Discovery Devotion Destiny

Welcome Home

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."

Nelson Mandela

That tricky bastard, Machin got away. Oliver stalked into the bunker, where he returned his bow and quiver to their stand.

"Hey, man, I'm sorry, I tried searching for him using the aerial map, but it's like he just disappeared." Curtis says walking over.

"It's fine Curtis, just make sure those facial recons are still running—" he stopped and turned to the man. "And you should go home, it's late."

"Ok," Curtis was about to turn, but he stopped and looked back to Oliver. "Hey, I've been meaning ask, how is the missus?" Oliver turned away and Curtis suddenly realized that probably wasn't the best question to ask at the moment. "You know what, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked and-" Curtis turned to leave. "I should go."

"Curtis," Curtis stopped and turned back to Oliver. "She's ok. She still doesn't remember anything from the past couple of years, but I think she's still in there. Thanks' for asking." Curtis simply gave a nod before turning and heading for the elevator. Once he was gone, Oliver turned, his eyes looking over to the Guardian's suit, suddenly dreading the conversation he's going to have with his wife to explain all of this.

Oliver turned at the heavy footsteps, to see Bruce stalking inside, pulling the cowl from his head and tossing it on the table.

"I'm going to take a sick pleasure of beating the shit out of that bastard when we find him." Bruce said looking over to Oliver.

"Well until then, Curtis still has the computers searching for him, so hopefully we'll have something soon. I'm going to get changed and head to the house. Thea said there are still reporters crowded out front, so I need to deal with that and check in with Robyn and Ari before I head back to Coast City. You can go on ahead if you want." Oliver turned about to get changed when Bruce stopped him.

"I'm sorry," Oliver stopped at those words, turning a confused look to the man. "You're right, we left and-"

"Bruce, stop-"

"No, just listen. I'm not apologizing for leaving. I stand behind that one hundred percent because it's what I needed, and it's what Felicity needed. Look I'm apologizing for leaving when we did. You were right, a lot was happening, we could've left at a better time."

"Seriously Bruce, I get it. When we found out Katie was pregnant with Robyn, I didn't think twice about leaving Starling. It's what we needed and nothing or no one else mattered." Oliver turned away with a shake of his head. "I guess I'm just seeing what it's like to be on the other end and I can be alright with it." and with that Oliver turned to get changed.

Oliver was sure that at this time of night, the house should be quiet. He'd only turned the corner, his eyes widening at the sight of bright lamps, and news vans lined up along the block as reporters camped out in front of his house. Oliver let out a groan the moment he neared the house. When reporters finally spotted him, they suddenly crowded around.

Once he stepped out of the car, he saw Hank and Steve sift through the crowd, but Oliver simply held up a hand to stop them.

"Mayor Queen, how long has you wife been out of her coma?!"

"Where is Mrs. Queen right now?!"

"What happened at the train station?!"

Each question came one after the other, and he expected them. Oliver moved away from his car, further onto the sidewalk so they all could see him.