Black Canary (2) • boyxboy | Arrow

27

One Year Later

QUEEN MANOR
Oliver Queen

The night begins, and the formal party goes smoothly as ever. All of the guest are old business partners of my parents who have become close family members to us over the years when me and Thea were little. The manor tonight is filled with money, champagne, suits, dresses and caviar. "Oh Oliver, back from the dead, once again!" I see one of Dad's close friends pat me in the shoulder teasing me as they have no idea what I've been through.

"Nice seeing you Uncle! Thank you for being here, and I hope you're enjoying the party!" I say to him getting uncomfortable, but once again playing it off. These people are the people putting their own money to invest into my come back into the industry.

"Thank you for having me and Tina, Oliver! Robert, your dad, would be so proud of you for bringing back Queen Industries to its roots again." My uncle says making me feel prideful of what my father would've wanted me to accomplish.

"All with the help of one smart blonde!" Felicity walks up behind me giving herself the credit and being cheesy. She places her hand on my shoulder hanging on to me and smiles at my uncle and my aunt shaking their hands as they introduce each other.

"I knew Oliver couldn't have been making all these great new inventions of the Q-Core on his own!" My uncle teases me again and we all laugh together.

"I invent, and Oliver sells." Felicity says and we both smile as she's exactly right.

"Well it was nice seeing you, I'll let you go before I cause anymore trouble here." He says and we shake hands and I press my left hand on top of his closing the shake.

"Thanks again! I'll see you around the party." I say dismissing him and as we shake our hands he notices something about my left hand.

"Ah? Who's the woman?" He says starring at my wedding ring and looks at Felicity and I shake my head.

"Mystery man." I correct him and he chuckles away. He dismisses himself and Felicity sighs and we turn towards each other. "This is a mess." I say not believing in myself that I can do this but the people that are here, and this manor being brought back to life reassures me that I'm doing something right. Or maybe they're here to watch me fall.

"Don't say that, it's not. We're doing just fine! Everyone is invested in our ideas and I'm sure they're ready for the biggest idea we've both got in our brains to put out there!" Felicity says reassuring me and bringing me back to the headspace I need to be. She fixes my suit and pats it, wiping off my lint that have been laying on it since the night started. I smile lightly and then look around for Drake but Drake hasn't shown any sign of life here.

"Is Drake here yet?" I ask Felicity as she would know since I don't have my phone on me.

"No, I haven't seen him yet." She responds and this makes me nervous as he promised me he would show up. Something must've come up with The Justice League that needed his attention probably. I then look around once again scanning the room and spot Rene and Diggle wave at us. I wave back at them and smile as I'm happy to see them here at least.

"I hope he's alright." I say hoping the best for him and Felicity rolls her eyes as I'm underestimating Drake.

"Drake is going to be more than alright. After everything he's been through, I'm sure he can deal with stopping an alien invasion- Not saying that's what's happening!" Felicity shouts scared and nervous as if she has predicted the absolute worse on the world. I look at her confused and shrug it off as that is not the case.