Sara and Oliver have some of the deepest shared history among the characters across the DCCW shows, especially with both Tommy and Laurel dead. I like to think the experience with the Dominators made them especially reflective.

As always, all characters belong to DC Comics and the CW, and this is written purely for fun. Thanks for reading. I appreciate it.

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[Deleted scene, cargo bay of the Waverider, after the end of the Arrow section of the crossover (Arrow 5x08, "Invasion!")]

She found him staring into space.

Wandering alone, he had found his way to the cargo bay and was sitting on a crate, staring out a small porthole in the corner, still dressed in the grey rags the Dominators had thrown over them as prisoners. Most people would assume they were witnessing a classic Oliver Queen brooding session, but Sara Lance was not most people. To her, he didn't seem self-pitying or sulking. If anything, he seemed reflective.

"Hey you," she said softly, hoping not to startle him too much, but when Oliver turned around, he wasn't remotely surprised. Apparently League of Assassin training was no match for spending years on a creepy island, having to be alert at all times. In his hands was a green bundle of cloth, leather, and military-grade Kevlar. It was his Green Arrow suit, faithfully reproduced by the Waverider's replicators. She herself had already changed back into her White Canary gear.

"Hey yourself," he said. Sara sat down next to him on the crate as he returned his gaze to the porthole, outside of which the stars were zooming by. Nate, with Gideon's help, was navigating the Waverider back to Earth as quickly as possible, but the Dominators had taken Oliver and the others far out enough that it would still be an hour before they got back to Central City, giving them a rare chance to recuperate a bit. Ray, relatively unscathed from their experience, was now speeding through the construction of yet another ATOM suit, having lost the last one when they were abducted. (Thank goodness for dwarf star alloy in the Wild West.) The rest of them…needed a little more time.

"How's Diggle?" Oliver asked, breaking the silence.

"Sleeping," she replied. "Gideon gave him something for the pain and says he'll be on his feet by the time we get back."

"Good. And Thea? I was trying to find her earlier after that meeting on the bridge."

"Resting in my room. She…she said she wanted to be alone for a while."

He nodded. "I guess not even a timeship can distract you for long after something like that."

She smirked humorlessly. "By 'that,' I assume you mean a shared dreamscape where everything is actually right in our lives and there's no more pain and loss?" she asked sarcastically.

Oliver sighed. "Yeah, that would be what I mean." He paused, then asked slowly, "When we get back to Earth, can we take her back to Star City first before meeting up with the others? She's had enough."

Sara didn't quite like the idea of sidelining one of their own with a showdown against the Dominators still looming, but she wasn't about to turn down a big brother's request. "Consider it done," she said. She noticed Oliver's hands running over the hood of his gear, seemingly admiring the detail with which the Waverider duplicated it, but the faraway look in his eyes suggested he wasn't really paying attention.

"You know, that dreamscape was meant for you."

Oliver eyed her warily. "What do you mean?"

"I talked to everyone. Thea's first memory is sitting with you to give you a wedding gift. Dig's first memory is swinging in as the Hood to save you and your dad. As for me and Ray, our first memories are both seeing Laurel, your fiancé. The rest of us were there to fill out your perfect life."

Oliver nodded slightly in agreement. He seemed to have reached the same conclusion. "Why would the Dominators choose me?"

"I think," Sara said, slowly, "that they were betting on you being the most willing to trade in your current life for a new one."

Oliver lowered his eyes to the green bundle in his lap, his hands still kneading the hood inch by inch.

"How close were you?" Sara asked. "To staying like Thea wanted to?"

Oliver's eyes flicked up to meet Sara's. It was all the answer he needed to give. "I see," Sara replied, softly.

They both turned their heads back to the porthole, gazing into the vastness of space for a little while.

"I didn't think I'd question my decision to leave," Oliver began. "The memory flashes kept coming, especially once you, Dig, and I started to realize something was wrong."

Sara nodded. The sensation of three arrows in her gut, and the rush of air past her ears as she fell off a rooftop, had been a particularly jarring recovered memory.

"My parents, they…they tried to convince me to accept the life I had been given. I walked away."

A pause.

"Thea tried to convince me that we weren't needed in our real lives anymore. I walked away."

A breath.

"But Laurel…at the end, she didn't do any of that. She didn't. All she did was beg me not to go." Oliver looked back down at his hands, still examining the hood. "And I…I…"

"Almost didn't come with us," Sara finished gently. She didn't need Oliver's silence to know she was right. However flawed that dreamscape had been, in the moment it truly did feel like they had all been with their loved ones again, and it had been one of the hardest efforts of Sara's life to look at Laurel, look at her sister, alive and well before her eyes, and hug her goodbye. She couldn't imagine what it had cost Oliver to leave everything behind.

"Sitting here, looking back on it now," Oliver said, "I think in my head, I realized it was all a cheat. That there are still so many wrongs I need to right before I can be that happy. Too many demons left to face," he finished with a sigh.

Sara leaned back on her hands. "How'd you come up with all that?"

In answer, Oliver lifted his hands, holding up the green cloth. At first, Sara didn't understand. The hood? Why…?

Oh.

Oliver smiled sadly as he read Sara's sinking expression. "The Waverider did a good job, but you and I both know this isn't Shado's hood anymore. Not really."

The words didn't exist that could adequately explain Shado's importance to her, Oliver, and the trajectory both of their lives had taken since she had entered, and exited, their lives. No duplicate, however intricate, carried the emotional weight of that hood. "I'm sorry, Ollie," she began, putting her hand on his forearm for a moment. Oliver shook his head.

"It's not your fault," he assured her. "And in fact, this has just reminded me that the legacies of everyone I've lost continue as long as I'm breathing. Not in some family mansion. Not in a green hood. They made me into who I am now, and to respect the lives they led, I have to keep doing what I think is right."

Sara stared at Oliver for a moment, then gave a small, incredulous smile as she leaned over, bumping him softly with her shoulder. "This from the rich playboy who peed on a cop?"

Oliver smiled, a small miracle only a select few could achieve. "Sometimes, I think you know me a little too well."

"Hate to remind you, Ollie," Sara said, "but that was in the papers. Everyone knows that."

Oliver chuckled. "True," he conceded, "but somehow you know the right time to say the right things to me."

Sara tilted her head from side to side, not disagreeing. "I guess I'm just that special." When Oliver didn't reply, Sara glanced at him to see him looking at her. "What?"

Oliver shook his head, still smiling. "I haven't seen this side of you in a long time, Sara." By "in a long time," she knew he meant "since before Lian Yu."

She shrugged. "A lot has changed since then."

He sighed in agreement. "No kidding." They lapsed into silence.

Nothing could make them forget the massive fight that awaited them back on Earth, but between mirakuru soliders, magic, time travel, and aliens, they had experienced too much, both individually and together, to not be mindful of the chances they were given in life. Sara and Oliver thus turned their heads back to the porthole and watched the stars again, determined to appreciate this small window of peace.

/end

Thanks for reading, everyone.