Disclaimer: I don't own "Arrow".

A/N: So, I shouldn't have posted the story I did when I had no idea where it was really going to go. To make up for that, I wrote this little one-shot. Enjoy.

Oliver was in his room, staring at the pouch containing the herbs Yao Fei had given him with a contemplative expression, when there was a knock on his door. He turned as it opened and saw Laurel, dressed tennis shoes, black jeans, and reddish-pink blouse standing there. She was staring at the broken table with a frown. "Rough party," Oliver said flippantly.

"My father told me what happened," Laurel said. She didn't tell Oliver that she had been wondering what might have happened if she had still been in the room with him when the hitman came after him, especially considering why she was here now. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Oliver said.

Laurel stood there for a moment looking at him, then held up the document she had folded three times in her hands. "These are your polygraph results," Laurel said. Oliver tilted his head at her curiously. "My father asked you if you'd ever been to Iron Heights. It's the prison where the vigilante saved me last week." Oliver nodded to show he understood. "It's also where you and I went on our eighth-grade field trip." Oliver glanced up at that, not sure what to say. "When you said that you had never been there, I thought maybe you were just nervous or that you'd forgotten." Oliver stared off into space, knowing where this was going and thinking over his possible responses, not that Laurel knew that. "But then I looked at your results and there is a slight flutter in your answer to that question. And if you lied on one, you could have lied on others."

"What happened to me being too selfish to be a masked crusader?" Oliver asked.

"Oliver!" Laurel said exasperatedly. "I saw your scars!"

Oliver stood there for a moment, looking at Laurel, debating with himself. "And if what you're thinking is true, Laurel, what will you do?" Oliver asked. "What will you do if I tell you here and now that I lied?"

"I don't know," Laurel said after a moment. "Legally, since I'm no longer your attorney now that the case against you has been dismissed, I'm obligated to report this to the proper authorities. I'm legally obligated just to report what I found on your polygraph. Since the case never went to trial, you can be charged with those crimes again. But I came to you. Because if you are who I think you are, if you are the man who saved me at the prison, I get why the Hood did what he did to Brodeur's fixer. The savagery didn't make sense for a complete stranger. But a man who, after the way we kissed last night, clearly still has feelings for me? If you are who I think, then you're not the same callous playboy you're pretending to be. You are someone who cares about the people of this city just as much as I do, who wants to see justice done. The Hood may have killed… but he hasn't killed an innocent man." Oliver stood there, silent, staring at her. "Please, say something," Laurel begged.

Oliver stepped closer, taking her hand in both of his. "Yes," he finally said. "I lied. I am who you think I am." Laurel backed up instinctively out of shock. Oliver smiled sadly at her. "I am not the person you remember. What's left of Oliver Queen is a broken shell of a man who can barely even sign his own name, let alone pick up a bow and arrow to fight crime. On the island, I had to make myself more than just a man, to forge myself into a weapon. That weapon is The Hood, and it is the most complete version of myself." He stepped back, giving Laurel breathing room. "So, now you know the truth. It's your decision what happens now, Laurel."

"Why would you leave your fate in my hands?" Laurel whispered. "You could have lied, and I never would've known the difference."

"Because lying to you all this time, and especially when we met on that rooftop, has been a torture of its own kind," Oliver replied softly. "You are one of the most compassionate and honest people I know, Laurel. Whatever choice you make, I know it'll be the right one."

"Even if that choice leads you to prison?" Laurel asked softly.

"There are things I've done to become who I am that I'm not proud of, Laurel," Oliver said softly. "Prison is probably the least I deserve. I won't stop you."

"I-I should go," Laurel said softly. She left the room, and Oliver watched her go.

In the end, Laurel chose to keep Oliver's secret, and because she was the only person from his life before the island that he allowed into his new, crazy world, their feelings for one another continued to simmer below the surface until they finally gave in to their emotions just short of Christmas and Oliver's confrontation with a mysterious Dark Archer who savagely beat him.

A/N: I hope everyone enjoyed the story.

I feel that Laurel wouldn't have betrayed Oliver if he had told her who he was when she confronted him about the polygraph. But maybe that's just me.