The Speed to Rob a Queen's Heart - Olivarry

A Locked Up Heart

"Twenty minutes," Oliver mutters under his breath to himself. "Just twenty minutes left. You're gonna be fine." He closes his eyes shut to calm his nerves; a method he practiced whenever his anxiety skyrocketed in hopes to melt the world away to gather himself.

Despite being Starling City's vigilante, anxiety remained a component of Oliver's daily life. Being left to die in the waters of the North China Sea and being forced to survive in the land of purgatory caused him to change in ways he hadn't anticipated for.

Prior to the sinking of the Queen's Gambit and the loss of his father, he was just a billionaire playboy. He hadn't cared for anyone but himself, had slept with a wide sector of girls, went to numerous colleges only to fail, used his family's name and money for personal gain, and was incapable of grasping the concept of responsibility. But all of that changed in the year of 2007. The storm that caused the Gambit to sink wasn't just a weather forecast- it was the storm that killed Oliver Queen- rebirthing him into someone else... into something else.

On the island, it was kill or be killed- and somewhere along the way, people had disembodied into targets. He used to go everyday not thinking twice about who's pair of eyes had loomed over him or what he ate in a public place. Now, he couldn't go a day without doing so.

Those five years had rerouted Oliver's brain to be prepared for any possible outcome... except for life's most powerful force: love.

Back in the old college days, Oliver met a young woman named Kara Danvers. They became progressively close as he bounced from college to college and from girl to girl, and even though she was revolted by the lifestyle he had chosen for himself, she loved him despite it- platonically, of course. But the love Oliver felt was more. It was more than inviting her over Friday nights. It was more than going to college parties together with a group of friends. It was more than kissing due to a game of spin the bottle. Every one of those Friday nights Oliver had ditched his little sister Thea to 'hang' with Kara. The only reason he agreed to going to parties with a friend group was just because he had an excuse to be with Kara. Knowing he was going to play spin the bottle with Kara a day prior, he spent it by laying out objects on his bedroom floor and practicing his bottle spins in order to get the possible chance to kiss Kara without fear of causing damage to their friendship- and when he actually did kiss her? He couldn't stop thinking about it, especially during the nights on the island when he was cold and alone. It wasn't friendly love. It was love love.

Kara was the only girl he was actually friends with, and yet he was madly in love with her at the same time.

His love for her had only gotten stronger when after five long years, he had finally returned home to her.

"Twenty minutes." A man with a white coat informs him. His name tag read 'Alex Schwartz, MD'.

"Huh?" Oliver asks.

"The woman you've been aching to see. Your girlfriend, I presume?" Dr. Schwartz replies. "Ms. Danvers. She called my office to let me know that she'll be here in about twenty minutes. I just thought I should let you know is all."

"Oh," Oliver said with a slick smile as his heart began to race. The thought of finally seeing Kara after all this time made him feel every word in the English language that was the synonym of the word 'happy'. After three long days of back to back surgeries for recent injuries, check-ins to examine past ones, countless recommendations for therapy, and avoiding press, his doctors finally gave him the go ahead to invite anyone who wasn't family to see him during visitor hours. This reunion was even longer overdue. "She's not my girlfriend." He said with a tone of disappointment.