" Oliver stumbled his way through asking.

As the words left his mouth, he mentally kicked himself. Oliver had spent years as the number one womaniser in Starling City, rivalled only by his wingman Tommy Merlyn. Sat across from Kara though, even if they were already dating, he couldn't manage to ask her to attend what amounted to a glorified speech with him without sounding like an awkward tween.

"I thought—well, I had to fly in through the window just to get in here with you," Kara stammered, seemingly as off-balance as Oliver. "I didn't think you want me to come."

"Kara," Oliver smiled, taking her hand. "I couldn't have the press photographing you walking into my office with me. The Mayor doesn't get to bring a date to work. An official event is a little different. Of course, I want you there."

"Then I'd love to come," Kara beamed, leaning across to plant a quick kiss on his lips. "I don't really have anything gala worthy in the overnight bag I packed though."

Oliver mused for a moment before answering.

"I could ask Thea to take you shopping?" He suggested cautiously.

As much as the more rational part of his brain was fully aware that Thea would undoubtedly pry Kara for information and tease her relentlessly the whole time the two of them were alone together, she was the best person for the job. One of the Queen family traits Thea had always taken on better than he had was the ability to keep up to date with the latest trends, their mother had always prided herself on making sure they dressed in the fashion appropriate for the season.

"You sure that's a good idea?"

Oliver smirked. "Spending time with Speedy is like drinking bourbon, it's going to be a bit rough the first time, but you'll get used to it quick enough."

"Alright," Kara smiled. "Text Thea."

XXX

After Oliver had let Thea know Kara needed to find a dress appropriate for the evening and the two of them – but mostly Kara – finished off the pizza, Kara had headed out to meet Thea at an arcade of boutiques that looked fairly upmarket. The arcade was traditional in a way that screamed old money to Kara, and if Oliver hadn't told her about the former status of the Queen family then she would have questioned how a chief of staff for a city mayor had learnt of the place.

Before heading into any of the shops, Thea had taken her to a small coffee shop tucked under a staircase, and the two wandered the arcade with warm takeout cups clasped in their hands. They hadn't gone into any of the stories, just looked in through the windows at various items. Thea hadn't said more than a few words to nudge Kara's gaze in the direction of an outfit that she deemed interesting. The lack of conversation on the part of Thea unsettled something in Kara, especially after how vocal her teasing had been at the Mayor's office.

"Okay, let's get this out the way." Thea broke the silence that had sat between them. Kara almost tripped over her feet as Thea stopped in her tracks as she spoke. When she regained her balance, she found the younger Queen looking at her with an intensity she recognised seeing in Oliver.

"I-uh, what?" Kara stuttered.

"I know we didn't really talk the first time we met – what with the world ending and everything – so I'm gonna rip this Band-Aid off as quickly as possible," Thea nodded in assurance as she paused, more to herself than Kara. "My brother has a habit of dating women who aren't exactly…healthy choices. It's not entirely his fault, we didn't have a great model of what a healthy relationship looked like growing up. Everything I know about you tells me that you're not one of those women, I'm pretty sure you'll be good for him. On the off chance I'm wrong though, I don't care how indestructible you are, I will find a way to hurt you. Got it?"

There was something about the sharp honesty of Thea's threat that made Kara genuinely believe that the younger Queen would actually find a way to hurt her. Then again, Kara had already been expecting something like that from Thea. The small amount of information Kara had gleaned from Oliver about his life outside of The Green Arrow had confirmed that he and Thea's parents had both been killed, so she had expected them to be fiercely protective of each other. It didn't surprise her to learn that Oliver's taste in women wasn't flawless either, the kind of darkness Oliver was convinced he carried would only have led to him pushing away people who would actually have been good for him.

Kara intended to do everything in her power to be the one to break that pattern.

"Yeah, absolutely." Kara answered after what she deemed an appropriate silence.

"Great," Thea's demeanour bounced right back to how it had been in Oliver's office, a wide smile on her lips. "Because I think I just found your dress."

Kara followed Thea's eyeline, turning on the spot to face a window behind her. The gown displayed in the window looked like it belonged on Disney princess.

"Well, Alex has always said that blue's my colour." Kara found a smile.

XXX

Nervous was a word Oliver was beginning to associate with his emotional state far to frequently for his liking. Ever since he had admitted to his feelings about Kara, there was a sense of unpredictability to his life that he couldn't reconcile. Unpredictability wasn't new. After all; don't expect anything and you will be ready for it. But there was something about his relationship with Kara that was unpredictable in an exhilarating way, a way that made him nervous with keen anticipation. As opposed to nervous with the threat of impending doom as seemed to be the usual.

On apparent orders from Thea, Kara had been commandeered for a day of female bonding with her and Dinah, and so Oliver had been told he wouldn't be seeing her until the gala that evening. The one piece of information he'd received about Kara was a picture from Thea, which contained only a square of rich blue and a line of text that read:

Make sure you match xx

Oliver had spent longer than he was willing to admit riffling through the selection of ties in his wardrobe with his phone in one hand until he found one that was almost a spot on match for the shade of blue in the photo. By a stroke of luck, a matching pocket square sat in the draw beside the tie. With a match for the colour Thea had sent him found, Oliver slipped into a steel grey suit and white French cuff shirt, before heading back to City Hall.

In a move to avoid diverting funds for what was essentially supposed to be a charity benefit to get the rich and powerful of Star City to invest in pilot projects to help the SCPD battle the ever growing threat of meta-human criminality, Oliver had arranged for the event to be held at City Hall. It hadn't taken very much effort to have most of the open-plan second floor turned into a suitable area for hosting the event. His team at City Hall had put up a temporary bar all along the south wall and at the opposite side sat a modest lectern with the crest of City Hall stamped on it where Oliver would be giving his speech once the event was in full swing.

After a number of pointed reminders from Thea, Oliver had made sure he wasn't arriving only just in time to make his speech, and in fact made it to City Hall before the vast majority of the guests.

"My God, it must be the end times," Quentin's voice caught his attention as Oliver walked out of the elevator. "You're early."

Oliver glanced down at his watch. "I'm on time."

"Sure, for any other Mayor," Quentin grinned. "I've got a whole cabinet full of excuses for why you're always late to these things. On time is early for you."

"Just tell me who I'm supposed to be schmoozing." Oliver fixed Quentin with a pointed look.

With Quentin at his side, Oliver quickly spoke to all the guests who had already arrived, then the duo lingered by the elevator to welcome each new arrival. By the time the majority of the invitees had turned up, Oliver had well and truly exhausted his quota for human interaction. All it took was a sideways glance at Quentin for the older man to lead Oliver away from the monotony of introductions and over to the bar.

"Club soda, and a glass of the bubbles for the Mayor." Quentin addressed the server.

The tall glass of champagne was placed in front of Oliver almost as soon as Quentin finished asking for it. Usually, Oliver did his best to avoid drinking at official events. The strain of having to pretend, to fake a smile and feign interest in whatever person was trying to kiss up to or slyly insult him made it too easy to seek alcohol. For once though, Oliver didn't feel entirely broken down by the event, he was still floating on the tails of everything that had happened between himself in Kara.

"Why don't you look like you're going to go stab Councilwoman Pollard?" Quentin asked. "Usually by this point in the night I'm trying to hide the sharp objects from you."

"I'm…in a good mood." Oliver answered simply.

Quentin eyed Oliver curiously as he took a sip of his club soda. "I know it's not my place to say, but I'm guessing things worked out between you and the cheerleader?"

"Thea told you?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"Well…yeah." Quentin admitted. "But still, you look happy."

"I am happy." He smiled.

Quentin gave Oliver a familial smile. "Speaking of happy…"

Oliver followed Quentin's eyeline, gaze landing on a familiar head of blonde hair across the room. If Oliver had felt as though time was slowing when he had been on the seemingly hour-long walk to Kara's hotel room, time had altogether stopped when he saw her stepping off the elevator. The royal blue dress hung off one shoulder, the neckline sweeping across her chest. The rest of the fabric clung to her figure like a second skin, flaring out in a mermaid trim to brush against the floor.

The glass of champagne that had been clutched in his hand was forgotten on the bar as Oliver's feet guided him on automatic towards Kara. The rest of the crowd faded away as he made his way to her. He could tell Kara had seen him too, their eyes were locked onto one another's across the floor.

"Hi." Oliver greeted her breathlessly.

"Hi." Kara echoed, eyes raking up and down him. As if suddenly aware of all the eyes around them, Kara primly held out a hand. "Kara Danvers, National City Tribune."

"Oliver Queen," He grinned, taking her hand. "Mayor of Star City."

They didn't need to play the game. No one in Star City had any idea who Kara was, they would have accepted any story Kara told them as to her identity. Given his own past reputation there probably wouldn't be any questions if Oliver did just introduce her to the room as his girlfriend. Still, there was something strangely enjoyable about pretending, and Oliver was inclined to follow Kara's lead.

"So, what brings you all the way to Star City, Miss Danvers?" Oliver asked as he released her hand. "You're a long way from National City."

"Well I was in town for…personal reasons, and thought I'd take the opportunity to learn something about the city." Kara answered thoughtfully.

Before he responded, he flagged down one of the waiters carrying a tray of champagne and plucked up two glasses, handing one over to Kara.

"Personal?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Now I'm intrigued."

Kara's smile broke through then. "I'm in town visiting my boyfriend. "

Oliver couldn't fight down the smile on his face after that, his mask of neutral interest quickly getting replaced with the look of honest adoration he seemed to wear every time he saw Kara. There was something about her using those labels that stoked a fire in him.

"Boyfriend?" Oliver made a show of looking around the room. "Well he's an idiot for leaving you on your own tonight."

Kara fluttered here eyelashes in a way that would have been wholly disarming if she hadn't already broken through his walls.

"His work keeps him busy, but he's out there saving the world, so I don't blame him."

Oliver had to bite his lip from breaking into a smile that would have been so unnatural on him it would have been suspicious. "So, you're a fan of the rough, tough, save the world types, are you?"

"Oh, he's not so tough," Kara waved a dismissive hand in a gesture Oliver was positive she had learnt from Cat Grant. "He likes to pretend he's some great fierce grizzly but underneath it all he's a gummy bear."

The response that was on the tip of Oliver's tongue was cut off as one of his aides came up to him and told him he was due on stage.

"Duty calls. Hopefully I'll see you soon, Miss Danvers." Oliver flashed her a trademarked Queen smile.

"You can count on it, Mister Mayor."

Reluctant as he was to tear himself away from Kara, Oliver turned to head towards the lectern. He stepped up to the platform, clicked the switch that turned on the microphone, then cleared his throat to get the attention of the room.

"Good evening everybody," Oliver smiled. "We're here tonight to mark the launch of a branch of new pilot programs to help the SCPD deal with the increasing strain being placed on it. As you know, in the past I have been accused of supporting vigilantes at the expense of our men and women in uniform. This was never my intention. But the world is changing. In the last five years alone, we have experienced a series of terror attacks on our city, seen meta-humans flooding out of Central City, and an alien invasion of our planet. The police force was not designed to handle these threats and as a result, yes, we have been forced to lean on vigilantes to aid us in times of crisis. Now it is my hope that these new programs will help bridge the gap between what the SCPD was designed for and what this new world we find ourselves in needs it to be. And then, we can all look forward to a day when our city no longer needs the support of vigilantes."

A round of applause broke across the room, stopping Oliver from continuing. It didn't escape his notice that Kara had been the one to start it, she had been locked in his periphery since he took the stage. Once the applause died down, he continued.

"If you have any questions about these new programs then please come to either myself, Deputy Mayor Lance, or Special Advisor Rene Ramirez who has been liaising with the SCPD directly during this project. Thank you, and enjoy the evening."

Oliver stepped down from the lectern to another bout of applause. Kara found him quickly, the pretence that they had been playing around before his speech seemingly dropped.

"That was impressive." She beamed at him.

Oliver matched her smile. "Thank you, there's a lot of energy gone into this."

"When we no longer need vigilantes?" Kara paraphrased. "You're really aiming for that?"

"Well hopefully I'll retire someday," Oliver began in a way he hoped would be nuanced enough at the risk of listening ears. "I'd like to leave this city a better place than when I found it."

The look in her eyes told Oliver that she did understand. It was what they all fought for in the end, he supposed, all of them were heroes because the world needed them. It was a calling, of course, it wasn't a life one could walk without feeling an overwhelming desire to help people. Going out night after night and putting your own life on the line made sure of that. By definition the mission had an end though. Most of them might not live to see it, Oliver had made his peace with that when he moved away from his father's list to his own crusade. He had known then that he might not live to see Star City become the place he fought to make it.

There was a life somewhere beyond The Green Arrow though, Oliver saw it in his mind's eye, distant and hazed by the fog of war but it was there. One day, it would be clear to him. If he lived long enough to see it.

"I think you already have, Oliver." Kara offered him a warm smile and took one of his hands in hers.

Oliver dropped his voice down to a whisper. "I hope I have."

"I know it." Kara squeezed his hand a little tighter.

There was something different about hearing the affirmation come from Kara. Diggle and Felicity had told him countless times that all their work hadn't been for nothing. They were different, they had been with him since the beginning, taken the mission into themselves as much as he had, made sacrifices for Star City just like he had. Kara though, endlessly pure of heart and a goddess on Earth, she believed in him. That meant more than Oliver knew how to describe.

"Boss, we've got a problem."

Oliver snapped his attention to his side, seeing Dinah lingering a few paces away from him and Kara. From the look on her face, Oliver could tell it was serious. Nodding his agreement, Oliver followed Dinah, Kara at his side, as she led them away from the main floor of the party and through a set of double doors. Once the doors had swung shut behind them, and Dinah had done a sweep for prying ears, she spoke.

"Felicity just got a call from Earth-38, the DEO have traced the hack on their systems." She informed them

"And?" Oliver asked.

"Apparently it's led back to Cadmus."

He shouldn't have been surprised. Lillian Luthor. He had been hoping that the Daxamite invasion would have been the last they would hear from Cadmus, that she and her cohorts would have slunk off to the shadows and left them alone. Oliver felt Kara tense up next to him at the mention of Cadmus. Even if he couldn't fully empathise with Kara's fear of the organisation, he could understand at least some of it. Lillian Luthor scared Kara. That made her just one more problem Oliver was going to solve at the point of an arrow.

There was a line even he drew in the sand, there had to be one somewhere. Unlike most, Oliver was just willing to cross that line when he needed to. There wasn't a line he wouldn't cross to keep Kara safe.

Gently squeezing her hand to bring Kara back to focus, he turned to face her, locking eyes with the Kryptonian.

"Ready to go save the world again?"

End Note: Wow, so that's the end. It's been almost three years since I first started work on this story and I can't believe I've finally come to the end. It's strange, this story was started around my first Christmas at university and now it's coming to an end right before my final exam season before graduating. I've evolved a lot as an individual through the duration of this story, and I can really see that reflected in my writing when I look back on the beginnings of this fic.

This has been an absolutely insane journey, and I want to thank every single one of you for coming on it with me. I know I've not always made this fic easy to read, what with the huge breaks I've taken here and there to deal with my personal shizz so a special shout out goes to those who've been here all through that and put up with my chronic unreliability.

Thank you to everyone who read, left kudos, commented, and just all around gave me the motivation to work on this. I've always said it but it's never truer than right now, I write just as much for all of you as I do for myself. So every single time one of you reached out to show your support, in whatever form that took, please please please know that absolutely, well and truly, meant the goddamn world to me.

More thanks go out to those who have beta-read this for me; Nightwing Panther 2017, Overpower212, and a whole bunch of my IRL friends who tolerated my waking madness to help me put this together.

It might sound a little much to say that this story helped me through some rough patches in my life since I've been the one writing it. But being able to escape to this world when I've been in a bad place, and then sharing it with all of you and hearing your feedback really has made a difference to me. And seriously, I can not say thank you enough to all of you for travelling this road with me.

Now, if everything goes to plan, I'll be back with the beginnings of the sequel in about two months. Naturally, I refer you to the aforementioned chronic unreliability and the literal goddamn apocalypse going on outside right now as excuses if I'm not back quite when I hope to be.

Until the next time though everyone,
Stay safe, make good choices, and never ever eat pears

JRW..